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The Rules When I arrived at the Sanlitun (Beijing) retail store for the July 19, 2008 grand opening, I noticed several people inside an adjacent space that was empty (unleased?). The space was labeled with a sign on the side of the building as "Orange." After a couple of minutes, an Apple employee motioned me over and I discovered this was a location reserved for those who intended to wait overnight. Nice! The space was the size of a basketball court, had a wood floor, restrooms, power outlets in the floor, a supply of Apple-supplied bottled water, and was air-conditioned. The front of the space was nothing but glass, so we could see out onto the plaza and across to the Apple store. However, the space came with some restrictions. First we could not leave for more than one hour, cumulative taken. So you could leave for 30 minutes twice, or one-hour once. If you returned after one-hour total time, you'd receive another numbered wristband with a higher number. The rule was explained very completely and politely as a way of keeping everything fair for the persons who arrived very early. It was definitely a strict rule, but applied courteously and with great deal of common sense by those assigned to monitor the rule. This restriction last from noon to about 4 a.m., when they started allowing people to wander out onto the plaza to take photos, smoke a cigarette, etc. Then the restriction began again about 6 a.m., when a staffer would note your wristband number on the way out, then check it on your way back in. I should say that I left for perhaps just over an hour, and didn't receive a replacement wristband. And I didn't talk to anyone who had the rule applied to them. So while it might seem strict, it was really no big deal. On the other hand, the limitation on leaving meant that we were unable to interact with any employees inside the store--although plenty of people came by the front glass of the waiting space to gawk at us! It was little unnerving to inside the windows, with people snapping photos of us and pointing. The restrictions combined with two another factors--the mall is almost completely unfinished except for the adjacent Nike and Adidas stores, and those two stores weren't generating much visitor traffic. This meant that we had absolutely no contact with passersby, other shoppers or anyone who stop, ask questions and are amused at other grand opening events. In fact, I rarely saw someone come into the plaza and go into the Nike store across from our waiting space. In my short time out in front of the shopping complex, I also didn't see many people going into the Adidas store (although on a later visit to the store on Monday following the grand opeing, Adidas was busy, Nike not so much). The location of the complex makes it a transit point for pedestrians and vehicles, not a destination--at least not yet. People who are walking by the complex are enroute to somewhere else. Cars area zipping past the complex enroute to some other place, too. So, while everyone was certainly thankful for the space, protection from the heat and humidity, the electric power and the Wi-Fi connection, it also certainly took away from the usual interactions of an Apple store grand opening. Lastly, on several blue-colored easel boards posted around the room, and at the waiting space entrance, there were several rules listed--a first for Apple:
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