The one in Atlanta was supposedly about twice as long as the line they had at opening day. We got there around 10:20 and we didn't get into the store until about 12:25am.
There was finally no line to get into the Palo Alto store after about 1:30 AM. It was still packed though. The line was deep, probably just under 1000 people at its peak. A boatload of Jaguar was sold, and hardware as well. I was pretty amazed at the turn-out...it rivaled the grand opening.
Oh, and Steve Jobs showed up. I'll upload pics later. Steve Jobs, Ken Bereskin, Ron Johnson, Phil Schiller (and his son!) were all there.
I got to the Tysons one at 8 45 about.... and waited... i got in there, and got the family pack... there were only about THREE family packs I saw... i got me my mouse pad, OS X, and a t-shirt, also there were....
STICKERS!
Yeah, i and my brother entered to win an iMac. The line extended to an exit of the mall at which it turned right back around. They were using the Genius Bar as Registers.... I did not stay long enough or go beyond the first fourth of the store to see what was going on.
I feel sorry for all those people who did not get in. they should have cut of the line at a certain point so these people whould have at least no had to wait in line! <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
There was finally no line to get into the Palo Alto store after about 1:30 AM. It was still packed though. The line was deep, probably just under 1000 people at its peak. A boatload of Jaguar was sold, and hardware as well. I was pretty amazed at the turn-out...it rivaled the grand opening.
Oh, and Steve Jobs showed up. I'll upload pics later. Steve Jobs, Ken Bereskin, Ron Johnson, Phil Schiller (and his son!) were all there.
<hr></blockquote>
I should have gone. It's not that far. I thought someone from Cupertino might show up.
<strong>I got to the Tysons one at 8 45 about.... and waited... i got in there, and got the family pack... there were only about THREE family packs I saw... i got me my mouse pad, OS X, and a t-shirt, also there were....
STICKERS!
Yeah, i and my brother entered to win an iMac. The line extended to an exit of the mall at which it turned right back around. They were using the Genius Bar as Registers.... I did not stay long enough or go beyond the first fourth of the store to see what was going on.
I feel sorry for all those people who did not get in. they should have cut of the line at a certain point so these people whould have at least no had to wait in line! <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>
You mean the line reached to Bloomindales and looped around? How far did it go? Past LLBean?
You mean the line reached to Bloomindales and looped around? How far did it go? Past LLBean?</strong><hr></blockquote>
naw, it looped around the other way, it got to Bloomingdales and started to come back... there was nothing in front of llBean...it started at the apple store and went the other way, hugging the railing.
My brother and I were in the first people to get it, it was very exciting, but they closed the LLBean, so we had to go past the line to get to the other exit.... those people, i felt wanted to rip me apart, as i was holding a bag from the Apple Store.
it was funny.the mall was empty except for these thousands of people waiting inline to go into one store! <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" /> <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
In Atlanta, at Lenox Mall, the line went about two "mall blocks" west, crossed to the north side of the mall and then ran all the way clear to the other end of the mall. One Apple Store employee said that the tail end of the line had made it downstairs at one point, but I can't verify that claim.
General estimates were that there were easily more than 1000 people in line. Maybe I'll find out on Monday.
I showed up about 9:30 and there was a line of about 40 people or so, all in good spirits...talking, laughing, joking, etc.
By the time 10:20 around, the line had grown and snaked it's way through two huge sections of Fashion Valley Mall. I couldn't believe it.
I was let in with the first initial batch of people and left about 25 minutes later. When I walked out, there were even MORE people waiting and the line had gotten even LONGER.
I couldn't believe it!
EASILY more than 1,000 people. I did a quick head count of 100 people, and it only constituted one small portion of the line, so I just mentally applied that to the rest.
No doubt, 1,000 people AT LEAST.
Of all types, too. Not just the expected geeks. There were senior citizens, families, couples, teens, guys, girls, soccer moms, yuppies, hippies, gothic types, etc. and in a wide range of ethnicities.
