Apple Watch Pop Up Shop in Galeries Lafayette Closing January 2017 Due to Poor Sales
Originally opened in 2015 as a high-end location for users to browse various models of the Apple Watch, particularly the gold Apple Watch Edition, Mac4Ever is now reporting that Apple will close its location in Galeries Lafayette effective January 2017. A number of upscale department stores launched Apple Watch pop up shops when the original wearable device debuted in 2015, including Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Selfridges in London, and Isetan in Tokyo.
Today's report cites a lack of sales at the Apple Watch-centric shop, along with an apparent reduction of employees over the past few months that had been in preparation for its January closure. The remaining employees will be given jobs at Apple retail stores around Paris once the pop up shop officially closes, including Apple's future location in Saint Germain, expected to open by the end of the year. The status and potential closing dates of the other luxury Apple Watch shops was not confirmed.
The shops were some of the select few locations that users could browse and purchase the high-end Apple Watch Edition, which in Series 0 began at $10,000 and went up to over $17,000. The "shop-in-shops" were noted as being located in easily visible areas in each department store, nestled next to other high quality brand locations, and ensured that "customers looking to make major purchases" only received "the best service possible." These locations only handled Apple Watch viewing and sales, however, with customers getting directed to other Apple retail stores for their support needs.
With Apple's shift to health and fitness over fashion and luxury in Apple Watch Series 2, it makes sense for Apple to eliminate its high-end pop up stores that were marketing mostly in the now-retired gold Apple Watch Edition models. With Series 2, Apple's new Edition device comes in white Ceramic and is noticeably cheaper, beginning at $1,250 for 38mm and rising to $1,300 for 42mm.
Popular Stories
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
iOS 18 will give iPhone users greater control over Home Screen app icon arrangement, according to sources familiar with the matter. While app icons will likely remain locked to an invisible grid system on the Home Screen, to ensure there is some uniformity, our sources say that users will be able to arrange icons more freely on iOS 18. For example, we expect that the update will introduce...
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
The next-generation iPad Pro will feature a landscape-oriented front-facing camera for the first time, according to the Apple leaker known as "Instant Digital." Instant Digital reiterated the design change earlier today on Weibo with a simple accompanying 2D image. The post reveals that the entire TrueDepth camera array will move to the right side of the device, while the microphone will...
Apple today released macOS Sonoma 14.4.1, a minor update for the macOS Sonoma operating system that launched last September. macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 comes three weeks after macOS Sonoma 14.4. The macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Settings. There's also a macOS 13.6.6 release for those who...
Top Rated Comments
Too bad Apple has been spending so much time on this useless thing while neglecting innovation and attention to their other products which actually sell.