Apple Store in Simi Valley Permanently Closing Later This Month [Updated]

[MacRumors]

Apple has announced that its retail store at the Simi Valley Town Center in Simi Valley, California, located approximately 30 miles from downtown Los Angeles, will permanently close later this month.

Apple Store at Simi Valley Town Center​

Friday, September 15 is the last day the store will be open. Apple provided thanks for "over 10 great years" and advised customers to visit its retail store list to find a nearby location. Apple Simi Valley originally opened in May 2006.

Apple hasn't publicly commented on the reason for the store's closure, but multiple tipsters have informed MacRumors that the location may have suffered from low sales and customer traffic — a rarity for an Apple Store.

At a minimum, the closure doesn't appear to be related to Apple's ongoing store renovation process across the United States.

There were high hopes for Simi Valley Town Center when it opened in 2005, but the outdoor shopping mall hasn't been as bustling as envisioned. The less-than-expected customer traffic may be partially due to an expansion of The Oaks Shopping Center in nearby Thousand Oaks, California in 2008.

Apple itself has a retail store at The Oaks that opened in October 2005, and several other locations in the greater Los Angeles area.

Over the years, Simi Valley Town Center has lost several retailers, including Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, Coach, American Eagle, Cache, Forever 21, and PacSun, according to the Simi Valley Acorn. Macy's also merged its standalone menswear store into its main location at the shopping center earlier this year.

A tipster informed us that Simi Valley Town Center may eventually be repurposed as an outlet mall, which could explain Apple's departure.

MacRumors has yet to learn whether the store's employees will be laid off or offered the opportunity to transfer to another location.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Update: In a statement provided to Quartz, Apple said it has "invested significantly in the surrounding stores" where many of the Simi Valley location's employees will be working.

We’re grateful to the millions of customers who have visited Apple Simi Valley since it opened more than 10 years ago. We’ve recently invested significantly in the surrounding stores, creating bigger spaces that feature our latest design. Apple Simi Valley will close September 15, the day before we re-open our renovated Apple Topanga. We invite our customers to visit us at Apple Topanga or at nearby Apple The Oaks, where many of their favorite Simi Valley Apple employees will be working.

Apple's nearby Westfield Topanga store in Canoga Park, California will reopen Saturday, September 16 following renovations.

Article Link: Apple Store in Simi Valley Permanently Closing Later This Month [Updated]

 

[Corrode]

Never heard of Simi Valley so I looked it up. Then I searched for all the Apple Stores in that area and around LA and holy crap there are a lot of Apple Stores around there! There are even some within walking distance to each other.

I thought I was lucky to have two in my city but California is ridiculous.

 

[GizmoDVD]

This mall has been dead for the last 5-6 years. The Apple Store would still be somewhat busy but there are other options not far away (Thousand Oaks is 8 miles and Woodland Hills maybe 12).

This is the first I've heard the mall could be repurposed as an outlet mall. They just got a brand new movie theater and a few bigger stores (Marshalls for example)

I would ALWAYS go here for service because he wait time was really low and most fixes were done within an hour.

Thousand Oaks was recently closed for 6 months during a remodel. Simi store was pretty busy during that time.

 

[madsci954]

So what will happen to the employees? Transfer to another store or are they out of a job?

 

[Mlrollin91]

I would ALWAYS go here for service because he wait time was really low and most fixes were done within an hour.

I relied on this store when the Oaks was too busy for Genius Bar appointments. Always had something available in Simi. I also went there for Launch day because its less busy. Now the Oaks is going to be even busier..
[doublepost=1504281725][/doublepost]

So what will happen to the employees? Transfer to another store or are they out of a job?

Probably transfer to The Oaks. When The Oaks had their 4 month remodel last year, the employees went to neighboring stores.

 

[Junior117]

Is this the first time an Apple Store has been permanently closed? Because I don't remember hearing anything like this happening.

 

[Joe Rossignol]

Is this the first time an Apple Store has been permanently closed? Because I don't remember hearing anything like this happening.

I know one small one closed in Japan at some point in the past year. But it's definitely extremely rare.

And a map for anyone curious about just how many Apple Stores exist in the LA area…
[doublepost=1504281991][/doublepost]

 

[Junior117]

I know one small one closed in Japan at some point in the past year. But it's definitely extremely rare.

And a map for anyone curious about just how many Apple Stores exist in the LA area…
[doublepost=1504281991][/doublepost]View attachment 715461

Seriously? Japan? Interesting. I figured you'd say somewhere else in the US, so I'm rather surprised to hear this.

 

[Joe Rossignol]

Seriously? Japan? Interesting. I figured you'd say somewhere else in the US, so I'm rather surprised to hear this.

Yep. Sapporo, Japan (reminds me of the beer):

 

[joeysan20]

Is this the first time an Apple Store has been permanently closed? Because I don't remember hearing anything like this happening.

They have been getting free rent for years as an incentive to keep them in the mall. The mall no longer has any decent stores, Macy's, Marshalls, Ulta and that is it. The rest are just small shops.

 

[newyorksole]

Definitely rare that an Apple Store permanently closes and isn't just relocating or getting a remodel.

Seems like some closures would make sense though. Especially this one.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

And a map for anyone curious about just how many Apple Stores exist in the LA area…

A lot of stores in the LA area but it's a bit deceiving because traffic is so horrible stores miles away from each other could also be 30 minutes apart. That is why there are so many stores.

