Apple plans to reopen U.S. retail stores that had been closed over the past several weeks due fears over local COVID-19 case increases, Bloomberg News reports, citing “people with knowledge of the matter.”
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
The Cupertino, California-based technology giant is slated to open a small number of stores as soon as the end of August, said the people, who asked to remain anonymous discussing plans that haven’t been made public. In most cases, the stores will operate on an appointment-only basis for the immediate future, the people said.
Apple initially closed all of its 270 U.S. stores in March when the pandemic began spreading. It then started re-opening stores in May, only to re-close more than 120 of them over the past couple of months due to local increases in cases.
During the pandemic, Apple has re-assigned thousands of retail employees to online sales and support positions. Apple told staff that those workers would remain in that role for the foreseeable future, but they may be re-assigned back to their retail stores depending on the needs of individual locations.
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