Stonestown Galleria Grand Opening
September 25, 2004

The fog was blowing over the Stonestown Galleria in the southwestern portion of San Francisco, adjacent to the San Francisco State University campus when I arrived about 6:20 a.m.. Today was the grand opening of Apple's second retail store in the city, although this part of SF seems very far from Apple's distinctive downtown retail store. This mall was renovated several years ago into a "galleria" and now sports several upscale stores. Albert had already arrived at 5:30 a.m., with Thomas not far behind him.

The friendly mall security guards opened the doors to mall walkers just before 7 a.m., and Albert and Thomas hurried to their #1 and #2 places in front of the store--surprise! It was brightly-lit on the inside, but there was black paper covering the all-glass front façade. The front doors were open briefly and I took some shots inside and out, but then the Apple security guard closed the doors while cleaning work continued inside. At 8 a.m. two workers removed the black paper window covering, and a shoplifting alarm inside the Apple store had finally been silenced after about 20 minutes. About 8:30 a.m. there were 18 people in line, and we turned our attention to a small brown mouse that appeared to the right of the Apple store--it ran back and forth between the adjacent storefront and a nearby kiosk. Obviously a "wireless mouse," the creature ventured around the planter boxes--and then ran right around my right shoe and disappeared under the kiosk again! There were about 40 persons in line at 8:50 a.m., and then 88 in line at 9:30 a.m.

The space was formerly occupied by Victoria's Secret, which moved directly across the hall. However, the Apple store doesn't occupy the entire vacated space, only about one-half. The other half, to the right of the Apple store, is still covered by black-painted plywood, and is empty except for some construction storage.

By now, the skylight over the hallway better illuminated the hallway, which had been pretty dark. Apple's cleaning crew made their customary run at the front windows, swiping away any fingerprints or dirt on both the inside and outside. A worker toiled on the stone floor to make sure it was spotless. The store staff was tweaking the appearance of the interior, and employees from other Apple stores were arriving to help with the grand opening.

At about 9:45 a.m. there were 125 people in line, heading down the hallway and then snaking around the corner. And then the mouse reappeared! The adjacent Herbal Comfort kiosk sells those buckwheat husk-filled headrests and aromatherapy herbal pillows, and that's where he appeared on a shelf, running from one end to another. The kiosk crew tried to corral him, but he couldn't be caught. Just then, two Apple employees reached down to pull open the front doors, and the mouse scampered right for them! Fortunately they hadn't yet opened the door, so the mouse scampered to the far corner of the store?and disappeared!

At 10 a.m. manager Leland appeared outside the store with a sample of the T-shirt. He walked back up the line, welcomed the crowd and then waved in the those at the head of the line. Nick, a 10 year-old Mac enthusiast wearing a "Think Different" baseball hat was the first allowed into the store. There was the traditional "high-five" greeting and clapping, and lots of enthusiastic customers.

After checking out the store and congratulating the manager, I received my boxed T-shirt and headed outside, where the line had grown to 148 persons at about 10:45 a.m., forcing the mall security guards to set up a snaking path around the lobby to keep from blocking other open stores.

Thanks to Brent from Southern California for the Northridge retail store T-shirt--which he literally gave me off his back while inside the store! Ah, he was wearing two shirts at the time.

Watch the grand opening video!