The Chinese government has shut down two retailers in the city of Kunming, which are thought to be fake Apple stores.
Stores are not official retailers
Three 'hoax' stores, which feature identical décor as official Apple stores, were highlighted in the BirdAbroad blog, which is written by an American woman living in Kunming.
The blog, which labelled the stores as a "beautiful rip-off" highlighted the intricate detail in the stores that were designed to convince purchasers they were in an 'official' store, including a winding staircase, upstairs seating area and employees uniforms of blue T-shirts. Many of the staff the blogger spoke to were entirely convinced they were working for the tech giant.
However, following the publication of the blog, the government investigate the story and revealed that there were five unauthorised stores in the city but they were all selling official products. Two of these have been closed due to lack of business licences. Beijing and Shanghai are the only locations in China where Apple has official Apple stores.
Apple has declined to comment on the issue.
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Comments
Daibach42 said: a beautiful rip-off sounds the the Apple business model to me