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

[EdT]

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.

Actually, this is a big city trend. In small towns that are well away from a large population hub UPS and FedEx use the US Postal service to deliver to lightly populated areas, because the Post Office is required to service those areas whether it is profitable or not. The same isn't true for UPS or FedEx, and I'm assuming Amazon will also us the USPS to deliver to small population zones.
[doublepost=1504294922][/doublepost]

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! )

Omaha, the closest town to me has 1 official Apple Store and 1 commercial store that also sells Apple. In fact, it probably sells more Apple products than the official store in Omaha does.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Calling Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks part of the greater Los Angeles area is a pretty broad generalization. They are both in Ventura County, assuredly a separate place, with a substantial population. I'm hoping with the closure of the Simi Valley store that Apple will finally open one in western Ventura County, which is now close to an hour from any Apple Store.

 

[citi]

I live in Simi Valley. The outdoor mall was dead the day the opened it. It's literally a wind tunnel with no cooling fans or heating towers so during the winter, it was too cold to go to and during the Summer it was way too hot. Also. all the good restaurants left because they couldn't survive there (Simi people have cheap tastes I guess) and the clothing retail was pretty abysmal. The Apple store was the only reason to go to the mall, and the movie theatre. That's it for the Town Center now.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

Could not be any less true.

I have driven through Simi and literally saw horses (and I believe other animals) in people's yards. Unless a lot changed in the past 12 months I know what I saw.

edit: confirmed with 30 seconds on Google. They even advertise horse friendly and chicken coops.

https://www.horseproperties.net/properties/California/Ventura+County/Simi+Valley/20378

That's a nicer property, drive along the roads just north of the freeway (sorry, not nearly familiar enough with the area to provide street names) and you'll see houses that don't have lawns but something more like a dirt patch with some scrubby weed growth and horses. I could swear I saw chickens there too. People ride their horses along the roads there too. For being only an hour or so outside of LA it's quite rural. There are certainly newer developments there too but a good portion of the city is hanging onto it's rural roots.

edit: here's another with two covered horse stalls and a chicken coop.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1094-Casa-Grande-Dr-Simi-Valley-CA-93063/16463564_zpid/

I don't know why this fascinates me so. I suppose it's like upstate New York, just an hour out of the city it becomes so different. You go from Manhattan to forests and tractors in such a short span. LA has a lot more sprawl but similarly you go from a very large city to pickup trucks and horses in about the same amount of time.

 

[Chopstick Avenger]

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

Apple has never closed a store before. At least not in the decade that I worked there. Simi Valley was cursed from the beginning. Someone forgot to send out the email blast when they first opened 10 years ago. Only 100 or so people showed up to their GO instead of the thousands of people that usually attended back then. This was also the first and only Apple Store to raffle off iPods to draw traffic. Apple signs 10-year leases. They're probably excited to get out of there.

 

[1rottenapple]

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 related news, Apple said its Westfield Topanga store in the Canoga Park neighborhood of Los Angeles reopens Saturday, September 16 at 10:00 a.m. local time. (Thanks, Storeteller!)

Article Link: Apple Store in Simi Valley Permanently Closing Later This Month, Possibly Due to Lower Sales [Updated]

Man I'm from Simi and it's a bummer. The crappy mall's only reason for existence is the Apple Store. Damn :-(
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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.

Seriously I'm from there and it's a horrible idea. They demolished the beautiful rolling hills that mall used stood on and replaced it with a failing concrete structure with so little foot traffic employee stand around for hours waiting.

 

[Neepman]

Damn. That was my secret store to get phones on launch day. I'm not kidding. The money in Simi shops in Thousand Oaks so an Outlet mall conversion makes sense. Although I suspect it will be one with second tier stores. As others have said there is a massive one twenty miles away in Camarillo.

 

[venom600]

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

That's not even all of them. Just off the map to the right (literally a mile or two east of where the map stops) you have the Apple Store at Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga which is insanely busy all the time and has expanded in recent years being the only store in the inland empire.

 

[fairuz]

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.

I used to live in LA and only ever heard about Simi Valley because, for some reason, the news reports tons of violent crimes in that area. Like, half the news is murders in Simi Valley. It's also where they trade the money in the movie The Big Lebowski.

 

[bopajuice]

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.

Simi Valley is not the most affluent area in Los Angles County. My guess is Apple has priced itself out of the area. Most average hard working people should not and would not spend $900 for a phone or $1300 to $6000 or more for a computer.

 

[1rottenapple]

I used to live in LA and only ever heard about Simi Valley because, for some reason, the news reports tons of violent crimes in that area. Like, half the news is murders in Simi Valley. It's also where they trade the money in the movie The Big Lebowski.

