Walnut Street Apple Store location now hiring

While we are kind of upset that Steve Jobs has chosen to neglect our Jobs Board, it seems Philly’s first Apple Store is now hiring and it’s using Craigslist to find employees. It is the first official confirmation that Apple will launch a retail store in Philadelphia proper.

Posted last week, Apple is seeking Mac-head “Geniuses” for its new reported 1607 Walnut Street location. In the company’s typical we’re-super-serious-yet-friendly fashion, the ad calls for those looking to join the “retail revolution.” Rumor has it that retail workers make roughly $9 an hour while its Geniuses support team can make up to $24 an hour. [Full Disclosure: Local Apple specialist Springboard Media is one of TP's sponsors.]

Reports of the strict corporate culture at Apple’s retail stores have been circulating on the web for some time. Last year, one employee made waves with a confessional style LiveJournal that was quickly removed. Employees of the Apple Store in Lynnwood, Washington, staged a walkout in protest of management’s “abusive” behavior in October.

Reports like these should be taken with a grain of salt. Many retail chains are criticized by staff, but don’t have the same press buzz as Apple. After the jump, a Genius hiring offer from 2008, should you decide to take the plunge:

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Philadelphia to get Apple retail store

According to the Philadelphia Metro, Philadelphia is finally going to get an Apple Store.

The store will be located at 1607 Walnut street which is a few doors down from the long-suspected location of 1619 Walnut. Earlier in the year, peices of 1619 crumbled to the street , and so we wonder if the decay led Apple to switch addresses.

The blog Talking Apple predicted the move down the block last month.

The store has not been officially announced, though the plans are set to be presented to the city’s Art Commission tomorrow. It is mandated in the city’s charter that all new architecture and buildings be presented to the Commission which likely means that Apple is looking to heavily renovate the space.

The architechture firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson will likely design the new store. The firm’s Philadelphia office refused to offer any information when called for comment.

Springboard Media opens new store in Exton

An exclusive shot of the new sales floor at Springboard Media in Exton before Saturday's Grand Opening.

If you see dozens of renegade balloons floating high above the region this weekend, blame Springboard Media.

The Center City-based independent Apple retail and repair specialist is celebrating a grand opening of a sister store in Exton and President Everett Katzen has spent the last few days orchestrating final touches.

“I just bought out all the purple balloons at Party City,” Katzen exclaimed during a phone interview on Wednesday.

Thirty-five year old Katzen has operated the store since 1996 and the Exton opening marks the company’s first expansion. The retailer has graduated to a 3,600 square feet space, about a thousand more than at its digs on the 2200 block of Walnut Street.

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Friday Tech Links: Unbreaded’s Ben Kessler could be leaving, Peter Key almost dies and More

In which we link out to the tech news from Philly and elsewhere (when it matters) that slips through the cracks and make it way fun. See others here.

DEFINITE READS

• Geekadelphia launches its new Geek of the Week department with the co-founder of food blog Unbreaded, Ben Kessler, a freshly graduated Drexel University marketing major with brains, drive, personality and a total social media obsession. But here’s where it gets juicy. As Kessler implies in the interview, his hunt for work in Philly has proven unsuccessful. The word we’ve heard? That the first Geek of the Week interview from Philly’s premier geek blog is considering a move to the 67th ward. Guys, if we can’t retain someone like Kessler, we have a real problem here. Can someone do something about this?

• Philly Tech News reports that rumors have put Google CEO Eric Schmidt‘s recent interest in acquisitions directly in Center City, namely in online advertising startup Invite Media, yeah the company whose offices were caught up in a fire scare in February.

• The Business Journal’s Peter Key, who, we’re telling you, in any other city would have a cult following, regales us with an admittedly strange story about how he was almost killed by Leap Wireless 20 years ago. The next time someone criticizes social media, just mention to them that blogging brought you the chance to read a Peter Key story in which he mentions Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

After the jump , video of a South Jersey Apple store robbery and more than 10 other Philly tech reads that you just might need to know about, including our best read story of the week.

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Rumored Philadelphia Apple Store location suffers damage

Photo courtesy of a Philebrity.com reader

While Philly’s Apple community is served well by local retailers Springboard Media and Bundy, we often wonder what it takes to get some love from Steve Jobs and company.

After all, Philadelphia is the largest media market without an Apple Store, unless, of course you count the city’s suburban Apple outlets.

Well, the architecture gods may have exacted revenge on the computer company, Philebrity.com reports.

The rumored site of Apple’s Philadelphia location has suffered some sort of structural damage. Overnight, a piece of marble installation crumbled off the building and into the street, though no one was hurt, according to Philly.com.

Last year, AppleInsider speculated that Apple was eying the space at 1619 Walnut Street, formally the home of the Brasserie Perrier restaurant. PhiladelphiaWillDo’s DMac disputed the claim.

All has been quiet on the Philly Apple Store front, though the company continues to expand its number of retail locations nationwide. The company recently announced that it will be opening up a fourth store in the second best city on the East coast, ahem, New York.

According to public records, the space at 1619 Walnut is owned by “Walnut Street Retail Investments.”

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, the firm responsible for designing some of the company’s New York locations, declined to comment about the possibility of a Philadelphia location when Technically Philly contacted their Philadelphia office late last week.

As part of the firm’s agreement with Apple,�it is prohibited from discussing any details of future locations and would not even confirm that Apple was considering Philadelphia.