Anyone go to the Durham store? I missed it because I had to hang out with some old college friends... They always had the WORST timing. Ah, I wish I coulda been there...
well the line at RF was long also... more then triple the opening day line... but it wasnt as long as some of the other stores... i'd say like 300 people...
when they announced the 10% discount i was immediately hooked... I was planning on getting a 17" iMac up in NH, but since the 10% off was just like getting the tax off anyway i decided to get it at the store... of course... since i got there at 10 (just in time to hear the announcement) i didnt get into the store until 11:45 ish .... so there was no 17" imacs left.. BUT there was a refreshed 667 Powerbook!!!!!!
of course they didnt have the familypack tho... so i talked the amager into giving me the 10% discount eventhugh i didnt buy jag
i'll get it by the end of the week...
Edit: i left the store around 1:30
after spending $3000... all the money i saved from working during the summer <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
they sold A LOT of systems, i'd say at least 50 that night...
The walden galeria store was packed also, They must have made boat loads of money last night. My friend even died his hair jaguar. One of the employee`s chased him down and took his picture a couple of times...
there was also a line along the other side just as long.
it was literally crazy last night at the SOHO store. I could not believe how many people were there.
I must say, they were pretty stupid about trying to close the place as quick as they could. People were buying.. buying a lot. I was close to buying an iMac but the place was closing and it just turned me off that they were like you can't stand around, either get online and buy or leave.
I must say, the big security guard the SOHO store has (big black guy) ruined my experience. he was an ass to the people waiting on line, thought he was hot shit and then walked around inside the store looking to cause a confrontation. he wasn't polite about anything. he let two girls, that walked up to him outside in to the store, cut the line, people waiting an hour, let those 2 cut the line. Then people on the line start complaining and he tells one of the employees to make the people complaining wait longer. he's an ass.
I'm a bit dissapointed in the staff there. Very sloppy looking and not very effective. palo Alto store has much better employees.
That sucks, applenut. Give some people a badge and responsibility and it totally goes to their heads. Overzealous security guards (the type who fancy themselves secret members of the FBI's serial crimes unit) really get on my nerves.
And WHAT was the Apple Store's problem? If they were actually selling stuff, they should've just said "okay, we're open until everyone is done buying".
At the San Diego store, I saw iMac, iBooks, accessories, 5 G4s and software (Jaguar in particular) being bought like CRAZY!
They probably made more money last night than they have all summer long.
I talked to Ron Johnson last night at the Palo Alto store about 1:00. He said that they were estimating they had a total of 100,000 people across all 35 stores.
Interestingly, their credit card authorisation system failed about 2:00. The story they were giving was that doing that much business during hours when they normally are not even open triggered some sort of automatic freeze. They had to call every sale in by hand.
When I left the Lenox store in Atlanta around 1am there were still about 30 to 40 people left in line and it was obvious that the store would stay open until everybody in line had been served. I was in line for over two hours before I got inside and my feet were killing me. It wasn't such a glorious event by that time. Everyone just wanted their stuff and to be able to leave. None of the employees knew when/how/where the drawing would take place. I still don't.
Everyone up there in NYC should complain about the officious security guard at the SoHo store and see if you can't get his pompous ass fired....let him go back to loading trucks or doing road repair. I can understand that location having a need for drawing things to a close after a certain time period, after all it's not a controlled space like the interior of a mall. For safety and security reasons it makes sense to have a hard/fast time for closing it. But they should have been prepared to turn people away, or service them in the streets.
The line at the Apple Store in Columbus was about seventy yards long or so, and people were still lining up when I saw it at 10:30. I'd guess maybe 500 people.
