By
Godfrey Benjamin
March 22nd, 2024
Apple (AAPL) stock fell slightly yesterday but is up now, as the company has announced its plans to reopen around 100 stores across the U.S. already this week.
Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock price fell by 0.68% during the last trading session but is up now. This happened as the Cupertino California giant indicated that it would be opening about 100 stores across America this week. These stores cover about 21 of the 50 states. Apple has 510 stores globally. 271 of those are in the United States.
At the time of writing, in the pre-market Apple (AAPL) stock is up 0.88%, at $319.53.
It is expected that each store will open in stages. Some stores will only offer curbside pickup. Others will offer instore sales and services.
Apple (AAPL) Stock Has No Significant Reaction to Stores Reopening
Apple reportedly wants to open stores in the following states: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The only store to open in New York will be the Victor Store near Rochester. Others will come back to life at a later date.
These openings will provide insight into the health of the tech giant’s retail’ business. Apple had in march shuttered all its retail businesses outside China.
The great thing though is that Apple’s retail stores have a unique location advantage. They are located in or near major shopping malls. This insight could also apply to the broader retail sector of the American economy.
Open stores so far have focused on Apple’s genius bar for servicing and repairs of devices. Stores for walk-in customers will be available later this week. An Apple representative said in a statement:
“This week we’ll return to serving customers in many US locations. For customer safety and convenience, most stores will offer curbside or storefront service only, where we provide online order pick-up and Genius Bar appointments.”
Apple’s head of retail Deidre O’Brien had indicated Apple’s strategy for reopening in an earlier blog post. They include temperature checks, face coverings, and cleaning of high traffic areas.
Those with symptoms will answer a questionnaire. O’Brien has also indicated in the post that a special focus will be on encouraging those who order online. The post reads:
“We’ve also taken this time to consider how we can serve our customers’ needs even more effectively, whether online or in our stores. For many stores, that will mean curb‑side pick‑up and drop off. If you choose to buy online, we can ship to your home or make your new items available for convenient pick‑up at our stores.”
American Economy Took Several Hits Due to COVID-19
These moves are seen as part of a broader series of activities that companies are initiating to reopen the American economy. So far, the U.S. has been one of the worst-hit countries when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic. There have been over 1.72 million confirmed cases, 361,000 recovered, and 100,000 deaths.
The movement restrictions have had their effects too. Unemployment rates hit at an all-time high of 14.7 in April alone. Apart from this the financial markets have taken a beating almost daily since March.
As companies like Apple are looking into the economy reopening things may come back to some semblance of normalcy. Things won’t be normal for some time. At least not yet.
You can find other coronavirus updates here.