Stoneridge Mall Grand Opening

September 18, 2004

Thomas was the first person in line for the grand opening of the Stoneridge Mall Apple store at 6:15 a.m. Naturally, the mall was still closed, but everyone knew that "mall walkers" were routinely admitted at 7:30 a.m., and a security guard came to the locked west-side door to confirm that. We spotted a few Apple employees driving up and walking into the employee entrance--they were wearing those bright blue shirts! Well, 7:30 a.m. came and went without any visit by security to open the door. So about 7:50 a.m. the group of about 12 persons bravely walked over to the employee entrance, went down the back hallway, and into the main hallway of the mall to arrive at the front of the Apple store. There were two or three Apple employees inside, dressed in the those bright blue shirts. But only a few lights were turned on, the back-lit Apple logo was turned off, giving the store interior a pretty strange appearance.

The store is about 24-feet wide and 60-feet deep, with not-common inset doors to prevent them from blocking the mall hallway while open. It features the now-standard stone floors and wooden furniture, Genius Bar with dual LCD screens, and smallish Genius Bar counter.

More people began joining the line almost immediately, as several persons broke out laptops to surf the Web using the store's AirPort network. One man showed up with a Newton, and said he still used the device for e-mail, notes, car travel and expense tracking. Unlike the overnight sessions, there seemed to be more persons over 45 in line, including many women. Staffer Matt came by with two dozen Krispy Kreme donuts for the crowd--with napkins! Many of those in line were veterans of previous grand openings, including an ex-airline pilot who as at the Ginza grand opening, and another man whose Apple logo T-shirt I spotted at many other Apple events.

By 9:30 a.m. there were 142 persons in line, leading out to the curb of the west mall entrance. More Apple employees arrived, and some were spotted pushing carts of iPod Minis from a storeroom into the back entrance of the store. Passersby at this hour consisted mainly of other mall employees arriving to open their stores, and some nearby kiosk employees. There were a few curious persons who asked, "What do you get free?", but generally those in line waited without any attention. Staffer Matt tried once to get the crowd to do "The Wave," but somehow it just wasn't working! Mall security set us stanchions to keep the orderly crowd…well, in order.

At precisely 10 a.m. Dawn, the store manager, appeared at the head of the line holding a black T-shirt. She welcomed the crowd, asked if we were ready, and then quickly returned to the front door to wave in the first group of persons. The store lights were flicked on, and the line moved into the store to the sounds of "Celebration" and the whoops of both the employees, who lined up on both sides of the retail floor to welcome everyone into the store. The crowd was enthusiastic, and then quickly took to examining the store, including the new iMac G5s.

Lots of people immediately filled the five stools at the Genius Bar, and within five minutes there was a line of 8-10 persons at the rear cash register position. There were at least two iMac G5 purchases during the first 40 minutes of the store being open, and the first purchase was met with whoops and cheers from the staff and the crowd.

When I left at about 10:45 a.m. there were 192 persons in line to get into the store, trailing out the west entrance an onto the mall sidewalk. Since the store could only hold a certain number of persons, it was going to be slow going for those waiting--just like other grand openings, someone had to leave the store before others would be allowed in.

The store is what I'd classify as "down-sized" and not a "mini." That is, at about 1,440 square-feet of retail space, it's smaller than the 3,000 and 4,000 (and larger) retail stores that Apple has opened before. But it's also larger than the smallest store I've analyzed in the Santa Rosa Plaza--less than 300 square feet! So, perhaps there are several different standard sizes now: large, small, down-sized and mini-stores.

Watch the video of the grand opening.