Apple continues to reopen China retail stores following coronavirus closures

Apple is slowly reopening its fleet of Chinese retail stores after the new coronavirus outbreak forced closures of all outlets in the region earlier in February.

According to the company's regional Chinese website, 29 out of 42 stores were open for business as of Monday, though many are operating under limited hours until late this month or early March.

Apple Seven Treasures in Qibao, for example, is open from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. until March 1, when the store is slated to reinstate regular operating hours from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Other outlets, like Apple Hong Kong Plaza, will adhere to the restricted schedule until further notice.

Thirteen Apple retail locations in China remain closed, including stores in Shanghai International Trade iapm, Nanjing Jinmaohui, Suzhou, Hangzhou Vientiane City, West Lake, Xiamen New Life Plaza, Tahoe Plaza. All Apple retail stores in Tianjin and Chongqing, each of which hosts three outlets, are still shuttered.

Following targeted store closures in January, Apple closed all retail stores, corporate offices and contact centers in the region earlier this month out of what the company described as "an abundance of caution," promising to reopen the physical spaces as soon as possible. The closures mirror government efforts to keep public spaces clear in a bid to stop the spread of the virus.

Last week, Apple warned fallout from the outbreak would lead to lower than expected earnings for the current quarter. For one, the coronavirus has negatively impacted Apple supply partners, resulting in temporarily constrained global iPhone supply. Chinese demand is also expected to take a hit due to ongoing store closures.

Analysts have taken a relatively favorable stance to Apple's prospects despite the guidance revision. On Monday, Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ive said that while the company could face product delays in a worst case scenario, he believes there is little concern for longterm effects to Apple's business.

2 Comments

sirozha 801 comments · 15 Years

About 4 years ago

The situation in China is grave. The government decided that people should return to work because CCP will not jeopardize their economic targets to save their people.

China suffers from overpopulation as well as from rapidly aging population. They have no clear path to pay pensions to ever-increasing numbers of older Chinese citizens who make increasingly larger proportion of the entire population. Coronavirus is god sent to address that problem.

By making people return to work, CCP kills two birds with one stone. They restart the economy and expose almost every Chinese citizen to Coronavirus, which kills over 80% of those above 60 who get infected. The aging population problem will be solved within a year because this Coronavirus will wipe out 100 million older Chinese citizens by the end of 2020.

The majority of the Chinese are refusing to go back to work. They are choosing to lose their jobs rather than to be infected by the deadly virus. They will use all their savings to stretch the time they can remain at home in hope that the epidemic will die down before their savings run out. Therefore, no one in their right mind will be buying $1,000 iPhone for the rest of this year. $1,000 can probably sustain a family of 4 for 3-4 months (maybe longer), especially if the family decides to leave the city and stay with their family in the countryside to wait out the epidemic.

Put yourself in the shoes of the Chinese citizens (especially because we all will be in their shoes in a couple of months). When the Coronavirus starts raging in your own country, will you go to your workplace or will you hunker down in your home and attempt to wait out the epidemic? And if your job terminates your employment when you don’t show up, will you blow a grand on a new iPhone or will you continue using your older iPhone and spend this grand to buy food and pay your bills when you lose your income?

The demand for Apple gadgets in China will completely die down this year. Only super rich will be buying luxury items in China for the foreseeable future. Moreover, the demand for the iPhone will drop all over the world because the Coronavirus epidemic is spreading like wildfire. South Korea is in panic. Italy shut down the North of the country and placed scores of towns under quarantine. Iran has a raging epidemic already with scores of people dying daily. Israel has placed under quarantine thousands of its citizens who were in the same places as a group of South Korean tourists, nine of whom turned out to be infected.

This is only the beginning.

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3052175/coronavirus-seven-dead-italy-and-more-220-infected-highest-number

GeorgeBMac 11421 comments · 8 Years

About 4 years ago

sirozha said:

The situation in China is grave. The government decided that people should return to work because CCP will not jeopardize their economic targets to save their people.
China suffers from overpopulation as well as from rapidly aging population. They have no clear path to pay pensions to ever-increasing numbers of older Chinese citizens who make increasingly larger proportion of the entire population. Coronavirus is god sent to address that problem.

By making people return to work, CCP kills two birds with one stone. They restart the economy and expose almost every Chinese citizen to Coronavirus, which kills over 80% of those above 60 who get infected. The aging population problem will be solved within a year because this Coronavirus will wipe out 100 million older Chinese citizens by the end of 2020.

The majority of the Chinese are refusing to go back to work. They are choosing to lose their jobs rather than to be infected by the deadly virus. They will use all their savings to stretch the time they can remain at home in hope that the epidemic will die down before their savings run out. Therefore, no one in their right mind will be buying $1,000 iPhone for the rest of this year. $1,000 can probably sustain a family of 4 for 3-4 months (maybe longer), especially if the family decides to leave the city and stay with their family in the countryside to wait out the epidemic.

Put yourself in the shoes of the Chinese citizens (especially because we all will be in their shoes in a couple of months). When the Coronavirus starts raging in your own country, will you go to your workplace or will you hunker down in your home and attempt to wait out the epidemic? And if your job terminates your employment when you don’t show up, will you blow a grand on a new iPhone or will you continue using your older iPhone and spend this grand to buy food and pay your bills when you lose your income?

The demand for Apple gadgets in China will completely die down this year. Only super rich will be buying luxury items in China for the foreseeable future. Moreover, the demand for the iPhone will drop all over the world because the Coronavirus epidemic is spreading like wildfire. South Korea is in panic. Italy shut down the North of the country and placed scores of towns under quarantine. Iran has a raging epidemic already with scores of people dying daily. Israel has placed under quarantine thousands of its citizens who were in the same places as a group of South Korean tourists, nine of whom turned out to be infected.

This is only the beginning.

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3052175/coronavirus-seven-dead-italy-and-more-220-infected-highest-number

ROFL....