Premium reseller closes store after Apple Saket opens its doors – Times of India

The first casualty after Apple opened its own stores in India isn’t a rival but its own premium reseller – imagine – which has now shut its door nine years after opening a store at south Delhi’s Select CityWalk, where the United States-headquartered technology firm opened its second store in the country last week. The premium reseller wasn’t even part of the 20-odd brand list that Apple prohibited the mall from opening stores near its outlet.
“The mall operator did not extend imagine’s lease as it felt the company owned store will do higher sales and there was no need to have another company selling the same brand,” said an executive, who did not wish to be identified.Apple and imagine did not respond to ET’s queries till press time.
According to people privy to the information, Apple has about half-dozen authorised resellers in India who offer additional cashback and discounts on product sales to customers. The imagine store in Select CityWalk opened in 2014 and the store owner was told by the mall operator that it will not extend the lease.
“Most of the retailers have a nine-year lease, with rent escalation every three years. For premium brands, mall operators usually extend the lease on expiry. Had Apple decided to open a flagship store elsewhere in Delhi, the imagine store would have continued its operation,” said another person.
Select Infrastructure Private Limited had signed the lease with Apple in July 2022 and had communicated to imagine after that, suggesting it won’t be able to extend the lease despite the store performing well.
In the contract, Apple has given list of 20 brands that cannot have store near it – Amazon, Bose, Devialet, Facebook, Foxconn, Alphabet/Google, Huawei, Intel, Lenovo, LG, Microsoft, Nest, Nokia, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Vivo, Xiaomi, Oppo and OnePlus.