 

[cmwade77]

This mall has been dead for the last 5-6 years. The Apple Store would still be somewhat busy but there are other options not far away (Thousand Oaks is 8 miles and Woodland Hills maybe 12).

This is the first I've heard the mall could be repurposed as an outlet mall. They just got a brand new movie theater and a few bigger stores (Marshalls for example)

I would ALWAYS go here for service because he wait time was really low and most fixes were done within an hour.

Thousand Oaks was recently closed for 6 months during a remodel. Simi store was pretty busy during that time.

Marshalls would fit with it being made into an Outlet mall and most Outlet malls are now adding a movie theater, it does help to ensure that there is always traffic because even outlet malls are struggling, especially in southern California where we can order almost anything we want with delivery in most areas in two hours for free or one hour for $7.99 and have it delivered to our doorstep, thus avoiding: driving to the store, finding parking, finding what we want in the store, checking out in what is usually a long line of people because there is only a few cash registers open, then driving home. Oh and did I mention Amazon is almost always cheaper? So, delivered to my doorstep for less than the hassle of going to the store and in all reality within about the same amount of time (yes, in most cases driving to the store, parking, finding the items and checking out really will take one to two hours) and I can be doing other things during that time.

Is it any wonder that malls and stores are struggling in Southern California?

There are certain stores that do continue to do well, these are ones that offer hands on experiences, which the Apple store is one of, but they are the exceptions and not the rule.

 

[EdT]

Article cites the source as being "A tipster". Was he a hipster tipster?

 

[cmwade77]

I know one small one closed in Japan at some point in the past year. But it's definitely extremely rare.

And a map for anyone curious about just how many Apple Stores exist in the LA area…
[doublepost=1504281991][/doublepost]View attachment 715461

You think that is something, add in Apple Authorized Resellers and repair shops. Really want some fun expand the search area down to San Diego and you will find that almost everyone in Southern California is within 20 miles of an Apple Authorized Reseller and Repair shop. To be honest, we all think of it as perfectly normal and expect that it would be that way anywhere we go.

 

[576316]

It doesn't matter how popular Apple Stores are, if they're situated within a failing shopping mall there's going to be terrible foot traffic. Not worth Apple's time to keep the store open when they could open a new one somewhere where there's more traffic.

 

[wilef]

I've been in the area for over a decade and saw the Town Center go up to lots of fanfare, then quickly plummet in popularity when The Oaks added their own outdoor section of the mall as well as a premium movie theater. In hindsight, an outdoor mall in bloody hot Simi Valley was a bad idea. Not sure the outlet mall would succeed either as the Camarillo outlets are huge and not far away.

 

[PG(Austin)]

Well, no wonder! Look at it, it's deserted!

 

[charlituna]

It doesn't matter how popular Apple Stores are, if they're situated within a failing shopping mall there's going to be terrible foot traffic. Not worth Apple's time to keep the store open when they could open a new one somewhere where there's more traffic.

This. And I live in that area. That mall is dead. The Apple Store was the only one with any traffic.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

It's the boon docks out there, literally live stock in people's yards and whatnot. It may be *relatively* close to LA but the two are worlds apart. I don't know how many people live there but it can't be a large number, I'd expect Apple would prefer people drive the 15-20 minutes to Thousand Oaks instead.

 

[Dusanyu]

I worked at Apple The Oaks when Simi Valley opened. Volunteered to staff the opening day, which I've attended many as an employee and a guest. We were all stunned to find that hardly anyone was waiting in line that morning! Within a few hours of opening the store it was empty once again. An ominous note for this doomed store... Sadly, this location was not meant to be. So strange to read about any Apple Store closing. But I'm truly not surprised it's Simi.

 

[Swift]

Major economic trend: the American Mall is crumbling. They are becoming less and less important. Amazon and other internet retailers are literally killing them. Like the old downtown department store, they are a vanishing breed. Click what you want, and either wait for the drone to knock on your door, or go to a local pickup spot for faster delivery.

 

[GizmoDVD]

It's the boon docks out there, literally live stock in people's yards and whatnot. It may be *relatively* close to LA but the two are worlds apart. I don't know how many people live there but it can't be a large number, I'd expect Apple would prefer people drive the 15-20 minutes to Thousand Oaks instead.

Could not be any less true.

 

[jayducharme]

I live near the largest mall in New England, and foot traffic there is hit-or-miss. Most of the time it looks as if people are just out for a walk rather than shopping. There's the usual increase around the holidays, but that alone can't sustain such a huge piece of real estate. And guess which store there almost always has a line of customers no matter what the time of year: naturally, the Apple store.

It's interesting to see how malls destroyed so many downtown businesses in the '70s, but now the malls themselves are being decimated by the Internet. Ironically, many downtowns are now starting to come back to life with a focus on boutique shops which previously would have been located in malls.

 

[iReality85]

I know one small one closed in Japan at some point in the past year. But it's definitely extremely rare.

And a map for anyone curious about just how many Apple Stores exist in the LA area…
[doublepost=1504281991][/doublepost]View attachment 715461

Wow, and here I thought having three Apple Stores within 1-1.5 hours highway driving time was a lot!

We have one here in Albany, NY and the two nearest stores outside ours are Syracuse, NY and Holyoke, MA.

(Although our store WAS one of the first to get the new remodel, though! )