Nike And Apple Announce They’re Closing US Stores In Wake Of Coronavirus Outbreak

While some retailers and chains are reducing hours, Nike and Apple have decided to close their US stores for the rest of the month in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

It’s a move that many anticipated was coming from retail businesses and it seems these two major brands are the first to do it. Nike’s closures, which were announced Saturday, extend to Canada, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand starting Monday and are scheduled to end March 27th, according to ABC News.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement that Apple is taking lessons from how it handled the outbreak in China and will also be shutting down its U.S. stores until March 27th.

“One of those lessons is that the most effective way to minimize risk of the virus’ transmission is to reduce density and maximize social distance,” Cook said in a statement.

Both companies said that customers can still shop their products online during the two-week closures.

It will be interesting to see which other chains and retailers follow suit and which businesses will remain open.

While not doing full closures, Walmart said starting Sunday, all of its stores would operate with reduced hours, from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., until further notice.

“This will help ensure associates are able to stock the products our customers are looking for and to perform cleaning and sanitizing,” Dacona Smith, Walmart’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, said in a statement.

Other businesses such as Macy’s, Target, Best Buy and Kohl’s said they will keep their stores open with normal business hours for the time being, but are conducting more cleaning in their locations.

What do you all thing businesses and restaurants should be doing during this time? Let us know and we will continue to keep you posted on coronavirus-related updates.