As COVID-19 cases in California increased, Apple announced this weekend that the company was closing all of its retail stores in the state. Also, as a new strain of the coronavirus sprouted up in London, Apple decided to close their stores in the greater London area as well.
Rich Duprey for The Motley Fool:
Apple operates 53 retail locations in California and has over a dozen in London. It’s the second major closure of its stores in the U.S. since Apple shuttered all its stores globally earlier this year in response to the pandemic.
Despite having some of the toughest containment measures in place in the U.S., California is still seeing one of the most severe increases in new coronavirus cases.
In the U.K., Prime Minister Boris Johnson has imposed new lockdown orders and bans on travel. A number of countries have imposed travel bans from the U.K., although the country is still allowing people to fly in.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple’s retail store site states the following for California locations:
Temporarily closed. [We] are currently open for pickup of existing online orders, previously scheduled in-store Genius Support appointments and previously reserved one-on-one shopping sessions with a Specialist made through Tuesday, December 22. For best service, please arrive during your reserved time.
Apple’s London-area retail store pages state:
We’re currently open for click-and-collect including returns, and storefront Genius Support by making an appointment. We are unable to welcome walk-in customers at this time, but look forward to welcoming you for storefront pickup and support.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]