Apple is planning to expand a new “Express” store format that will make it easier and safer for customers to purchase new Apple devices, including the iPhone 12 lineup, reports Reuters.
The Express store format features a wall built around the front of the main Apple Store with temporary sales counters that are protected by plexiglass, similar to a bank. There are shelves of accessories behind store employees, and customers can pick up items at stores after ordering online, or talk with Apple’s staff for help.
Apple has been using curbside pickup in some areas where there are serious coronavirus outbreaks, but Apple’s retail chief Deirdre O’Brien told Reuters that curbside pickup doesn’t work well in shopping malls and downtown shopping centers where the “curb” is far from the store location.
For these situations, the Express format is preferred. Apple has been testing it at 20 stores in the United States and Europe, and is expanding it to 50 by the end of the month.
Read more at MacRumors.com