Mikey Campbell
In guiding a tour of Apple's soon-to-open Wangfujing retail location, the company's senior vice president of retail John Browett confirmed a fourth Chinese store is being built in Shenzhen, where Foxconn and other manufacturing partners operate fabrication plants.
During Thursday's small media preview, Browett described Apple's commitment to the China, a developing market seen as an integral player in the company's continued growth, reports The Next Web.
“Who could have believed what happened in China in 25 years, let alone what’s happened with Apple,†Browett said, referring to the first time he visited the country in 1986.
He went on to laud the Wangfujing Apple Store, saying he believes it to be the best store the Cupertino-based company has built in Asia. The new location is Apple's largest brick-and-mortar retail outlet in the region, and stands three stories tall at the corner of a building in Beijing's historic Wangfujing Street.
Apple's newest storefront is set to open this weekend and will reportedly be staffed by 300 people, adding to the existing 500 Beijing Apple Store employees currently working at the company's Sanlitun and Xidan locations.
Browett officially announced that yet another Chinese Apple outlet will be opening in Shenzhen, confirming rumors in June that claimed the company was on the verge of expanding into the area.
The retail chief also said more stores are being planned for China, though fell short of giving specifics.
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Wesley Hilliard
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8 Comments
"Browett went so far as to say that, in his opinion, the new location is the best store Apple has built in Asia so far." "Training in China is very, very popular because this is the first time that people are using these devices" Browett says the company’s goal is to eventually serve “every customer in every city” but he admitted that it’s going to take “some time.” -- Doesn't [I]look[/I] like a difficult job, but I'm sure there's more to it. Would've been nice if the article added some pictures of the store [IMG ALT=""]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/14717/width/500/height/1000[/IMG] [IMG ALT=""]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/14718/width/500/height/1000[/IMG]
Currently, there are 3 Apple stores in Shanghai, 2 in Beijing, and 2 in Hong Kong.
This Wangfujing retail location is the third for Beijing.
So the first store for Shenzhen will probably be the ninth for China.
That's cool for them.
It would be fair if those products were just a little less expensive.
http://www.apple.com/retail/storelist/ Apple lists Hong Kong separately to China, I guess because it's a city who is governed separate to China. In this respect, it will be the 6th Chinese Apple store.
I can't believe TNW didn't record a video. What year is this?