As COVID-19 surges, Apple re-closes 11 stores temporarily in Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina
Apple will temporarily close a number of retail stores again in the U.S., as the coronavirus outbreak re-emerges as a significant threat in new areas of the country, reports Bloomberg News.
About a dozen stores across four states will be closed, in areas where new positive case counts have surged higher.
Due to current COVID-19 conditions in some of the communities we serve, we are temporarily closing stores in these areas," said Apple on Friday in a statement to Bloomberg News. We take this step with an abundance of caution as we closely monitor the situation and we look forward to having our teams and customers back as soon as possible."
Apple shares dropped Friday on the news reports, Mark Gurman at Bloomberg:
Apple had reopened the majority of its U.S. locations, including many stores in major markets like New York City and Los Angeles.
The stores being closed are Waterside Shops and Coconut Point in Florida, Southpark and Northlake Mall in North Carolina, Haywood Mall in South Carolina, and Chandler Fashion Center, Scottsdale Fashion Square, Arrowhead, SanTan Village, Scottsdale Quarter and La Encantada in Arizona.
Apple said customers will be able to pick up device repairs at the stores over the weekend. Employees of the closed stores will continue be paid, the company said. Apple didn't provide a timeline for reopening.
[via techmeme.com]
Let this sink in: Apple is re-closing stores in GOP red states that have failed to tackle #COVID19. Apple cares more about its customers+employees than these states care about their citizens.https://t.co/rVZbhSJBFG
- Nick Prudent (@xecretcode) June 19, 2020
I believe Apple was the first retailer to close all their stores when they did on March 14. https://t.co/iiBi3CjLvr
- Chris Fralic (@chrisfralic) June 19, 2020
I know I'm not the first person to make this comparison but it really does increasingly seem like Apple Stores: Covid outbreaks :: Waffle Houses: hurricanes https://t.co/CVDgX6asGN
- Mat Honan (@mat) June 19, 2020
Governors can say there's no more Coronavirus, but when huge companies across your states start shutting down again, then there's a problem. https://t.co/np7TNXApXa
- Scott Kleinberg (@scottkleinberg) June 19, 2020