Apple closing Simi Valley store with no replacement ahead of 'iPhone 8' launch
Apple will close its Simi Valley, Calif. store on Sept. 15, the company has announced, despite an iPhone launch likely happening as little as a week or so later.
"Thank you for over 10 great years," a message on Apple's website reads. "The last day we will be open is September 15." With Simi Valley shuttered, the next closest locations will be The Oaks, Northridge, and Topanga, the latter of which is being renovated and will only reopen on Sept. 16.
The Apple retail chain has seen almost non-stop global expansion in the past several years, and may soon hit 500 locations. That makes a closure without a replacement unusual, particularly given the timing involved.
Apple is expected to announce three new iPhones -- the "iPhone 8", "iPhone 7s", and "iPhone 7s Plus" -- at a Sept. 12 press event, and ship them later the same month. The company should also reveal a 4K Apple TV and an LTE-equipped Apple Watch.
The Simi Valley outlet has presumably run into weak sales, making it difficult to justify given other shops nearby. It's not yet clear though what will happen to the store's workers.
"Thank you for over 10 great years," a message on Apple's website reads. "The last day we will be open is September 15." With Simi Valley shuttered, the next closest locations will be The Oaks, Northridge, and Topanga, the latter of which is being renovated and will only reopen on Sept. 16.
The Apple retail chain has seen almost non-stop global expansion in the past several years, and may soon hit 500 locations. That makes a closure without a replacement unusual, particularly given the timing involved.
Apple is expected to announce three new iPhones -- the "iPhone 8", "iPhone 7s", and "iPhone 7s Plus" -- at a Sept. 12 press event, and ship them later the same month. The company should also reveal a 4K Apple TV and an LTE-equipped Apple Watch.
The Simi Valley outlet has presumably run into weak sales, making it difficult to justify given other shops nearby. It's not yet clear though what will happen to the store's workers.
Comments
The Northridge and Topanga locations are always very busy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simi_Valley,_California
Changing the stores to be less about sales and more as demo / service though could happen.
https://youtu.be/IIdGxR-aU6o
It's truly sad to see it go.
Bye Bye Simi Apple Store!
Since you obviously have detailed knowledge of this failure, how about explaining your remarks for those of us who lack this intimate knowledge. Apple has been pretty good about scouting locations, so it seems unlikely that they would have moved into a mall that was a failure before then even got there. I guess they were lucky to last ten years.
It makes sense that they might have had a lengthy lease so mall owners couldn't ransom the space to Apple. But I think if Apple really wanted out, they could have left anytime they wanted. Any penalty would be tip jar money.
From the pic, it was a tiny store, and lack of traffic would have made renovation a poor ROI. One of the Apple Stores near me looked just like the Simi Valley layout. Almost a hole in the wall, but an elegant hole in the wall. Apple moved the store to another location within the mall with maybe eight times the customer floor space or more, and no Genius Bar but roving techs instead.
And it's still packed 95% of the time.
A decade ago it had a bunch of higher end boutiques including stores like Coach. Apple fit right in. Those stores are gone and so is Apple.
There's no mystery or involved backstory. Just yet another poorly planned mall that never got traction and is in the process of failing.
I saw them as an absolute necessity for Apple to succeed at a time when they were losing mindshare and Apple resellers were closing all over the place. There were a heap of reasons, many of which do not exist today, but the most important one was for Apple to offer direct contact with its clients. At the time, many Apple resellers were losing their reputations as complaints from customers against them rose and Apple was increasing pressure on resellers to increase sales and including more contractual obligations that made it more difficult to return unsold stock.
It was a terrible situation to be in and one of Apple's reasons for not opening their own stores was to not compete directly against the resellers.
In the end, Apple opened up its channel to include more larger, non-specialist stores, many of which later became mini Apple Stores within a store and then finally opened up it official retail stores.
Perhaps the single most important aspect of Apple retail isn't actually sales (as you correctly state, online will only increase) it is the one on one service offered to the customer (actual or potential) and the direct nature of that contact, be it product demos, repair evaluation, the possibility to hold and use the product etc.
No doubt Apple Retail could downsize the actual square metre count but they should never disappear although, shopping centres by definition do have their own problems (global foot traffic), today Apple has sufficient mindshare for customers to seek them out and casual traffic is far less important than it was years ago.
(Not in a mall but still not an online store) Even in our large malls in NY however, the apple stores are always the most crowded stores in the mall typically. If you want an appointment at the Genius Bar, you are going to have to pic a time a week in advance or more during weekend hours. I am most familiar with my local store near me in Manhasset Long Island, which gets zero out-of-town tourists, and it seems more crowded than ever, even on weekdays.