MinneApple
The new Uptown Apple Store on Hennepin that we featured in January will be opening its doors this Saturday June 19 at 10 a.m. Urban Anthology’s Jeff Herman continues to remain hush about the store while the interwebs buzz about Apple’s corporate invasion of local retailer First Tech‘s market area. Julio Ojeda-Zapata of Pioneer Press geeked out in an update today about the store’s pending opening and pointed out a local tweet suggesting the “Uptown Apple wars” had begun. Early birds will receive a gift via the press release: “And the first 1000 customers get a free commemorative T-Shirt.”

What you Ned
Sam Black at MSP Business Journal reported last Friday that controversial Developer Ned Abdul sent a letter reassuring his tenants that business was well at Swervo Development Corporation — his property management umbrella that oversees most of First Avenue night life. The response came in response from the Star Tribune’s follow-up story last week over the May raid of Abdul’s businesses and home by the Postal Inspection Service and IRS. Black noted that neither Abdul or his partner John Barlow have been charged with a crime.

Creative+Backlash
The copy of the suit in Clark Patrick Photography vs. Colle & McVoy asks for damages from the agency on five claims totaling in excess of $250,000. Claims include common law fraud for obtaining the photograph and unjust enrichment for pocketing the People for Bikes project. Employees specifically named in the document include Chris Peters, a senior art buyer (who loves photographers), and two working on the People for Bikes project Brian Ritchie and Zara Gonzalez. Ritchie is a former copywriter and now a associate creative director, while Gonzalez, a senior interactive designer, no longer works for the agency as of May.

Colle & McVoy, Inc was majority acquired in 1999 for $19 million by Toronto-based MDC Partners, the 10th largest advertising holdings company in the world which now projects earnings to reach $620 million in 2010, down from $898 in 2009. C+M average annual earnings were roughly $25 million in the past three years and currently reports capitalized billings of $175 million. The agency won two Webby Awards this year and announced last week it was agency of record for Explore Minnesota after losing the Minnesota State Lottery account in March to OLSON.