Spoke to a nice Apple rep on the phone in the UK today... he's saying that he screen is saying the 3rd of January as an esitmated in store date.

Yes - that is correct and there is nothing wrong with it. That is simply for orders being placed today.
As more people order, the shipping date for new orders slips.

I have numerous items in my Apply order, each original item in my order still states "ships November", and a new item I asked the Apple chat guy to add to my order this morning states "Ships in 6-7 weeks (12 - 16 December 2016)"
Of course, if you are talking about just walking in and picking one up willy nilly, then yes, next year is when that will happen, FAR to many confirmed/paid orders for any stores to by shelving them anytime soon.   

If you ordered already through Apple, watch your specific shipping estimate, hopefully updates from "November" to a more accurate date soon Apple is the their main distributer/re-seller, so hopefully tomorrow (Nov. 2) we will hear an update (or see progress).