Where to Buy the iPhone 5 Near Kirkland

The next generation iPhone is coming out Friday, and there should be several places near Kirkland to buy it.

The Apple website points customers to the following locations with 40 minute's drive of Kirkland:

• Apple Store Bellevue, 213 Belleveue Square
• Apple Store Alderwood Mall, 3000 184th St. S.W. Lynnwood
• Apple Store Southcenter, 801 Southcenter Mall Tukwila
• Apple Store University Village, 2656 NE University Village Street Seattle
• AT&T Woodinville, 18021 Garden Way Northeast
• AT&T Redmond, 7537 166th Ave Northeast
• AT&T Bellevue, 180 Bellevue Square
• Sprint Store, 825 Bellevue Way
• Bellevuer Radioshack, 100 SE Bellevue Way
• Best Buy, 457 120th Ave NE, Bellevue
• Walmart Store, 12620 Se 41st Place, Bellevue, WA 98006
• Target Store, 4053 Factoria Square Mall SE

The smartphone officially goes on sale Sept. 21 at 8 a.m., but all stores may not stock the iPhone 5 immediately.

See if a store near you is selling the phones using this tool on Apple’s website. You can search for both Apple stores and other retailers. Read carefully because not all stores listed carry phones. In the "resellers" category, be sure to select "iPhone" from the "Products" drop-down menu.

AT&T spokesman John Britton said AT&T security would be “beefed up” and stores would be “staffed to the max” to get people through the expected wait as fast and efficiently as possible. He said the demand can be somewhat unpredictable.

“You can never say for sure if there are going to be lines. Some of the launches have had more people waiting than others,” said Britton. “One year they started forming at 3 o’clock in the afternoon the day before.”

Britton also noted that this will be AT&T’s sixth iPhone launch since 2007, when the company initially was the only cell provider to offer the model.

“We've been through this before,” he said. “We’re ready.”

The new iPhone is thinner and lighter than the last two generations, but it is taller to accommodate a bigger screen. Apple says its processing speed is much faster than its predecessors, as well.

The iPhone 5 starts at $649, but the price can come down to as low as $200 with a cellular plan subscription.

iPhone 5 sales could boost economic growth in the U.S. by a third of a percentage point during the fourth quarter, J.P.Morgan anticipates. However, NPR's Planet Money says J.P.Morgan's analysis is faulty, predicting that most who splurge on the new product before the end of the year will likely cut back on other spending, making it a zero-sum game.

Know other stores near Kirkland that carry the iPhone? Are you planning to queue up? Is the whole thing over-hyped? Leave a comment below to let us know. 

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