This is easily the largest robbery of an Apple Store that I have seen, and it doesn’t make pretty reading for Apple. Almost an estimated $1.5 million worth of Apple gear, yes, you read that right, was stolen from the Opera Apple Store in Paris on New Year’s Day, Le Figaro reports. The figure is yet to be confirmed, but regardless it’s a pretty huge blow to that Apple Store.
The robbery took place between roughly 20:50 and 21:40 local time on New Year’s Day, after the Apple Store had closed had 18:00. Two men in balaclavas entered the store via the back door, injuring the cleaning man who had just come out.
The only other employee present was a security guard, and he was held hostage (possibly at gunpoint) alongside the cleaning man as at least one of the two robbers cleared out the storage space of the shop, which of course had a number of boxes filled with iPhones, iPads, Macs and more. None of the demo devices were taken.
The boxes were then loaded onto a nearby van, which is still being searched for.
A source close to the investigation:
At first, we estimated that there was 1 million euros worth of damage, however a certain number of things that we thought were stolen had only been moved.
CCTV footage should reveal more, but it’s a pretty shocking robbery, and was definitely a professionally planned hit.
Amazingly, the Apple Store should continue to be open as normal, albeit with a lot less stock.
