Lowe's, which is one of the largest home-improvement retail outlets in the country, has offered consumers the ability to use Apple Pay through the Lowe's mobile app or via its website. However, consumers who wanted to use Apple Pay at one of its retail stores were out of luck. You couldn't use it at its retail locations.
However, now, according to a story on Macrumors.com, those who want to use Apple Pay at a Lowe’s retail store are able to do so. Lowe's had initially been a holdout in offering the service to customers.
According to another story, this one from 9to5Mac story, Lowe's not only started offering Apple Pay last week, but it has "also tap-to-pay support for contactless credit and debit cards as well."
How many stores offer Apple Pay at retail?
One of Lowe’s goals may be to attract more customers, since Home Depot currently doesn’t offer Apple Pay.
But Home Depot isn't the only large retail outlet not offering Apple Pay. For instance, Walmart is another large retail outlet that currently does not offer the ability to make purchases via Apple Pay. But there appears to be a host of other stores that don't accept it. According to macreports.com, big retailers that do not currently accept Apple Pay include Sam’s Club, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Kmart, among others. Additionally, macreports listed several fast food chains and restaurants not taking Apple Pay, including Applebee’s, Arby’s, Cheesecake Factory, and Wendy’s.
But Apple is continuing to evolve its pay service, by adding more options and opening it up to other markets. For example, earlier this year, in late March, Apple rolled out Apple Pay Later, to customers who want to make Apple Pay payments using four installments over the course of six weeks to break up the cost of their purchases. In effect, the new option is similar to other "Buy Now, Pay Later" services that are offered by companies like PayPal, Affirm, and Klarna.
