Macintosh Loyalists Celebrate Opening of Apple Store in Sacramento, Calif.

By Reed Fujii, The Record, Stockton, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

May 25--Susan Taliaferro couldn't help but smile as she chatted last week about shopping at one of the Central Valley's newest stores.

The Rocklin resident had wanted to replace her beloved strawberry-colored iMac computer, getting a little long in the tooth at 4 years of age.

But she put off the purchase until after the Apple Store opened in Sacramento "so I could spend my money here," she said, grinning broadly in anticipation of her new toy.

Some toy. Taliaferro bought a new dual-processor G4 desktop computer matched with a 17-inch LCD flat-panel display, a system many graphics professionals might envy. After being introduced to personal computing through her iMac, she felt ready to tackle bigger challenges.

"I want to create a Web page because I have friends, literally, all over the world," she said. There she plans to post digital photographs for all to see.

Her enthusiasm typified that of other store visitors. Apple Computer Inc., noted for its innovation …