i notice an odd thing about the store's registration procedure.....

when a customer hits "register" they are taken to a screen that prompts for a username and password and display name

now....lets say the customer logs out after registering. the next time they log in, they are immediately taken to a screen requiring them to enter their address. and that's how it should work.

but the majority of the time, the user will continue on and shop and buy something. at that point it will say they need to edit the address (which is blank) and when they click on "edit" it doesn't take them directly to the screen for adding the address info - instead it takes them to an intermediate screen and they have to know to somehow click on "edit profile"

i have the address fields marked as "required"

and yet, when a new user registers, those fields don't show up - only the username and password fields.

Hi,
you are on wrong place in thread mentioned above, kossamu. Go to Admin -> User Accounts -> Manage Profile Properties and set your requirements there. Next click on User Settings link and set required combination of Require a valid Profile for Registration and Require a valid Profile for Login settings.

This is known and old problem with Default Address Provider. The Edit Registration Address link on Store Account page does not work as expected.