14 DAY TRIAL // An official investigation kicked off after a blogger’s discovery of five fake Apple stores in Kunming, China, has prompted local authorities to close down two of the establishments, while investigations continue to determine what needs to be done next.
On her blog, American blogger and Kunming resident Jessica (BirdAbroad) described one of the stores as a "beautiful ripoff - a brilliant one - the best ripoff store we had ever seen."
Key architectural elements like the winding staircase, an upstairs seating area, as well as the employees themselves wearing blue T-shirts and big ID lanyards, aimed to fully replicate a real Apple store.
However, the blogger took a closer look and realized it was all fake. The employees themselves, whose name tags only said ‘staff,’ actually believed they worked for Apple.
If copying an Apple store is not necessarily illegal, duping your staff into believing they work for one of the world’s largest companies surely is.
BirdAbroad’s story circled the world and reached over 500,000 in less than 48 hours since the author had submitted the post.
In what was an obvious scenario, pretty much every technology publication picked up on the story and reported it to their readers, making it a matter of time before the fake stores’ managers would be paid a visit by Chinese authorities.
According to newspapers close to the Kunming area, trade officials found five stores posing as official Apple retail outlets.
It is unclear why only two of them have been closed. According to reports, their owners lacked a business license.
The managers of the stores that are still standing reportedly said they were not going down without a fight.
According to media reports, one of the stores’ managers said "I am sure we will become their authorized reseller in the near future...After all, we invested a lot in this store...There is no Chinese law that says I can't decorate my shop the way I want to decorate it."