The snow flurries ended, the sun went down and the temperature began to drop again just before the grand opening of the West 14th Street (NYC) store this evening. Perhaps it would have warmed us up if we knew celebs would be attending. The crowd of about 800 on the 14th St. sidewalk began to spill over onto 9th Avenue, and eventually led all the way west onto 15th Street. Crowds of passersby began to form about 5 p.m. as the crowd grew, as workers who were headed home noticed the crowd and stopped to watch and take pictures. The line had been moved between bicycle fencing around 3 p.m., and now made three back-and-forth trips along the 14th St. sidewalk west of the store. As 6 p.m. neared, four Concierge staffers came outside in the their teal-colored T-shirts to pump up the crowd. The staffers inside posed for photos on the uppers levels of the stairs, and then dispersed to their work stations to greet the incoming visitors. At 6 p.m. the security team motioned in the crowd with the admonition, “Slow…slow,” and we went inside to a deafening roar–clapping and yelling and music–to grab our T-shirts and poster tubes. Three stories above, staffers crowded the rail and rimmed the staircase to provide applause and excitement. The crowd mostly made for the third floor where you redeemed any prizes, or hung out on the ground floor. And then everyone spotted Mary J. Blige on the second floor, palling around with Whoopi Goodberg. They both signed autographs and Blige posed for photos. It seemed that most people were more interested in the prizes and celebrities than the rest of the store, and there seemed to be little buying. By the time I left at 7:45 p.m. the line reached substantially west on 15th St. behind the store–I hand counted over 1,600 in line, with nearly 100 people standing around just watching. Check the comments for more info and also full report that includes photos.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
What were the prizes? Did you get anything good? What did people win? And it’s Mary J. Blige by the way. [IFO -- The prizes included varying amounts of the entire line: MacBook, shuffle, iPod touch, iTunes Music Gift Card. I won a shuffle--thank you, Apple! And I made the correction to Ms. Blige's name.]
nevermind, i got the prize list on your other posting. still hope you won something!
go apple!
Will you be uploading any more photos? [IFO -- Am working on posting opening day photos...but I'm fried to do it Friday night!]
I think you mean Mary J Blige and Whoopie Goldberg! [IFO - Corrections made..thanks.]
My friend and I arrived just before 6 pm, and waited on line for just under 4 hours. Unfortunately, they ran out of t-shirts before that, but we got the posters and iTunes gift cards!
A lot of people seemed to think Apple would just be handing out iPods left and right. One woman that got in line a bit behind us asked, “Is this the line for the free iPods?!”
Also, I haven’t seen the shirt. Is it like the shirts the employees were wearing with the subway train letters/numbers, or was it your standard “{Apple} West 14th Street” shirt? [IFO -- I haven't taken my out of the box, so don't know.]
Andy Samberg (of D*** in a box fame) and Seth Meyers (another SNL cast member) were in the store at around 8:45 or 9. They both bought either a Macbook or a Macbook Pro–couldn’t see through the bag. I love those guys–very funny.
Did you notice that the billboards on the roof had changed to “Now Open” as well from the iPod info earlier in the day? I wonder if they’re using any “insta-change” technology or if they had two guys go up right after the store opened? [IFO -- Actually, the "Now Open" billboards we prepared early, hanging above the iPod versions. I heard the crowd roar maybe 15 minutes before opening, but couldn't see the billboards set back on the roof. Someone had pulled a rope and the new versions unfurled over the old.]
Yes that’s the shirt. The poster is of a ton iPhones all lined up all on Google Maps showing New York. Each search box says “Apple Store” and and has a little pin in the three New York stores.
Is the owner of this site on Apple’s payroll? There is no mention of the chaos and the lowsy crowd control. Apple must have been rushing to open this store by Christmas and completely cut corners. [IFO -- Ha! Good one! No. I was at the ftont of the line and didn't see any problems that others have reported. So I've let the comments do the reporting on that angle.]
I was up at the front of the line, too. There were a few people joking about what they’d do if they didn’t get a laptop and a situation where one fellow was calmly removed from the line, but the chaos must have been in the minutes and hours following the actual opening.
It may have been a pain having to stand for most of the day, but, from reading some of the other stories, I’ll take get in and get out by 7:30 and heading home over linebreaking, poor crowd control, etc. Congrats on the Shuffle, BTW :)