They're spreading like pod people, only this time we're rooting for the pods. (Okay, we admit it-- we always root for the pods. Go, pods!) On Saturday Apple opened its fourth retail store, this time at Minnesota's scarily huge Mall of America-- and by all accounts, the grand opening was a smashing success. Rodney O. Lain's got a nifty piece on the event over at The Mac Observer, in which the now-familiar elements of any Apple store opening figure in predictable ways. There are such time-honored players as the early-birds waiting in line seven hours before the store opened; the die-hards who drove for hours across state lines to be a part of Apple history; even the emergence of flocks of customer-owned PowerBooks and iBooks all glomming onto Apple's AirPort signal while the faithful waited in line to experience Retail Nirvana first-hand. All the elements of a classic.

Seeing as we've heard this particular story three or four times before, however, we don't mind saying that it's getting a bit tiresome for us. Why? Certainly not because we begrudge Apple the right to treat every store opening as a triumph; after all, if you've ever shopped for a Mac at retail and been spit on and shot at with a BB gun, you know that every Apple store opening is a triumph. No, the factor that's got us just a little down on the recurring "Woo hoo, there's a new Apple store and it kicks major booty!" celebration is that we still haven't had a chance to be a part of it yet.

If all goes according to plan, however, in less than two weeks, that will all change. Confirming the rumors, Apple's retail web page now lists the first Chicagoland Apple store (at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg) as "opening August 25th." Granted, Schaumburg is maybe 900 miles away from our current digs just outside of Boston, but seeing as the AtAT staff originates from the Chicago and Milwaukee areas, it's only appropriate that we fly out to welcome Apple's pod-like expansion into our original neck of the woods. It's the least we can do, right?

Well, okay, we admit it: we were actually going to be in Chicago that day anyway for a friend's Rock & Roll Wedding Extravaganza. But surely it's a staggering coincidence that said Extravaganza just happens to fall on the evening of the Apple store love-in, yes? And that we'll be in town for one full day only-- the exact day of the Woodfield store opening? Indeed, this is no mere accident of fate; this is the Divine Will of Jobs. So we've got our plane tickets, and barring some sort of horrible natural disaster, the AtAT staff should be in line with the rest of the faithful come the morning of the 25th. Maybe we'll see you there; odds are we'll be wearing the uniform. :)