Apple Store Near Sydney Permanently Closing Later This Year

[MacRumors]

Apple today said its store at the Westfield Hornsby shopping mall, in Hornsby, Australia, will be permanently closing in October.

Apple Hornsby​

In a statement shared with Australian tech news website EFTM (via Reddit), Apple said that it has decided not to renew its lease at Westfield Hornsby. Apple said all affected retail employees will be given the opportunity to work at Apple's nearby store at the Chatswood Chase shopping mall, in Chatswood, which is set to reopen in October.

Hornsby is a suburb of Sydney, on the Upper North Shore. Apple opened its store there in 2011.

Apple Chatswood Chase has been closed for renovations for many months. Apple said the store will be completely redesigned, and it will offer an Apple Pickup station for collecting online orders, and a dedicated area for Today at Apple sessions.

Apple did not provide a specific reason for the Hornsby store closure, but it is clearly consolidating its North Shore retail presence into the Chatswood Chase store.

Apple has six other stores in the Sydney area.

Apple Hornsby will be at least the fifth Apple Store location to permanently close in less than three years. Apple is closing a store in Bristol, England next month, and it closed its store in the Chicago suburb of Northbrook in April. In 2023, the company permanently closed its Infinite Loop and Royal Hawaiian stores simultaneously.

On the other hand, Apple continues to open new stores in several countries, including the U.S., Spain, Sweden, Malaysia, South Korea, China, and others. In the U.S., Apple opened a new store in Miami earlier this year, and in the Los Angeles area last year. Apple is also planning to open a store in Downtown Detroit soon.

In Australia, Apple just relocated its store in Perth to a historic bank building.

Article Link: Apple Store Near Sydney Permanently Closing Later This Year

 

[Blackstick]

Most of the closures were in malls that died, or the area went to crap. Don’t blame Apple for not wanting to be there.

 

[wikiverse]

Cue the salty comments about no Apple store in the Melbourne CBD.

 

[Prattdizzle]

To be fair, Hornsby Westfield is not what it used to be. The foot traffic in apple's target demographics are diminishing. Apple would be better placed opening a store on the Central Coast in Erina.

 

[Xenex]

Wow, Apple retail expansion in Australia had stopped for years... and now it's actually shrinking!

Cue the salty comments about no Apple store in the Melbourne CBD.

With how everything played out with Feq Square, we're never gonna get a CBD store.

 

[goonie4life9]

Folks, Apple is a tiny startup with limited resources. Apple is pushing the bleeding edge of innovation, so this slipped under the radar. At the very last minute, Apple discovered the Westfield Hornsby store just wasn’t quite able to be a game-changing store that truly delighted ultra pro customers. So, Apple had to close the store, to ensure customers have the best possible experience. But, not to worry, because Apple will still ship to customers in that area. Apple can’t wait to see the incredible things customers are able to do with upcoming best pipeline ever. Stay tuned - Apple thinks you’re gonna love it!

 

[AboveallthatisRandom]

RIP R458 🫡

 

[bLackjackj]

Cue the salty comments about no Apple store in the Melbourne CBD.

There are enough Apple stores in the burbs, let alone needing another in the CBD.

 

[bLackjackj]

pple did not provide a specific reason for the Hornsby store closure

Does it need to? Clearly its not making enough revenue to justify. There's nothing unusual or newsworthy about American chains closing stores around the world.

 

[lross]

That store was always busy with crowds of people. Seems like a very bizarre decision to me..

 

[Xenex]

Does it need to? Clearly its not making enough revenue to justify. There's nothing unusual or newsworthy about American chains closing stores around the world.

This is the first time Apple have ever closed a store in Australia.

 

[digitalrampage]

Classic - run all the small resellers out of business and then close down your store leaving the community that long has supported Apple bare.

 

[Shirasaki]

Hornsby huh. That’s very unfortunate, considering how big that suburb is. With that being said, Chatswood has way more foot traffic than Hornsby ngl so keeping a store there makes sense. I guess soon people living in there would have to drive or train an hour to Sydney to purchase Apple products in store. At this point, only the south coast Miranda and western Penrith still has an Apple Store in Greater Sydney. It’s such a shame. Prior to that north south and west all have one flagship Apple Store, servicing 5m Sydneysiders alright.

On tangent of that, will Apple open a new Apple Store in Bradfield? Near the new airport. It would be interesting to see.

 

[KRiWOLF]

Did everyone collectively forget Apple Castle Towers exists..? it's closer than Chatswood and other Sydney stores.. or is it closing too?

 

[x86dude]

Leaving the busy Chatswood store closed for a year is madness.
Put up a temporary store nearby.

 

[svish]

Disappointing to see a store close down. However it might not have been having many customers and might not be making any sense to keep it open any further.

 

[tripleacs]

Too bad, I always bought my iPhone/Watch on launch day at Hornsby. Easy to get through and staff was always helpful. Repairs were easy to organise as well. The store has been getting busier in the last couple of years but I guess not enough.

 

[abdelrm]

That is so sad, I was there for the launch on opening day. Was the second person from a huge line that zigzagged around the corner. Got a black Apple shirt with the its white logo. Oh the memories.

 

[mxrider88]

To be fair, Hornsby Westfield is not what it used to be. The foot traffic in apple's target demographics are diminishing. Apple would be better placed opening a store on the Central Coast in Erina.

Yeah you don't see many 7 years old strolling in there anymore lately

 

[akyp11]

Not enough phone thefts nearby to sustain the store?
In London, UK there's always a long queue of people at the Apple Store who just had their phones stolen.

 

[mxrider88]

Not enough phone thefts nearby to sustain the store?
In London, UK there's always a long queue of people at the Apple Store who just had their phones stolen.

We have a mostly civilised country here luckily

 

[smartatarc]

There are enough Apple stores in the burbs, let alone needing another in the CBD.

Rubbish. In Melbourne there is no Apple store closer than 10 km from CBD (Highpoint) with the others all much further out, and none that are easily accessible by public transport. Melbourne absolutely does need a flagship city store - just not at Fed Square.

 

[richard779]

This is a bit sad actually, this store had some great memories (R458) this was the store where I have help to build and be part of the original team that works there.

It was always an odd location where Castle Towers Apple Store isnt too far away, and also Chatswood Chase wasnt too far either.

But hey, it has such a good memory for a few of us that was there at the beginning.

Best of luck everyone that still works at R458. Hope you will able to find yourself another position within Apple or Apple Retail, and for those unlucky few hopefully you will find something else after the life of Apple Retail.

Good luck everyone.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Not enough phone thefts nearby to sustain the store?
In London, UK there's always a long queue of people at the Apple Store who just had their phones stolen.

Reintroduce deportation to the colonies for phone theft, win-win 😉

 

[wonderings]

Pretty bizarre for people to be sad that a business is simply moving to another location, or merging with another location might be more accurate. This really is the cult of Apple.