I gave up and went home, thankful that I had been unsuccessful in cancelling my online order beforehand
Hello from Dallas, Man we had a great turnout! I arrived at 9:40pm and thought well maybe I should have gotten here a little earlier. Then I rounded the corner and saw the store in the distance, our store is in a mall and the mall consistes of these large openings with halls splitting off in multiple dircetions and there were allready at least 200 people in line. It was just prior to the lights in the apple store illumninating when I was sure there was going to be trouble. The line had gone down the hall turned come back gone down another hall come back gone you get the idea and people had begun to start a SECOND line on the other side of a one entrance store. Much loitering was to be had by all as the lights came up, then a voice of reason came out and closed the theater ropes off to the renegade hopefuls and a smooth flow of hardware and software began to flow in and out of the entrance. I was really surprised how quickly we got in and scarfed up Jagwire, Game software, bags, accessaries and of course "Hello Kitty" stickers utilizing the discounted price. Met several good people in line and in general truelly enjoyed myself. I almost forgot the best part, it was my 14 year olds first experience at a Mac event, and my first since 1984 when I fell in love with a beige 128K mac. After our purchase while walking out I was amazed at how many people were in line, I know there had to be a thousand, but I would think there was possibly twice that many as I walked past them all the way to the other end of the mall where my car was. The staff was great in Dallas and I can't imagine anyone leaving unsatisfied but if you were there further back in line then please update the Dallas event story.
PS. My son has decided he can live without our P3/700 XP Box we use for games, he wants to sell it and get an iMac
Applenut, I've only been to two different stores so far, but from what I can tell, the Palo Alto employees *are* great. They're all very nice. I don't know about sloppiness, but some of them are dressed quite casually...doesn't bother me one bit though. To me it makes them more real, less processed.
The 2 employees I've talked to at the Santa Clara store seemed stark and unfriendly in contrast.
Eugene, what do you use to create your photo albums?
A few months ago I went in and created a custom scheme for myself that could be generated using Photoshop's built-in "Web Photo Gallery" function, but it took some doing.
Comments
Oh, and Steve Jobs showed up. I'll upload pics later. Steve Jobs, Ken Bereskin, Ron Johnson, Phil Schiller (and his son!) were all there.
Oh, and the Jaguar tattoos were cool.
STICKERS!
Yeah, i and my brother entered to win an iMac. The line extended to an exit of the mall at which it turned right back around. They were using the Genius Bar as Registers.... I did not stay long enough or go beyond the first fourth of the store to see what was going on.
I feel sorry for all those people who did not get in. they should have cut of the line at a certain point so these people whould have at least no had to wait in line! <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
There was finally no line to get into the Palo Alto store after about 1:30 AM. It was still packed though. The line was deep, probably just under 1000 people at its peak. A boatload of Jaguar was sold, and hardware as well. I was pretty amazed at the turn-out...it rivaled the grand opening.
Oh, and Steve Jobs showed up. I'll upload pics later. Steve Jobs, Ken Bereskin, Ron Johnson, Phil Schiller (and his son!) were all there.
<hr></blockquote>
I should have gone. It's not that far. I thought someone from Cupertino might show up.
[ 08-24-2002: Message edited by: CubeDude ]</p>
<strong>I got to the Tysons one at 8 45 about.... and waited... i got in there, and got the family pack... there were only about THREE family packs I saw... i got me my mouse pad, OS X, and a t-shirt, also there were....
STICKERS!
Yeah, i and my brother entered to win an iMac. The line extended to an exit of the mall at which it turned right back around. They were using the Genius Bar as Registers.... I did not stay long enough or go beyond the first fourth of the store to see what was going on.
I feel sorry for all those people who did not get in. they should have cut of the line at a certain point so these people whould have at least no had to wait in line! <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>
You mean the line reached to Bloomindales and looped around? How far did it go? Past LLBean?
<strong>
You mean the line reached to Bloomindales and looped around? How far did it go? Past LLBean?</strong><hr></blockquote>
naw, it looped around the other way, it got to Bloomingdales and started to come back... there was nothing in front of llBean...it started at the apple store and went the other way, hugging the railing.
My brother and I were in the first people to get it, it was very exciting, but they closed the LLBean, so we had to go past the line to get to the other exit.... those people, i felt wanted to rip me apart, as i was holding a bag from the Apple Store.
it was funny.the mall was empty except for these thousands of people waiting inline to go into one store! <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" /> <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
[ 08-24-2002: Message edited by: Nebagakid ]</p>
General estimates were that there were easily more than 1000 people in line. Maybe I'll find out on Monday.
D
I showed up about 9:30 and there was a line of about 40 people or so, all in good spirits...talking, laughing, joking, etc.
