Apple authorized retail store coming to Bristol

UPDATE 6 a.m.  12/21/12

by ROGER BROWN, BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

Bristol Va. City Council Tuesday approved an agreement with CityMac for the Apple computer retailer to open a downtown store at a yet-unknown site on State Street in May 2012.

During an afternoon session, four City Council members voted to support the minimum five-year contract with CityMac and Jim Neu, the company’s chief executive officer, to open the State Street store, which would sell Apple computer products and employ at least 18 people.

However, a fifth City Council member, James Heaney, abstained from voting on the deal, saying the city’s agreement with CityMac was “missing something that was supposed to be put in, but wasn’t.”

Following the vote, Heaney declined further comment when asked about his vote to abstain. “It’s not worth getting into,” Heaney said.

But the deal with CityMac, which also plans to open a Wi-Fi coffee shop (called “CityMug”) and a chocolate café inside the downtown site, was hailed by Bristol Mayor Edward Harlow as a major economic move that would have a major, positive impact on State Street’s future.

“This is going to change the whole scope of our downtown,” Harlow said.

The mayor suggested that a tech-oriented store like CityMac would not only fit in well with State Street’s current roster of restaurants and stores, but also serve to bring an even more diverse traffic of people to downtown Bristol.

“I’m constantly reminded of how great our downtown is - and this is going to make it look even nicer,” Harlow said. “Everyone will profit from this.”

As part of its successful bid to snag CityMac – which had also considered proposals from other Tri-Cities communities – Bristol Va. agreed to provide the company with a $575,000 package of incentives and grants.

In the past, some area residents would go to other towns, such as Knoxville, for Apple repairs. Now the future Bristol site provides an Apple repair location close to home, said Doug Weberling, chairman of Bristol Va’s economic development committee.

The CityMac Bristol store will sell all of Apple’s Mac products – from small iMacs to desktop computers – with the exception of iPhones.

Neu, who attended the City Hall announcement with two of his children and wife Neely – who serves as CityMug’s owner and manager - said CityMac’s agreement with Bristol would be a solid, long-term partnership.

  “It’s a small town and a small business coming together,” Neu said. “It feels good. It feels right. I won’t let you down.”

Neu praised Bristol City Manager Dewey Cashwell and other city officials for their aggressive pursuit of CityMac – as well as their willingness to offer an attractive incentives package that outweighed any risk in expanding to Bristol.

“It’s going to be a lot of work,” Neu said. “[But] you people are amazing. Every time I wanted to say, “No,’ I kept getting drawn back [to Bristol].”

###-----###

Anyone who loves technology and new gadgets - listen up.

A big announcement for Bristol today is that City Mac, an Apple authorized seller, will soon be coming to town.

This will be the first store of its kind in the TriCities. Currently, the closest Apple Store is in Knoxville, Tenn. The same company owns a similar store in Asheville, NC.

Bristol, Va. city leaders and developers have been working to secure this business development for months. Today, they unveiled their plan to have City Mac move in to a location on State Street.