Simi is one of the safest areas. It's been top ten safest in cities in the usa. We have a large population of LAPD that live in the area. Heck I have three on my block.

 

[GizmoDVD]

I have driven through Simi and literally saw horses (and I believe other animals) in people's yards. Unless a lot changed in the past 12 months I know what I saw.

edit: confirmed with 30 seconds on Google. They even advertise horse friendly and chicken coops.

https://www.horseproperties.net/properties/California/Ventura+County/Simi+Valley/20378

That's a nicer property, drive along the roads just north of the freeway (sorry, not nearly familiar enough with the area to provide street names) and you'll see houses that don't have lawns but something more like a dirt patch with some scrubby weed growth and horses. I could swear I saw chickens there too. People ride their horses along the roads there too. For being only an hour or so outside of LA it's quite rural. There are certainly newer developments there too but a good portion of the city is hanging onto it's rural roots.

edit: here's another with two covered horse stalls and a chicken coop.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1094-Casa-Grande-Dr-Simi-Valley-CA-93063/16463564_zpid/

I don't know why this fascinates me so. I suppose it's like upstate New York, just an hour out of the city it becomes so different. You go from Manhattan to forests and tractors in such a short span. LA has a lot more sprawl but similarly you go from a very large city to pickup trucks and horses in about the same amount of time.

There is some small farm/ranch areas but its mostly 3 bedroom houses/condos. It's pretty much suburbia with a touch of white trash.

It's very safe. The mall was pretty much dead since they opened and all that is left is Victoria Secret (which is directly across from Apple) and the brand new theater they spent years building. One of the Macys already closed. It's mostly pop up stores, karate school, radio station and garbage.

 

[jw2002]

Simi is one of the safest areas. It's been top ten safest in cities in the usa. We have a large population of LAPD that live in the area. Heck I have three on my block.

Simi Valley became well known during the Rodney King trial in the early 1990's. If you are a lawyer defending 4 cops caught on video beating someone, then Simi Valley is where you want your jury pool to be from.

 

[fairuz]

Simi is one of the safest areas. It's been top ten safest in cities in the usa. We have a large population of LAPD that live in the area. Heck I have three on my block.

I know, it's considered a safe area, but for some reason the news seems to cover crimes in the area a lot more than elsewhere.

 

[Glassed Silver]

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.

I have zero in my state's third biggest city here in Germany.

Go figure.

Glassed Silver:ios

 

[Neepman]

Simi Valley became well known during the Rodney King trial in the early 1990's. If you are a lawyer defending 4 cops caught on video beating someone, then Simi Valley is where you want your jury pool to be from.

The Rodney King Jurors came from the entire County's jury Pool. Only TWO were Simi Valley residents. Research before you slander.

 

[simonmet]

I used to live in LA and only ever heard about Simi Valley because, for some reason, the news reports tons of violent crimes in that area. Like, half the news is murders in Simi Valley. It's also where they trade the money in the movie The Big Lebowski.

Sounds like Sandy Shores, Los Santos.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

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!

Jiminy Christmas!!!, Apple blessed the local populace with a means to part with their money and you all were "stunned" that people weren't queuing-up for this honour; end times indeed.

 

[alex2792]

There's an Apple store in pretty much every mall in the LA area. I have 4 Apple stores within 15 miles of my house.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Simi Valley is not the most affluent area in Los Angles County. My guess is Apple has priced itself out of the area. Most average hard working people should not and would not spend $900 for a phone or $1300 to $6000 or more for a computer.

Good thing too since it is not even in Los Angeles County.

 

[Rocketman]

Apple has the highest revenue per sf as any retailer including jewelry stores. So to close down is interesting because it was probably still profitable, but below their standards, with a negative trend.

 

[D.T.]

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

View attachment 715464

Not seen : additional Ninja security personnel.

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

Not sure, but I have on good authority this is the guy ...

 

[bopajuice]

Good thing too since it is not even in Los Angeles County.

Doh. It's so close I can't keep track. My apologies. Been a while since I've been up that way.

 

[konaelaine]

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)

It has been painful watching all the decent stores flee or be forced out for the theater. The minute it opened I knew it was doomed - an outdoor mall with a half-sized Macy's was never going to fly. Every other store I shopped closed one by one. And the recent addition of Marshalls didn't really add a bigger store - it is just 2nds and other junk - reminds me of a thrift store but messier.
I was actually happily surprised that Apple remained through the desertions. T.O. is not a bad second choice, but it was sure nice having this one just up the street.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Doh. It's so close I can't keep track. My apologies. Been a while since I've been up that way.

Well okay but I'd already mentioned that it is in Ventura County, though both of the Ventura County stores are closer to Los Angeles County than they are to western Ventura County, which is not served by any Apple Store. Santa Barbara is actually closer, and it is not very close at all.