Apple has five new stores in China on tap for the new year

January 16, 2015

Apple plans to open four more new retail stores in China in the next several weeks, according to the company's retail head Angela Ahrendts. Apple opened a new store location in the city of Zhengzhou last week.

In an interview with the state-run news agency Xinhua, Ahrendts said that these new stores will open before the start of the Chinese New Year, which begins on February 19. One of them will open on January 24 in the Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, near Shanghai. Xinhua's report said:

Ahrendts said Apple is hiring in China. The biggest challenge she sees is keeping up with demand while providing the same global customer service standards. She would not say where the other three other stores will be, but Apple's China website lists store jobs in 15 places, including Anhui, Guizhou, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Shanxi and Tianjin, none of which currently have Apple stores. One store in Shanghai is the busiest globally, receiving more than 25,000 visitors a day.

The new stores will increase Apple's retail presence in China to 20 locations. In October, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated the company will open 25 new stores in China over the next two years which will bring the total number to 40 locations.

Source: Xinhua; Via: Fortune