Apple has previously faced hurdles in opening physical retail stores in the country, with 2021 launch plans delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Apple products, however, have been sold in India for years on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc’s Flipkart, as well as through resellers.
The first retail store is located in the premier Reliance Jio World Drive mall, home to various luxury clothing and jewellery brands like Michael Kors, Kate Spade and Swarovski.
The brightly-lit store was “inspired by the iconic Kaali Peeli taxi art unique to Mumbai,” Apple said in a statement, referring to the city’s decades-old yellow and black taxis.
People were taking selfies and recording videos on their smartphones outside the store on Wednesday evening, with the Apple logo decked out in a variety of colours and a version of the classic Apple greeting showing “Hello Mumbai”.
