Apple adds brand appeal to mall
NORWALK — As it unveiled its newest holiday event featuring the star of the “Wrap Battle” TV series, The SoNo Collection took the wraps off a retail addition that is not news to many, but no less notable: Apple, which will open the company’s first store in Connecticut in more than five years at the state’s newest mall.
Apple will be located on the first level between Aerie and Lillian August near the entrance to Nordstrom, one of two department stores at the South Norwalk mall along with Bloomingdale’s.
If no longer a novelty, the Apple store remains a draw for malls as foot traffic attested this past weekend at Westfield Trumbull and Danbury Fair. It will be Apple’s eighth Connecticut store and its first new location in the state since 2014, when the company added locations at the Westfield Trumbull mall and Evergreen Walk in South Windsor.
The SoNo Collection, which will will offer a free giftwrapping service Saturday featuring Kimberly
Kennedy of “Wrap Battle” on Freeform, has been opening stores on a rolling basis. The process will extend into next year, with the Pinstripes bowling bistro and Artee Home the latest additions last week. Apple will join Amazon 4star at the Norwalk mall. A spokeswoman for SoNo Collection said Apple will not be added to the mall’s online directory until the store opens.
While CEO Tim Cook spent more time six weeks ago talking about the App Store during Apple’s conference call to discuss fiscal 2019 results, he noted the walkin stores remain a significant driver for sales, particularly for new products like the Apple Watch, which debuted in 2015 paving the way for other “Wearables” like AirPods and Beats earphones.
“Our Wearables business ...generated more annual revenue than twothirds of the companies in the Fortune 500,” Cook said in late October. “As to what’s driving it? It’s the totality that’s driving it — for some people, it’s about fitness; for some people, it’s about health; for some other people, it’s about communication; and for some people, it’s all of the above.”
Two years ago, Apple revamped its store at Danbury Fair and in September opened a remodeled store in Manhattan that is twice the size of the earlier layout and is now open 24/7 yearround.
Apple also certifies other retailers to sell its products, with the Connecticut list of authorized resellers including TBI Computer on Westport Avenue in Norwalk.