On July 29, 2025, according to Epoch Times, Apple announced the closure of its Dalian Century City store in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, on August 9, 2025. Apple did not disclose the reason for the closure. The news of “Apple’s first closure of a directly operated store in China” quickly became a hot topic on July 29.
According to Apple’s official Chinese website, the “Find a Retail Store” section indicates that “Apple Century City will cease operations at 20:00 on August 9”.
When a reporter from Epoch Times called Apple’s official website in China to inquire about the reason for the closure, there was no response as of the time of publication.
The Dalian Century City store opened on October 24, 2015, making it Dalian’s first and Liaoning Province’s second official Apple directly operated store.
According to Shenzhen News Network on July 28, in recent years, the number of Apple’s directly operated stores offline in China has continued to increase, covering most provinces nationwide, making store closures relatively rare.
Prior to this incident in 2020, Apple closed its existing Apple Store in Building 6 of Sanlitun Tai Koo Li, in Beijing, on the mainland, and subsequently opened a new store in the Sanlitun area. The new store not only has a larger area but also features an upgraded design concept, aligning more closely with the user experience positioning of “immersive service.” This closure of the old store and the opening of a new store were part of a renewal and upgrade process for the store.
Currently, there are 49 Apple Store retail outlets in mainland China (including the Dalian Century City store and the new store opening on August 16 at 99 Xinhulu Road, Bao’an District, Shenzhen).
Regarding this, netizen “KIMI_更木劍八” speculated on the reason for the closure, saying, “Dalian Century City was positioned as a high-end shopping mall, equivalent to Beijing’s 798 Art Zone, but it started to decline ten years ago and has now become a low-end shopping mall that no one visits.”
“珊一珊0BOS6” commented, “Once the first one is gone, the rest will follow quickly, the domino effect.”
“dngzdly888” believed, “The closure is likely to protect core technology, unrelated to making money.”