Apple temporarily closing its stores in Los Angeles due to COVID surge

Apple Store logo
Apple Store logo (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple has closed its retail stores in the Los Angeles area due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Reported by Bloomberg, Apple is temporarily closing its retail location in Los Angeles due to a rapid rise of COVID-19 cases in the area. According to the report, eleven stores that were already operating on an Express format will now be closed with no plan as to when they will reopen as of yet.

The Cupertino, California-based technology giant has several stores in Los Angeles, including major outlets at The Grove and Beverly Center shopping centers, Santa Monica and the Glendale area. On its website, Apple said it is closing 11 local stores beginning Saturday and two stores Friday. It didn't say when they would re-open.

Apple has been continuously monitoring whether it could keep a store safely open to the public since the pandemic began, and the latest trends in the Los Angeles area have obviously led the company to shut down its stores in order to keep its employees and customers safe.

Los Angeles has become the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic in recent weeks. Health regulations in the area allow critical businesses, such as those that sell work-from-home equipment, to remain open at reduced capacity. Other hard hit regions in California, including the San Francisco Bay Area, have yet to see Apple stores close again.

Many stores that are still open have now switched to an Express format that limits the stores to pickups and Genius Bar appointments. If your local Apple Store is fully closed, check Apple's website as the company is still offering delivery as fast as two hours in many major metro areas.

Joe Wituschek
Contributor

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.