Earlier this year, Apple got the green signal to have its first company-owned retail store in India. Fast forward to now, the company has confirmed Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai as its first home in the country.
The upcoming Apple-operated store will come up in Maker Maxity mall, which is in the heart of the commercial hub and is co-owned by Reliance Industries. It is quite close to Apple’s Mumbai office too.
Some preliminary details of the flagship store have also surfaced via Economic Times. Apple has leased around 20,000-25,000 sq ft of space in BKC for the store, which will span across three floors. It will be “at par” with the Apple stores in Hong Kong, with each level serving a different function. One floor will be a dedicated experience center for people to check out the latest Apple products. Another one for retailing and the top floor will be a service center.
This will by far be the biggest Apple store in the country, surpassing the franchisee-run 8,000 sq ft Flagship Apple Premium Reseller store in High Street Phoenix, which opened in August.
It will be the first company-owned, company-operated store by Apple in India, but more are expected to follow in major cities like New Delhi later on. Earlier, norms called for foreign companies with more than 51% foreign direct investment (FDI) to locally source/manufacture at least 30% of the products they sell in India. However, a reform passed in August allowed single-brand license holders to include exports and contract manufacturing in the 30% sourcing as well.
Apple shared a statement from the time of that announcement “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. 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.”
