Why Apple Stores Pay Less Rent At The Mall

Apple stores bring in so much business that the company pays less rent per square foot at U.S. shopping malls, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Tuesday. Most stores pay 15 percent of their sales in rent but Apple stores pay no more than 2 percent of their sales.

A store's rent price is generally based on how much money the store expects to earn in that space, which contributes to the mall's overall performance. Apple stores typically generate $6,000 in sales per square foot per day, though top earners can bring in as much as $10,000, sources told the Journal. Apple stores generate about 10 percent more in sales than other stores at the mall.

The company, based in Cupertino, California, has roughly 450 Apple Store retail locations around the world, 265 of which are located in the U.S. The Apple stores have replaced traditional department stores as the key anchor that malls use to attract affluent customers.

But while Apple generates most of the foot traffic in malls, insiders said the stores don't necessarily encourage shoppers to visit other stores in the same way traditional retailers once did. “There are a lot of people who go to Apple and leave,” D.J. Busch, a senior analyst at the real estate research firm Green Street Advisors, told the Journal. “Apple doesn't promote cross-shopping as much as healthy department stores do.”