Continuing the gradual processing of re-opening its stores, late on Sunday Apple Inc said, it plans on reopening more than 25 of its branded stores in the United States later this week, in a development that will see Cupertino open nearly a fifth of its worldwide brick and mortar retail stores.

In March, Apple had shut all of its physical stores outside of Greater China in response to the coronavirus pandemic. It had shut more than 50 Greater China stores in January and had reopened them by mid-March.

“Our commitment is to reopen our stores when we are confident the environment is safe,” wrote Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s head of retail, in a note on the company’s website.

Apple’s retail stores will impose social-distancing rules, and limit occupancy; some stores will offer only curbside or storefront services.

Incidentally, Apple does not disclose its revenues from its retail operations. Direct sales, including retail stores, web and corporate sales, accounted for 31% of its $260 billion in 2019 revenue.

Last month, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook declined to provide an outlook for the June quarter, citing business uncertainty created by the coronavirus. First-quarter sales in China were $9.46 billion, less by around $1 billion for the same period in comparison to a year ago.

Last week, Apple reopened five of its stores in the United States, requiring customers and employees to undergo temperature checks and wear masks before entering the premises.

Apple has 510 stores worldwide and 271 in the United States.

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