Apple has temporarily closed the majority of its US retail stores for the safety of employees and customers as protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis continue to spread across the nation. Numerous Apple Stores from coast to coast have been targeted by looters, damaged, or preemptively secured and emptied of sales floor merchandise to deter damage.
Apple says store closures will last through Sunday. Some locations with extensive damage have indefinite closures listed on their webpages.
With the health and safety of our teams in mind, we’ve made the decision to keep a number of our stores in the US closed on Sunday.
Just 140 of Apple’s 271 US retail stores had reopened following COVID-19 precautions before protests erupted over the past week calling for justice for George Floyd. One of the first stores targeted was Apple Uptown in Minneapolis, which was vandalized, boarded up, looted, and then reinforced a second time.
Subsequent protests saw stores damaged or looted in Portland, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Charleston, Washington, D.C., Scottsdale, and San Francisco. Apple products stolen from stores are rendered inoperable after leaving the building and can be tracked by authorities. The safeguards haven’t deterred protestors. Even the construction site at Apple’s Tower Theatre restoration project appeared to be breached on Friday night.
Follow our retail guide for in-depth coverage of the latest Apple Store news.
Minneapolis is grieving for a reason. To paraphrase Dr. King, the negative peace which is the absence of tension is no substitute for the positive peace which is the presence of justice. Justice is how we heal.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) May 29, 2020
Top photo via Zac Hall: Apple St. Johns Town Center in Jacksonville, FL emptied out of precaution on May 30, 2020.
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