Raging COVID-19 epidemic and worsening outbreaks have forced Apple’s leadership to temporarily close almost a hundred retail stores in the United States in the past week, including all stores in California. The timing of these temporary store closures couldn’t have been worse as we are now in one of the busiest shopping weeks of the holiday season.
Last Friday, the Cupertino firm began closing its retail locations in Los Angeles. Due to worsening outbreaks, however, the iPhone maker has now closed all of the stores it operates in California, including retail locations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of the shuttered stores in California can be used for pickups and Genius bar appointments through December 22.
According to 9to5Mac’s Michael Steeber, there are nearly a hundred Apple retail locations that are currently closed due to the raging COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and Europe.
Stores in Tennessee were closed this weekend, and stores that are located in the UK’s Tier 4 restrictions are shutting down as of today. 18 stores in Germany and the Netherlands were closed last week, and stores in Mexico and Brazil are closing this weekend. In most stores that are still open in the United States, Apple is operating in a limited Express capacity, allowing for pickups and genius bar appointments but not in-store shopping and browsing.
The stores will remain closed through the holidays.
I update my COVID-19 Apple Store tracker every day with the latest opening and closing information. Today I added a public map that details which locations have added Express storefronts: https://t.co/sDQBMRsxtn pic.twitter.com/72Nva8SiJg
— Michael Steeber (@MichaelSteeber) December 18, 2020
Apple hasn’t said when these shuttered stores will re-open, but it’s fairly safe to assume that we can expect the company will re-open them as soon as the public health situation improves. Apple last week also re-closed all 18 of its stores across Germany and the Netherlands.