Today I updated Chromium from the Dev Channel and found that it now has the apps section and a link for the Chrome Web Store by default. They could be enabled in earlier builds too but you needed to start from the command-line with an extension. Now, all you have to do is just start normally.
Unfortunately, the Web Store is not active yet. The apps are currently hosted by the Extension Gallery and only those who have uploaded them have access to it now. So, clicking on the link leads you to the Extension Gallery but you will not get any apps.
Another thing that have appeared is the Labs. When news of the Labs feature broke, it was not available in the Linux build. With todays build, the Linux build have also got Labs. However, it is empty at the moment.