Heads up, eager shoppers-- Steve promised us four more Apple retail stores in August, and MacMinute claims to have the skinny on the where and when. If you tuned into the keynote last week (or even just browsed through the rough notes we took), you already know the "where" part: the next four Apple stores are slated to open in the Dallas, Minneapolis, Chicago, and Boston areas. Since AtAT headquarters is but a short drive from the Peabody, MA location that Steve announced, we're sure you'll understand that we're getting antsy about scheduling an opening date. After all, we may not have bothered to line up for Phantom Menace tickets (thank heaven for small mercies), but we're obviously going to have to camp out for the Apple store opening, and we'd really like to keep our calendars clear.

Sadly (well, for us, anyway), MacMinute indicates that the next Apple store to open its doors will be the Dallas one, located at the Willow Bend Mall in the suburb of Plano. Nearby Mac fans should start staking out a spot in line now, because reportedly the joint will start jumping on August 3rd. For those of you having a hard time keeping track of how quickly this year is whizzing past your heads, August 3rd is a week from this Friday, or a mere nine days away. If you need to do anything special to prepare for the event (like, say, get your legs waxed, or dye your hair translucent Indigo, or tattoo the AtAT logo and URL on your forehead to display your undying allegiance to our little show, here), you'd better hurry, because time's a-wastin'.

Those of you in the Twin Cities area have a little more time to prepare; MacMinute reports that the Apple store at the glorious Mall of America will open a week after the Plano boutique, on Saturday, August 11th. That means you've still got a whopping seventeen days in which to put together something far more elaborate, if you so desire. (We imagine few things in this world would catch Steve's attention like a full-scale musical production number involving twelve turtleneck-clad Jobsian lookalikes in a kick-line belting out a rousing rendition of "Banana Split For My Baby" while waving sparklers. So get rehearsing.)

As for us Boston-area shopping fiends, unfortunately MacMinute can't give us a solid date for the Peabody opening, though as far as we know, Steve's "sometime in August" deadline still stands. That goes for you Chicagoland denizens as well-- we know you're eager to descend upon Woodfield, face Cupertino, and remain in the mall fasting and praying nonstop until the store opens, but at this point we'd consider such an action to be ill-advised. Hang in there, though, because we're still no more than five weeks away from retaily hijinks. For those of you living in areas that still haven't been blessed with an Apple store announcement, chin up: remember, there's a handful of the "twenty-five locations by the end of the year" whose locations still haven't been revealed yet. So keep those fingers crossed and maybe you'll get as lucky as we did.