Well, that sweet, glorius day has finally arrived! The Apple Store at the Bridge Street shopping center finally opened! I got up early on Saturday, May 31, went down to wait in line for the Grand Opening event. I arrived at 7:30 AM and there were only 8 people ahead of me! Fortunately, the spots near the front of the line were near some benches so I didn’t have to sit on the concrete.
From what I heard in the line, no one was allowed to camp out the night before, and I was surprised to find out that some actually tried. I thought about it for a few fleeting moments, but I enjoy a warm cozy bed too much. That and my camp-out partner had other plans.
It was a pretty slow morning, with a few folks drifting towards the back of the line every so often. However, around 9 AM, more and more folks were showing up and the line was at least 100 people deep, stretching all the way to the bridge over the canal. At about 9:45 all of the Apple employees (about 35-40) came running out in their bright orange and blue t-shirts and gave everyone a rousing high-five! I kinda woke the crowd up and got them ready for the opening.
Once we were allowed in, all the employees again gave us high fives, and I started shopping. Sadly, I wasn’t in the market for anything new. With the World Wide Developers conference in two weeks and the rumor of a new iPhone hanging in the air, I wasn’t about to drop a lot of money on a new iPod… as much as I would love one. I did play with the iPhones and the iPod touches, and they had the new MacBook Air which IS as cool and small as it looks on TV!
I left after 15 minutes because it was SO crowded and they weren’t letting anyone else in until a few people left. I got my free t-shirt, which was what I camped for. I had heard the some stores gave away larger items like an iPod or iMac to the first 10 or 20 people, but sadly, that didn’t happen here.
I did take home an enjoyable experience, a new shirt, and these pics.