Apple Store Grand Opening
“CBD Chaos as Apple Store Opens.”

I headed into the city after work to meet up with the knitters over at Redoak. I didn’t even bother going up George Street, but I could see that the queue still stretched around the block to York Street (right near TC’s old location). The rain was coming down and I could see dozens of black Apple umbrellas protecting the crowds. (Did they give them away? Or were security holding them?) The Snook met me at the bar and we fortified ourselves with beer. At 8pm, we headed out to join the queue… only to discover that it was gone! We walked straight up to the entrance. It was still packed inside, and a crowd of employees was gathered at the door “woooo!”-ing and giving everyone high-fives as they entered. It was hard not to catch a little of their excitement. We could see that 90% of the people inside were holding T-shirt boxes, so they must’ve run out just before we got there. Oh, well. We played a little bit with a MacBook Air, then headed over to the much-talked-about glass staircase. It’s not quite as dramatic as I expected. The staircase runs parallel to the back of the shop, and there are walls on either side of it. The steps themselves are frosted and it’s not actually that easy to look up at people climbing above. The second floor has all of the iPods, accessories, and software. Each floor has a balcony that looks all the way down the bottom of the big glass atrium. It was stunning, even on a cold rainy night with thousands of wet people tramping around. (I saw several staff doing their best to keep the fancy marble floor and stairs mopped.) We took a photo, then headed up to level 3 to see the largest Genius Bar in the world. Pretty impressive! I liked the kids’ tables set up with Macs where several little ones were playing games and watching DVDs. I also really appreciated the fact that the staff I saw were incredibly diverse, not just the hipsters you might expect. (I distinctly remember seeing a white-haired older Genius giving someone a lesson, and a middle-aged female Genius helping someone at the Bar.) We stopped off in the iPod area on our way back down to play with an iPod Touch, and then it was out the door into the night. It really is an amazing shop. With all the brushed metal and glass, you actually feel like you’re inside one of their laptops. I saw no shortage of people buying things, and the shop is so visually stunning from the outside that it’s destined to be a big attraction. (They couldn’t have gotten a more perfect location for it.) No matter how you feel about Apple’s products, you have to admire their marketing and retail strategy. I’ll also admit to feeling a little regret as we walked out, though. The Apple recruiters had actually called me several times about working there, even after I’d already started at Mobile Messenger. I knew I didn’t want to stay in retail… but looking around tonight, I’ll admit to a small Elizabeth Bennet moment. “And of all this, I might have been mistress!”