Apple Mini-Stores Headed to Target

Apple’s long-running relationship with Target is about to get a bit more serious.

Target today said it plans to test Apple mini-stores at a few dozen of its retail locations this year, expanding a partnership that to date has seen it selling only iOS devices.

“We will have 25 stores with a unique display and assortment [of Apple products],” Target spokeswoman Dustee Jenkins told MarketWatch.

First reported by AppleInsider last week, the move is a wise one for both companies.For Target, it’s a good way to invigorate its softening electronics business, which forced the retailer to cut its earnings forecast last week. And for Apple, it’s another means of expanding its retail reach into smaller locations that can’t support a standalone Apple Store. The company inked a similar deal with Best Buy in 2007, debuting a handful of mini-stores at several of the big box retailer’s locations. Today, some 700 Best Buy stores across the United States feature an Apple shop.

Apple declined comment on the arrangement.