Apple To Open Its Flagship Retail Store In Mumbai Next Month

After multiple delays, tech colossal Apple will reportedly be opening its first retail store in India in Mumbai next month. 

The company plans to open its second store in New Delhi soon after, according to an ET report.

The flagship Apple stores operate as a showcase platform for Apple products and also provide technical support for customers. 

Apple’s upcoming Mumbai store would be a part of Reliance Industries’ premium Jio World Drive mall and will span 22,000 square feet, similar to Apple’s outlets in Los Angeles, New York, Beijing, Milan, and Singapore.

The Delhi store will come up at Select Citywalk mall in Saket and will be spread over 10,000 sq.ft. It is also scheduled to be launched in the June quarter, a few days after the launch of the Mumbai store.

The fitouts for the Delhi store were completed ahead of the Mumbai one. “But since Mumbai will be the flagship Apple Store in India, it will open first next month. The Delhi one will open soon after,” a source was quoted as saying in the report.

Based on the availability of global Apple executives, the opening date for the Mumbai store will be finalised.

Earlier this year, the Cupertino-based company put up vacancies for hiring local talent at its retail stores in India. In total, Apple announced 12 job roles, including technical specialist, business expert, senior manager, store leader and ‘genius’.

Apple announced its plans to open three company-owned stores across major cities in India way back in 2020. However, the Covid-19 pandemic delayed its plans and the company opted to launch an online store in the country in late 2020.

The opening of retail stores also highlights the increasing importance of the Indian market for the iPhone maker. Recently, Apple undertook a major international management reshuffle to make India a separate sales region. 

During Apple’s Q1 earnings call, CEO Tim Cook said he was very bullish on India. He said that the country posted an all-time high iPhone revenue and double-digit growth in the installed base of active iPhones during the quarter. 

India has also emerged as an important manufacturing hub for the US-based company over the last couple of years or so. The company exported iPhones worth over $2.5 Bn during April-December 2022, with outbound shipments crossing the $1 Bn mark in December 2022.

Meanwhile, Apple supplier Foxconn is reportedly looking at investing $200 Mn in Telangana to manufacture AirPods.