The title of the world’s largest Apple Store has moved around the world a few times, but the location Apple announced four years ago as its biggest flagship store opens on Saturday in Dalian, China. The store is in the spectacular-looking Olympia 66 shopping mall at 66 Wusi Lu in the Xigang District of the popular tourist city.
You can see more photos of the mall below …
Update: An anonymous source cited by MacRumors claims that Apple is planning a major expansion of its retail store program in Latin America, with the first two stores slated for Mexico City. A blurry photo of a claimed internal recruitment document (below) is provided.
The tipster claims the first Mexico City store will be located in the upscale Via Santa Fe area of Centro Santa Fe, the largest shopping mall in Latin America, while the second store will allegedly be in a prominent shopping district and adopt Apple’s next-generation store design used in Brussels, Cupertino, Dubai and elsewhere.
Other countries are also said to be in line for their own Apple Stores, including Chile, Peru and Argentina.
Apple’s rapid expansion in China continues apace as it works toward its target of 40 retail stores in the country by October of this year. The company is currently opening one Apple Store a month, with #27 in November, #28 in December and now #29 set to open this Saturday in Shenyang.
Apple is mostly opening its Chinese stores inside major shopping malls, and this will be the sixth to open in a MixC mall.
This will be Apple’s second store in Shenyang, which is a major commercial hub for north-east China. The city has a population of just over eight million, and is noted for trade with Japan, Russia and Korea.
China is also known for counterfeit Apple products, with Dom recently taking an amusing look at some of the knock-offs he found in a recent visit to Shenzhen.
Apple is making good progress with its aim of having 40 retail stores open in China by next October, announcing that the 27th store will be opening on Saturday in the Chaoyang Joy City shopping mall, Beijing. It will be the fifth Apple Store to open in China’s capital city.
Apple has doubled its year-on-year revenue from China for two quarters running, with the country already representing a larger market than Europe and on track to become a bigger one that the USA …
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Apple is continuing to aggressively expand across China with several stores, and the latest location is opening up in Chongqing on March 7th. This marks the third store in the region, and this one’s address is 55 Xiejiawan Street in the Jiulongpo District. While the first pair of stores in this region were located on busy streets with magnificent exteriors, this third store is placed inside of the area’s MixC shopping mall, which opened up in fall 2014. Apple executives Tim Cook and Angela Ahrendts frequently note how critical China is to Apple’s success, and the pair have said that dozens of stores are opening in China over the next couple of years. Over the past year, China has become the vast majority of where Apple’s revenue is sourced from across the globe. (Via @iFostore)