By the time 10:20 around, the line had grown and snaked it's way through two huge sections of Fashion Valley Mall. I couldn't believe it.
I was let in with the first initial batch of people and left about 25 minutes later. When I walked out, there were even MORE people waiting and the line had gotten even LONGER.
I couldn't believe it!
EASILY more than 1,000 people. I did a quick head count of 100 people, and it only constituted one small portion of the line, so I just mentally applied that to the rest.
No doubt, 1,000 people AT LEAST.
Of all types, too. Not just the expected geeks. There were senior citizens, families, couples, teens, guys, girls, soccer moms, yuppies, hippies, gothic types, etc. and in a wide range of ethnicities.
It was beautiful, man!
when they announced the 10% discount i was immediately hooked... I was planning on getting a 17" iMac up in NH, but since the 10% off was just like getting the tax off anyway i decided to get it at the store... of course... since i got there at 10 (just in time to hear the announcement) i didnt get into the store until 11:45 ish .... so there was no 17" imacs left.. BUT there was a refreshed 667 Powerbook!!!!!!
of course they didnt have the familypack tho... so i talked the amager into giving me the 10% discount eventhugh i didnt buy jag
i'll get it by the end of the week...
Edit: i left the store around 1:30
after spending $3000... all the money i saved from working during the summer <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
they sold A LOT of systems, i'd say at least 50 that night...
[ 08-24-2002: Message edited by: Paul ]</p>
A friend sent me this.
[ 08-24-2002: Message edited by: seb ]</p>
<strong>Let's see if this works...
A friend sent me this.
[ 08-24-2002: Message edited by: seb ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
THAT line ended there.
there was also a line along the other side just as long.
it was literally crazy last night at the SOHO store. I could not believe how many people were there.
I must say, they were pretty stupid about trying to close the place as quick as they could. People were buying.. buying a lot. I was close to buying an iMac but the place was closing and it just turned me off that they were like you can't stand around, either get online and buy or leave.
I must say, the big security guard the SOHO store has (big black guy) ruined my experience. he was an ass to the people waiting on line, thought he was hot shit and then walked around inside the store looking to cause a confrontation. he wasn't polite about anything. he let two girls, that walked up to him outside in to the store, cut the line, people waiting an hour, let those 2 cut the line. Then people on the line start complaining and he tells one of the employees to make the people complaining wait longer. he's an ass.
I'm a bit dissapointed in the staff there. Very sloppy looking and not very effective. palo Alto store has much better employees.
Where were you seb? I checked and didn't see you!
And WHAT was the Apple Store's problem? If they were actually selling stuff, they should've just said "okay, we're open until everyone is done buying".
At the San Diego store, I saw iMac, iBooks, accessories, 5 G4s and software (Jaguar in particular) being bought like CRAZY!
They probably made more money last night than they have all summer long.
Interestingly, their credit card authorisation system failed about 2:00. The story they were giving was that doing that much business during hours when they normally are not even open triggered some sort of automatic freeze. They had to call every sale in by hand.
Everyone up there in NYC should complain about the officious security guard at the SoHo store and see if you can't get his pompous ass fired....let him go back to loading trucks or doing road repair. I can understand that location having a need for drawing things to a close after a certain time period, after all it's not a controlled space like the interior of a mall. For safety and security reasons it makes sense to have a hard/fast time for closing it. But they should have been prepared to turn people away, or service them in the streets.
But WHO KNEW it would be such a huge turnout?
I gave up and went home, thankful that I had been unsuccessful in cancelling my online order beforehand
PS. My son has decided he can live without our P3/700 XP Box we use for games, he wants to sell it and get an iMac
The 2 employees I've talked to at the Santa Clara store seemed stark and unfriendly in contrast.
And of course, we get more Steve sightings.
<a href="http://www.eugenechan.com/gallery/Jaguar/"; target="_blank">http://www.eugenechan.com/gallery/Jaguar/</a>;
A few months ago I went in and created a custom scheme for myself that could be generated using Photoshop's built-in "Web Photo Gallery" function, but it took some doing.
Always interested in an easier solution!
D