Apple Inc said it is to reopen more than 25 stores across the US and 12 stores in Canada this week, adding to nearly 100 global locations that have reopened to customers after closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some stores would offer only curbside or storefront service, the company said in an e-mailed statement.
In a letter to customers by Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president for retail and people, the company said that it is “focused on limiting occupancy and giving everybody lots of room,” with a renewed emphasis on one-to-one service throughout each store.
Photo: Reuters
There are to be temperature checks conducted at entrances and face coverings would be required for all employees and provided to any shoppers without one.
“A store opening in no way means that we won’t take the preventative step of closing it again should local conditions warrant,” O’Brien wrote.
The US Apple stores set to reopen are in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Oklahoma and Washington state.
The Cupertino, California-based tech giant is in the process of reopening most of its retail sales network across Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Australia. It plans to reopen 10 of its 17 stores in Italy this week, it said on Friday.
Apple closed all of its stores in mainland China early on in the novel coronavirus outbreak, which it reopened a few weeks later as the pandemic was reined in across the country. It then closed all of its stores outside greater China until it started a gradual reopening with its Seoul location recently.
Separately, Walt Disney Co is to partially reopen its Disney Springs entertainment and shopping complex at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida on Wednesday, it said on Saturday.
Disney and unions representing workers at Florida’s Walt Disney World reached an agreement on safeguards to protect employees from the coronavirus, a union statement said on Thursday, removing one of the company’s hurdles to reopening its popular theme parks.
The company said third-party operating participants would open at Disney Springs this week and three stores and venues owned and operated by Disney — World of Disney, D-Luxe Burger and the Marketplace Co-Op — would reopen later this month.
“While our theme parks and resort hotels remain temporarily closed, the phased reopening of Disney Springs is a welcome milestone as we navigate through this unprecedented time together as responsibly as we can,” Disney Springs vice president Matt Simon said in a statement.
The entertainment giant said that it was implementing safety measures and operational changes such as cashless or contactless payment options, a requirement to wear “appropriate” face covering, temperature screenings, social distancing practices, increased cleaning and disinfection procedures.
In the US, Florida is ahead of California, home to Disneyland, in reopening businesses that were closed starting in the middle of March.
Shutting theme park gates cost the company US$1 billion from January through March, Disney said earlier this month.
About 120,000 of the company’s workers were placed on unpaid furlough, many of them theme park “cast members,” as Disney calls them.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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