For all the pictures, check out
my web gallery.
Okay, I admit it. I'm the kind of person who will stand in line for stuff like this. I've seen quite a few midnight showings of movies on their release day. In 2004 I stood in line to get a copy of Halo 2 for the Xbox at midnight. A couple of months ago, I stood in line to to get an iPhone on its launch date. What's wrong with me (and others who do the same thing)? Am I simply too impatient? Did I have to be at the Oxmoor Mall for the grand opening of Louisville's new Apple Store? I mean couldn't I go this weekend and avoid all crowds?
Certainly. But that's not why we go.
Such activities are an event themselves, a pinpoint in one's personal history that merges with the history of significant cultural events. Standing in line with folks you don't know personally, but with whom you obviously have much in common makes for great conversation despite a lack of personal history. You can look back and say, "I was there--there on the very first day."
But I'll tell you, in spite of all the lines I've stood in, I've never been to an event quite like the one last night. This was my first Apple Store grand opening, but there were people there wearing t-shirts from grand openings at other locales. We had been promised that the first thousand of us would get a free t-shirt commemorating the event. I got there about an hour before the doors were to open, and there was already a line more than 100 yards long. You really can't tell from the picture on the right, but we are about a football field's length from the Apple Store. The line ran from the store down to the end of Oxmoor Mall's east wing. Then it zig-zagged through ropes set up for the occasion. Then it zig-zagged a few loops more which is where I stood. Then, before the doors even opened, the line went back down the wing again on the other side another hundred yards. I would guess that there were a couple thousand people there last night. I'm sure management at the mall was thrilled about this new store. But the poor guy at the cell phone kiosk in the middle of the wing looked anything but thrilled. With hundreds of folks lined up on both sides of his booth, he wasn't getting
any business. And since he was not selling iPhones,
this crowd wasn't interested in what he had to offer.
As I said, this was my first Apple Store grand opening, and although I've been to other such events, I have to say that this was the most energized crowd I've ever been part of at this kind of thing. Everyone was excited, and occasionally people would burst into cheers or applause at the other end of the wing and all of us would join in--even if we didn't know exactly what it was for. The shot on the left here isn't that great because the iPhone isn't good at action shots. But at about ten minutes before the store opened, all the employees--clad in lime-green t-shirts--ran out of the store and started high-fiving all of us waiting to get in. They ran all the way around the crowd, which would almost be like running around a football field (although not quite as wide), and some of them ran it twice. Not only were we, the customers, taking pictures and video, so were many of the employees. They were like cheerleaders and we were like participants in a pep rally. Later, I would notice that as people in the store walked out with purchases, there were Apple Store employees stationed at the door who would cheer and applaud for them.
If there is indeed a "
cult of Mac," then such events serve as revival services to stir up the faithful. It made this techno-disciple feel connected to the larger body of devotees after feeling quite alone at times over the last decade when many times I would be the sole Mac user in a Windows environment. As I stood in line and looked at the immense number of people who had gathered, I thought to myself, "I never realized there were this many Mac users in Louisville." For us Mac faithful, if the Apple Cupertino headquarters is Mecca, then Apple Stores are the local mosques--holy ground if you will. And this was our pilgrimage. After all those times strolling through the aisles of software at the local office store and seeing nothing but Windows programs, here was an entire wall of Macintosh apps. Last night I looked at all the offerings, many I didn't even know existed. For all supposed claims that the Mac is not a business computer, I was surprised to see all the software geared toward business: finance software, accounting and bookkeeping packages, billing and receipt software.
The Apple store also had every one of the new iPod offerings that had just been announced the day before. Amazing. In fact, the iPods were definitely the focus of most of the displays in the store. Something I didn't realize until I saw it up close--there are no longer any
white iPods. Everything's metal now. For what is being called the iPod Classic, one can choose between silver and black, but the iPod's original all white front is now gone from every model and line. Also, the new iPod nano which has unfortunately been dubbed the "fatty" based on early pictures, did not come across that way at all when it was in my hand. It takes holding it to get it, and it's surprisingly smaller than I realized it was simply from seeing the pictures. I don't think I would ever be in the market for any iPod again because my iPhone meets that function, but the new iPod nano's form factor would comfortably fit in just about any pocket.
Finally, before I left, I took a moment to look around the store and reflect upon the evening. The place was packed, and there were still people waiting in line who probably would still be waiting in another hour or so. What other company can pull off such devotion? I mean first, the timing was right. The mall opens at 9 AM, but the Apple Store didn't open its doors until 6PM--right about the time everyone is leaving work. But think about it. When Victoria's Secret or the Gap or even a Sony Style store opens in a mall, do people turn out by the thousands? No. And realize that such devotion is based on consumerism, a consumerism that's driven by regularly introducing new products so as to convince you that what you spent money on last time is now obsolete.
All of the sales people were extremely friendly. I didn't leave to cheers (because I didn't purchase anything), but I did get my t-shirt and friendly farewells from the Apple Store employees. One of the workers, a young man in his twenties with bright red hair said to me, "Isn't this great?!" He seemed just as enthusiastic about being an employee as the rest of us felt about being customers. I said, "Yeah. Hey, are there any grand opening specials going on tonight?" I hadn't seen any indication of such, but often stores such as Best Buy will offer tremendous sale price savings for the entire week when a new store is opens. He smiled, and without hesitation said, "No, really the free t-shirt is the special tonight." Makes sense. There was a steady stream of people to get in, and another steady stream of people walking out with iPods, iPhones, and iMacs. Why on earth would they need to run specials.
Cult of Mac, indeed.
But at least I got my t-shirt.
Don't forget to see all my pictures of the Apple Store Oxmoor Grand Opening at my
web gallery.
Tags: Apple, Macintosh
