In brief: When the Covid-19 pandemic first struck, tech companies were forced to close most of their physical retail shops, provided they weren’t considered essential. Apple was hit particularly hard by these closures: it temporarily shut down a whopping 270 locations throughout the US. However, as the world begins to recover from and vaccinate against the virus, Apple has been able to return to normalcy.
As of writing, the company has fully reopened all of its US locations. Obviously, Apple is still being careful. Many locations — particularly those in highly-populated areas — are still employing some restrictions and Covid-19 protection strategies.
For example, some locations require customers to make an appointment before entering the store or only offer pre-arranged product pick-ups. Neither of those options is ideal, given the walk-in shopping experience Apple Stores previously boasted, but they’re certainly better than nothing.
All things considered, it’s somewhat impressive that Apple has recovered as fast as it has. Its US stores haven’t been universally open since March of last year, but that still means the company took just under a year to get back on its feet (not that it’s ever necessarily been at risk of collapsing).
If you were itching to walk back into your local Apple store throughout 2020, you might finally be able to now — just be sure to bring your mask.