London is burning in riots and while the administration is busy trying to bring peace, law and order has gone for a toss in London. The rioting is on since 4 days now in London and this situation has proven to be a good opportunity for thieves and vandals to loot shops / homes freely. While the rioting has not spread across London, several areas are affected and Apple Stores being one of the easy targets for thieves have taken measures to protect themselves.
While some Apple Stores are reported to have taken out all their inventory (yes only furnitures remaining). The Apple store at Paradise Street (Liverpool) has wiped off all their stock leaving behind nothing for looters to take away.
The Apple store at Regent Street (yes the place where we saw massive lines for iPad 2) has police protection and it is reported that they shut down early to avoid any unwanted incidents.
TNW has reports from several twitter users of Apple stores and resellers empyting stocks and some even sticking a ‘no stocks left overnight’ label outside their shops.
TUAW has a snap of some 40 iPhone 4 boxes stacked up and kept on sale online. This is suspected to be stolen goods from Apple Stores in London. No confirmed though.
On a happier day, this is how the scene outside the Regent Street store in London looks like:
No estimates on loss of business is available, we aren’t even sure if Apple store online ordering is working fine.