Apple says it is expanding its COVID-safe “Express” retail stores, with a counter protected by plexiglass at the front of a store, ahead of the holiday season
(Reuters) - Apple Inc AAPL.O is expanding a new physical store format as it tries to get iPhone 12 models into customers' hands …
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple's Express format lands between two halves of its pandemic retail year. In May it had begun reopening 25 US stores plus 12 in Canada, part of nearly 100 locations back online globally — a reopening cadence that repeatedly broke against new case surges. The plexiglass-counter format is Apple's answer to that whiplash: a way to keep handsets moving during the iPhone 12 holiday window even when full store interiors shut.
First-order effects
- iPhone 12 customers get a front-of-store pickup and sales point that works without entering the main floor, protecting the holiday quarter's hardware launch.
- Store staff are re-tasked around a single protected counter, changing how each location handles volume during peak season.
Second-order effects
- When cases surged, nearly 100 stores worldwide closed from December 14 onward — validating why Apple built a format that can operate at reduced footprint rather than fully closing, since Express counters can stay functional where interiors cannot.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, pandemic-era adaptations fold into permanent store design: Apple's longer-term plan for 53 new, relocated, or remodeled stores through 2027 suggests retail layouts will absorb the flexibility the Express format proved out.
The trend: Flagship retail is shifting toward modular store formats that keep selling through disruption, with Apple's Express counters as the template.