Apple is forever closing all 17 of its Apple Store retail locations in Italy due to the continuing spread of the coronavirus, based on notices posted on the company’s Italian website, as seen by Bloomberg. The store closings are effectively a formality, however, provided that the entire state of Italy has already been put on lockdown as of March 9th.
Apple has yet to state when the stores will reopen, only noting that the shops”will remain closed until a subsequent date.” Italy’s lockdown is presently set to lift April 3rd. While the shops remain closed, Apple is instead directing clients to its service site for both phone or web-based customer care.
The Italian shutdown marks the second major closing of Apple’s retail stores as a result of virus – the company had formerly closed all of its stores in China last month, although as of this week, all four of those Chinese shops have reopened.