It doesn't even need to be an Apple Store. When my SSD died after the 1 year apple warranty I called Apple and was given an option of several Apple certified shops around me.
They told me there that it usually takes a few days for apple to authorize the repair after the 1 year vendor warranty, but I was able to pick up my laptop again on the next day in the morning.
My Macbook died last month after 15 months, outside of the 1 year warranty. I had bought it from Apple's website.
The local certified shop wanted £99 to diagnose the problem. Apple weren't particularly helpful when I asked for help to get the fee waived (their staff in the US don't know about the UK Sale of Goods act, understandable perhaps), so I had to take a 40 minute train journey to my nearest Apple store.
The Apple store diagnosed the problem and immediately offered to repair it for free 'under UK consumer law'. I was pretty happy with the experience, but would have preferred if the local certified shop had been able to diagnose and repair the laptop for free instead.
They told me there that it usually takes a few days for apple to authorize the repair after the 1 year vendor warranty, but I was able to pick up my laptop again on the next day in the morning.