Chinese authorities have shut down two fake Apple stores in Kunming days after an American blogger claimed of having spotted hoax stores in the city. The authorities said that the stores were closed as they lacked required business licenses.
One of the three fake stores spotted by the “BirdAbroad” blogger in the city was not closed down. According to reports, the officials did not find the store selling unauthentic products. Reports also add that the Kunming officials have so far investigated more than 300 vendors of electronic products in the city.
The moves comes days after an American blogger posted pictures of the fake Apple stores. The blog, which soon became very popular on Internet, also pointed out that the staff working at the store actually believed they were actually working for the American company.
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The blogger also highlighted the shoddy construction of the store and attempts to make the store look like a real one. The blogger also highlighted the shop front where it was written “Apple Store”. “Apple never writes ‘Apple Store’ on its signs – it just puts up the glowing, iconic fruit,” noted BirdAbroad.
The blogger did some more research and discovered that these Apple stores were not on Apple’s list of official resellers. It’s notable that Apple has just for genuine Apple stores in China, in Beijing and Shanghai. The company has no store in Kunming city, where the look-a-likes were spotted.
Even after the closure of the Apple stores, it’s not clear whether the stores sold Apple products, counterfeit products, binned units, or goods from a grey market source. Apple has not made any comment on the matter so far.
Image courtesy: BirdAbroad Blog
