Consumer electronics giant Apple is capturing the rise in demand from China and its neighbouring regions by opening its frist store in Hong Kong this month.
The new, two-storey store spanning 20,000 sq feet is to be located inside the International Finance Center Mall in Hong Kong’s central shopping and business district, Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu told Bloomberg. She did not specify a date, but The Ming Pao Daily has pegged 24 September.
The new store may help the maker of iPhones, iPods and iPads reduce its reliance on resellers to sell products in Hong Kong.
Sales of Apple products in the Asia-Pacific region increased 247pc to $6.3bn (€4.48bn) in the third quarter, Apple said.
The company has four stores on the Chinese mainland, the first of which opened in 2008. Those four stores generate, on average, the company’s highest traffic and highest revenue, chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer said in January.
Apple had 327 stores worldwide at the end of last quarter.
The MingPao Daily also reported that Apple may open two more stores in Hong Kong. One would be in the Lee Gardens at Causeway Bay and the other one would be in Tsim Sha Tsui’s Canton Road. The report didn’t cite anyone or say when those shops would open.
Photo: An Apple store in New York
