Denver area has 6 stores, all of which are out. Apple lists 12 stores whenever you search with whatever is not in that area by distance. So of the options 7-12, 4 of those 6 have them, in Oklahoma City, Farmington Utah, Omaha Nebraska, etc. at distances of 331 to 500 miles away from Denver.
Same with Atlanta, 3 of the 5 stores within 35 miles have stock. The other 7 stores listed have stock at 4 if you are willing to drive 3-4 hours to say Birmingham or Nashville.
2 of the 4 Minneapolis locations have stock. The other 8 options are in other states like Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois, up to a day's drive away.
When you search Houston, yes, all 12 have stock.
Of. The. Stores. Listed. Which. Include. Dallas. San Antonio. and Austin. Enjoy your 3-4 hour drive.
Let's try and stay on point. This is what you asserted: "Local stores are showing pickup date of base model for May 5. Not updated to any new inventory stock for pickup today. Seems that initial production may have finally sold through though I wouldn't be shocked to see some stores get stock here and there still."
When I showed evidence to the contrary, your rather odd, irrelevant response was to disparage New York, Boston, Miami and San Francisco as cities. When I offer five more cities, your response is to say that some of the stores are far apart.
The fact is, there is no reason whatever to believe that "original production has sold through" and that stores
may "get stock here and there still".
What seems clear is that Apple has ongoing production of base Maxes destined for stores and that supply is more flush at some times than at others. Since March 18th, this has been apparent over and over. Your claim also suggests that you don't understand what the May 5 pickup date means, although it's been discussed and explained in this thread a number of times subsequent to Apple's change in online presentation on March 24th (see post #201).
Per posts #285 and #287 just above, I've now checked today's availability of Maxes at 108 Apple stores in areas chosen at random, and 88 of them have Maxes available for immediate pickup.
This thread is about store inventory. It helps people who want to buy a Mac Studio at a store when erroneous statements about how inventory is working are corrected.