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- iStore has started to build revamped, upgraded stores in South Africa.
- Three premium stores have been built so far.
- The CEO of iStore South Africa, Chris Dodd, said the infrastructure update comes "despite the economy".
- For more stories, visit the Tech and Trends homepage.
iStore has started to roll out premium stores in South Africa, upgrading its iStore infrastructure despite the prevailing economic conditions in the country.
This is according to Chris Dodd, the CEO of iStore, who was speaking at the launch of the Sandton premium partner iStore last week.
Dodd explained that this was the third iStore to get a revamp in South Africa, and said there were less than 100 premium partner iStores worldwide.
“Despite the economy we continue to build these sorts of spaces to have a better engagement with our customer base.”
The other premium stores were built in the Midlands and in the Eastgate shopping centre in Johannesburg.
Dodd said that there were 33 iStores in South Africa and six others in other countries in Africa.
The first iStore in South Africa opened in 2005 at the Waterfront in Cape Town.
He said that the hope was to continue building more premium partner stores in South Africa.
“Hopefully there are lots more others to come around the country," he said.
Differences to normal stores
The premium stores are larger than other iStores, explained Dodd.
In addition to the floor space of the old iStore in Sandton City, the new premium store took over space from Nintendo and a shoe shop.
There has also been a visual redesign of the store.
Beyond the aesthetic differences, the premium stores will offer a variety of training sessions to help people get familiar with Apple technology and be equipped with a technical service lab that will speed up repair times for Mac computers.
Take a look at the store in Sandton City during the launch:
