Massive Apple stores due this week in Hong Kong, Shanghai, new store in Vancouver (UPDATED 2x)

A new Apple store about to open in Vancouver’s Metrotown mall. Image: Reader Prem Sharma.

UPDATE 1 [Monday, September 19, 2011 at 11:55am ET]: This article has been updated with additional store photos included below the fold, at the bottom of the article…

UPDATE 2 [MONDAY, September 19, 2011 at 3:40Pm ET]: The Metrotown Apple Store in Canada has been confirmed on the official Metrotown account on Twitter.

Following grand openings last week, Apple remains adamant to open additional stores worldwide in order to meet its self-proclaimed goal of having thirty new brick-and-mortar spots ready by the end of September, coinciding with the expected launch of the next-generation iPhone.

B. C. Metrotown, Vancouver, Canada – Apple is opening a new retail space shortly in the Metrotown mall, the biggest flagship mall of British Columbia in Canada. The store was not listed on Apple’s retail site at press time so grand opening may not be imminent yet. Apple also operates three other stores in British Columbia, the Oakridge Centre store, the Pacific Centre store and the Richmond Centre location.

UPDATE: iPhoneinCanada.ca notes that Metrotown on Twitter confirmed the September 24 grand opening. Apple’s store is located “on the top floor of the mall nearby Guess, Lululemon and Mexx”, the site adds. Mark your calendars: The new Apple Store at @MetropolisatMet will open on September 24th, reads the tweet.

Nanjing East, Shanghai, China – A listing for this massive store on Apple’s Chinese retail site mentions grand opening this coming Friday, September 23. Recent photos reveal a wide building adorned with the red curtain promotional signage matching that on Apple’s retail site. Shanghai’s third store sporting five levels is located at the corner of Nanjing Road East and Henan Zhong Lu, within walking distance of the city’s famous skyscraper panorama and right within The Bund, a major tourist attraction consisting of the wide avenue of historic buildings.

Image credit: M.I.C. Gadget

The Nanjing East place will be Apple’s biggest store in China yet and their sixth store in the country (including the upcoming Hong Kong store). It is said to sport four floors of retail space. Shanghai is also the home to the spectacular cylindrically shaped Pudong store and the Hong Kong Plaza store.

Both these stores pale in comparison with a massive new store opening in the heart of Hong Kong’s financial centre. More details and a juicy shot after the break…

IFC Center, Hong Kong, China – Apple is gearing up to open an enormous new store in Hong Kong, their first in the special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China. As reported earlier, the store Apple’s been building over the past six months is located at the city’s International Finance Centre district. It spreads across 15,000 square feet of two levels of retail space in the IFC Mall. The lower level is said to be enclosed with one entrance on the mall side and glass windows to outside. The upper level is all glass on the mall side, glass windows to outside. It is connected to mall hallway via glass bridge and the two levels are connected via spiral glass staircase. The IFC Mall store is set to greet visitors this coming Friday, September 24, at 9am local time, as seen both on the front door sign and Apple’s newly setup Hong Kong retail page. ifoAppleStore has more info on the store’s interior:

The IFC Mall store will have a unique two-level design. The rear wall of both levels are glass windows looking out towards the city. On the inside, the lower level has two wide stainless steel walls, with a visitor entrance in the middle. The walls include back-lit display cases promoting Apple’s products. The upper level has an all-glass front window, with a glass bridge to a mall hallway. A spiral glass staircase connects the two levels in the middle of the store space. The storefront is trimmed in stainless steel, including the support columns for the upper level. The store space is rather shallow, but very wide—about 35 feet deep by 90 feet wide. This may explain why the lower level has a solid front wall—it provides more wall space for product displays, which a glass window would not provide. Overall, the public store space could total up to 8,100 square-feet.

Image credit: ifoAppleStore

UPDATE: We have more pics of the upcoming Hong Kong store, courtesy of our reader Tim. The four images right below depict the Hong Kong store’s storefront. Tim observes that “even the columns are stainless steel (different from the rest of the mall’s columns)”. Keep ’em coming, people. tips@9to5mac.com