As part of the company’s rapid expansion in the greater China region, Apple is planning to open their first store in Hong Kong this month, Bloomberg reports:
The store, located inside the International Finance Center Mall in Hong Kong’s Central shopping and business district, will debut this quarter, said Carolyn Wu, a Beijing-based Apple spokeswoman, declining to specify a date. The Ming Pao Daily reported two days ago, without citing anyone, that it will open the two-story store Sept. 24, spanning 20,000 square feet.
For Apple, which says it’s only “scratching the surface” in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan after sales in the region surged six-fold last quarter, the IFC store may help the company reduce its reliance on resellers to sell products in the city. The shop will be Apple’s fifth store in the China region, which has generated about $8.8 billion in revenue in the past three quarters, or 11 percent of Apple’s total.
“The iPhone is one of the leading smartphones in the Hong Kong market,” said Sandy Shen, an analyst at Gartner Inc. in Shanghai. “The sales momentum for the iPhone is still very strong, and we see the growth being maintained for the next few quarters.”
