It’s hard to imagine a time when there wasn’t an Apple store in practically every state (not to mention around the world), but exactly one decade ago today, there were only two -- and neither of them stocked iPhones or iPads, let alone iPods.

ZDNet is reporting on the 10th anniversary of Apple’s retail stores, which opened modestly in Glendale, California and McLean, Virginia on May 19, 2001. It was the opening salvo in Apple’s grand retail plans, which in the decade since have spawned more than 300 stores in 11 different countries.

While many were skeptical that Apple would succeed with their retail ambitions, for the 7,700 people who visited those first two stores on opening day back in 2001, it was immediately obvious that Cupertino was onto something special. (Thankfully, this particular journalist happened to live in North Hollywood, CA at that time and attended that gala event a stone’s throw away in Glendale, which became a frequent hotspot.)

Apple’s first two stores did a then-record $599,000 in business for their opening two-day weekend, a mere pittance compared to the most recent quarterly earnings with a retail operating profit of $1.84 billion on revenue of $7.04 billion. But in 2001, it was enough to keep Apple CEO Steve Jobs happy.

“We are blown away with the numbers,” Jobs said in a press release on May 21, 2001 after the first weekend. “More importantly, customers have told us they love everything about the store -- from the knowledgeable sales staff to the Genius Bar to the store’s design and unique approach to presenting digital lifestyle solutions.”

That part has certainly not changed in the last decade, and Apple’s retail ambitions have continued to expand, with Cnet noting “the company has added anywhere from 25 to 50 stores a year on average” in the years since.

Not everyone was impressed -- BusinessWeek reported that Apple wouldn’t have a chance against PC manufacturers like Gateway, who only made a mere $8 million each year from their own retail stores. “I give them two years before they’re turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake,” proclaimed David A. Goldstein, the president of researcher Channel Marketing Corp. at the time.

Thanks to the iPod -- which didn’t arrive until months later, in October, 2001 -- and later the iPhone (June, 2007) and iPad (April, 2010), Goldstein’s dire prophecy looks pretty laughable 10 years later.

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