Gary Allen, creator of the now-defunct but historic web site ifo Apple Store, died Sunday at age 67, reports The Washington Post. ifo Apple Store tracked Apple Store retail openings and changes from their earliest days, when the Stores were considered by some to be a risky gamble, until well after the Stores had become ubiquitous in higher-end shopping malls and profoundly lucrative for Apple. Allen’s articles discussed opened stores, as well as details about unannounced stores that were expected to open in the future.
Having announced in March that he was shuttering ifo Apple Store based on increasingly widespread reporting on Apple Store openings and changes, Allen was actually suffering from brain cancer, his brother confirmed to the Post. During the years he ran ifo Apple Store, Allen traveled to over 140 new Store openings across the country and internationally, notably including locations in Europe and China. ifo Apple Store’s site currently reads “Please come back later,” without links to its past content.
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RIP Gary Allen.
That’s so sad.
Gary was a great guy. Obviously very quirky with the level of dedication to Apple Stores you’d wonder what the deal was. But he was genuine. Spent about an hour with him at the Grand Central Apple Store opening questioning him about the why, the who what when, the where, and the how. He retired from a crazy EMT life. Went crazy Apple and was happy about it. RIP
Rest in Peace Gary. Thanks for the memories.
Rest In Peace, Gary. You were truly another Apple Visionary!
The site says “Please come back later,” but the sick irony is, we can never go back……
This is very very sad. ifo, Gary, was a great ‘resource’ for me for many years. Before, during, and after working on the Apple retail store program… the picture above (on the 9to5 site) is of the Bologna store, a store my team and I delivered for Apple. Thank you Gary, RIP.
RIP
Is there an archive of his site? I specifically liked to read his posts with obsessive detail on materials and used techniques and would like to re-read some of them.
Ah well, the internet archive strikes again. https://web.archive.org/web/20150201155301/http://www.ifoapplestore.com/apple-store-glass-staircases/
RIP Gary