As previously announced, Apple will be permanently closing its Infinite Loop and Royal Hawaiian retail stores in the U.S. later today. Apple said all employees at both stores would be given the opportunity to remain with the company.
Infinite Loop served as Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California from 1993 until 2017, when Apple Park opened nearby. The store on the campus is located at street level near the entrance to the main office building, and it has sold a mix of Apple products and Apple-branded merchandise, such as shirts, reusable bottles, mugs, and notebooks.
After the Apple Park Visitor Center opened in 2017, the Infinite Loop store became redundant. The newer and larger Visitor Center carries Apple-branded merchandise, and it features a café, a rooftop terrace, and an augmented reality model of Apple Park. Apple also has a store at the Valley Fair shopping mall to serve customers in the area.
"After many years of serving customers at our stores in the Bay Area, we plan to close our store at Infinite Loop," said Apple, in a statement shared last month. The store will permanently close its doors at 6 p.m. local time today.
Apple's store at Infinite Loop first opened in 1993 as The Company Store, and it mostly sold Apple-branded merchandise. The location became a more traditional Apple retail store in 2015 following renovations, but it still lacked a Genius Bar.
Apple Royal Hawaiian in Honolulu will follow suit and permanently close its doors at 9 p.m. local time today, after over 15 years of operations.
"Apple continuously evaluates its retail footprint to ensure it is in the best possible position to provide exceptional customer service and support for its customers," the company said in a letter to Hawaii's Department of Labor and Industrial Relations last year. Apple has two other stores in Honolulu at Ala Moana and Kahala.
Apple operates 271 other retail stores across the U.S., and it opened a new store in Seoul, South Korea earlier today.
