The coronavirus continues to affect all walks of life. Apple has once again shut all of its stores in California. The company had begun shutting its stores in San Francisco starting Friday. The closure status has now taken over the whole state of California as Apple has shut all the stores within the state.
The stores now have a notice put up which reads that the (specific) Apple store will remain closed temporarily. However, Apple is continuing to offer pick-up and Genius Bar appointments until the 22nd of December, 2020. It’s unclear as to when the stores will reopen again.
Apple will very likely keep all its stores in California shut during the holiday season. The intensity of COVID-19 continues to rise as the number of positive cases continues to rise in California and across the globe as well. The Cupertino based company Apple has not only shut its stores in California but also in other parts of the world.
According to a report by 9To5Mac, at the time of the report being published, there were approximately 100 Apple Stores closed (non-operational to be precise). Apple is running most of its stores in “Express” mode which means only pick-up and Genius Bar appointments will be entertained.
The global pandemic started affecting businesses as early as March with many offline stores of various industries being closed for months (till around June). In the case of Apple, it started reopening a certain number of its stores starting June, however it appears that the reversal is happening now.
Apple continues to close its stores across the globe in a staggered manner. It will be interesting to see how many stores will be open by the end of the year. At the moment, Apple reportedly has around 400 stores open. To follow the guidelines, Apple continues to ask customers to wear masks.