Apple’s first retail store in India is opening soon

Apple will be opening its first retail store in India in Mumbai, according to a short notice on the company’s website.

“Hello Mumbai,” the notice reads. “We are getting ready to welcome you aboard our first store in India. And raring to see where your creativity takes you at Apple BKC.” Apple’s website says the new store is “coming soon,” but the company didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment for more details.

The store will be at the Jio World Drive mall and is reportedly 22,000 square feet. You can see a few exterior pictures of the new location in this Reuters article.

The Mumbai store in India isn’t a total surprise. CEO Tim Cook said in 2020 that Apple would open its first retail store in India in 2021, but that was delayed because of the pandemic and then delayed to the first quarter of this year. The company obviously missed that estimate, but it seems that Apple is nearly ready to welcome customers to the store.

Recently, the company also began hiring for then-unannounced stores in India. Yes, stores; the company has been hiring for “various locations” within the country, which seems to indicate that more retail stores will come to India in the future.

Apple has been investing more into India for some time. It launched its online store in the country in September 2020 and has manufactured many flagship iPhones in the country.