Apple to Open First Store in Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai

Apple to Open First Store in Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai
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Highlights

Reportedly Apple has leased around 20,000-25,000 sq ft space spread over three floors in the mall located in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC).

Apple Inc. has chosen Mumbai's Maker Maxity mall, co-owned by Reliance Industries, to open its first company-owned iconic outlet in India, says report. Reportedly Apple has leased around 20,000-25,000 sq ft space spread over three floors in the mall located in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC).

Reports say that Apple is importing the fixtures and furniture for the new outlet and may take around eight months to a year to complete. The outlet may probably start by September next year. Manish Maker, a partner in Maker Maxity with RIL as the other JV partner, did not respond on this report.

The upcoming Apple store in BKC will be the largest in India till date. It will be three times the size of its largest franchisee run 8,000 sq ft outlet in Mumbai.

"This COCO (company-owned, company-operated) store will be at par with Apple stores in Hong Kong that are in the range of 20,000 to 25,000 sq ft," said a second person adding Apple has taken the mall space on a revenue-sharing model with the shopping centre. "The Mumbai flagship store will be on three levels – one floor dedicated as experience centre, another floor for retailing and the top for the service centre."

The Cupertino-based tech giant plans to open its fully-owned iconic outlets in India were gathering dust with the government for years as India mandates companies applying for more than 51% foreign direct investment (FDI) through single-brand retailing route to locally source 30% of the products they sell in India.

Apple did not respond to particular questions on their plans for the store opening in India and in its place sent a statement that it had issued in August when India relaxed single brand norms.

"We love our customers in India, and we're eager to serve them online and in-store with the same experience and care that Apple customers around the world enjoy," the Apple statement said. "We appreciate the support and hard work by Prime Minister Modi and his team to make this possible, and we look forward to one day welcoming customers to India's first Apple retail store. It will take us some time to get our plans underway, and we'll have more to announce at a future date."

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