Filed under: Apple Corporate, Retail
Apple Store openings: Did you go?
It was a good weekend in Holyoke, Massachusetts and Ann Arbor, Michigan, as each city opened a new Apple Store on Saturday. As usual, we ask any TUAW operatives who may have attended to share their reports and/or pictures. So, did you go, and if you did, how was it? Let us know in the comments. I wanted to get up to the Holyoke store, but real life had other plans for me. I wonder if the opening will affect the authorized retailer in neighboring Northampton, MA.
Anyway, here's hoping you scored a T-shirt, the Opening Day Contest's grand prize and, dare we say, an iPhone!
Finally, if you haven't gone down to the stores yet, show us a little love and set the in-store Macs to TUAW!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
wastern said 11:27AM on 7-21-2007
I was in Ann Arbor and got my shirt and things
Here are some pics I grabbed with my iPhone
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phormality/sets/72157600935131708/
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Josh Stearns said 12:06PM on 7-21-2007
Hey all - The Holyoke mall was nuts. Huge line, and at least a 1.5 hour wait to get it. It was too nice a day outside so I decided not to wait. The store is long and skinny and looked kind of cramped. I don't think it will impact the local Apple authorized dealer here in Northampton - they are a great little place and I will keep going to them for most things.
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dantidote said 12:38PM on 7-21-2007
Yeah, just got back from Ann Arbor, It was a bit chaotic, the line moved quickly and i got my shirt. Its real nice to have a store so close to me now.
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Nicholas O. Jorge said 1:33PM on 7-21-2007
Not sure if this is the place to post this, but I was at the opening of the Apple Store at Holyoke, MA! It was awesome - my first time going to an Apple store grand opening. Me and a few friends managed to be in the first ten people in line for the store... and we got t-shirts, of course. The Apple employees really did a great job of getting everyone worked up for the opening - a lot of cheering before the store opened, in a parade of about 40 employees. The store didn't even seem very crowded with that many people in it.
PHOTOS of the opening here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10319379@N03/
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jeffreysimms said 1:39PM on 7-21-2007
I was at the Briarwood, Ann Arbor opening. The line was massive, but people were friendly and chatted with one another. I showed up about 10 minutes to 10:00 am and only waited about 35 minutes in line before getting my free t-shirt and playing with an iPhone and Macbook Pro.
I took a few pics from the opening...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ijerf/sets/72157600936120034/
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Mike said 1:57PM on 7-21-2007
Here's my photos from the Ann Arbor opening:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikepark/sets/72157600936431110/
It was a pretty cool time.
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neonsox said 2:08PM on 7-21-2007
Holyoke was great, scored the t-shirt and and picked up and adapter while I was there. I hope Yes Computers gets buried because they're awful (sorry, it's the truth). But the crowds were tremendous.
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Jirachi.Rob said 2:14PM on 7-21-2007
I went to Holyoke, I only waited a half an hour in line, but as soon as I got there the line snaked across the mall. When the store was about to open, the employees came and the whole mall was cheering, then they started to chant "Steve." (I don't know why.) I was in the third group to get in the store, and when you came in to the Store there were people there greeting you and giving hi-fives. The store was skinny, with wooden tables in the middle, but other than that it was a normal Apple Store, except it had no registers, the employees had little computers (not iPhones) to scan your credit card and they had bags in their pockets. They also had loud music blaring. I don't know if that was for opening day only though. P.S. I've had my iPhone for 3 weeks now, I got it at the Westfarms Apple Store, and yes I entered the Sweepstakes like 8 times!
The surprising thing is, with like 700 people in it, the store wasn't crowded!
VideO & PictureS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZmfeRf-A9Y
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Michael Baran said 2:21PM on 7-21-2007
TUAW, you forgot about Orland Square opening today!
I was there: http://web.mac.com/michael.baran/iWeb/Site/Apple%20Store%20Orland%20Square.html
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Doug Stewart said 2:35PM on 7-21-2007
Went to the Holyoke store at 11:30 and walked right in, although they were talking about making people to wait in line again.
The store was as others have described, and some of the staff was imported from West Farms in CT maybe for the short term.
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jason said 2:39PM on 7-21-2007
Went to Holyoke. Got there at noon, no line to get in and still got a t-shirt! Definitely a smaller store, WestFarms is closer for me and a bigger store. Still fun to go to the opening, hope I win the MacBook, my wife wants one badly (I love my MBP).
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MfS said 3:34PM on 7-21-2007
Uuuuhhh, *HELLO TUAW!!!* Perhaps a bit of constructive criticism is in order: this is the SECOND "Apple Store Grand Opening" post of the week, and AGAIN no mention of the store in Orland Park, IL...a suburb of Chicago. What gives? Careless oversight? Vendetta against Chicago for some strange reason? Weird.
That said, I was there too. I forgot my camera, and all I have are crappy Verizon LG VX8300 cell pix that I won't be posting due to poor quality...but it was a HOOT. This was my first Apple Store Grand Opening, and it was electric.
Lots of cheering, high fives, smiling associates...and my first hands-on look at the iPhone. They were letting us make calls on the display iPhones, too. Maybe a common practice, but I hadn't read about it.
The store is small-to-medium in size, but looks great. Saw some people I know there too. I'll be back, that's for sure.
Hey Michael Baran, #9: great shots! I'm in one of your photos. Thanks for posting them.
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Michael Baran said 5:08PM on 7-21-2007
I loved the energy of the team and crowd! It was great, you couldn't help but love the moment. It was amazing walking in to high-fives and cheers.
You're utmost welcome! I am glad I could provide the photographs for you to enjoy. If you want the high-resolution photos, you can shoot me an email at: michael dot baran @ mac dot com
I will definitely be back, it's great having a store so close. Already went back today to enter in the raffle, as I forgot the first time around.
Maybe see you around sometime!
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shawmaan said 9:26PM on 7-21-2007
I was at the Briarwood (Ann Arbor) opening. I got in with the first wave (I was around number 30) and shot some video. I picked up a wireless keyboard and played with the iPhone. It was lots of fun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhtvYgOc1qI
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DS said 10:01PM on 7-21-2007
I was at the Ann Arbor store, and it was really great. Finally I can go to a store without driving 2+ hours, AND I got to touch an iPhone. FINALLY!
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fanofdrw55 said 11:59AM on 7-22-2007
I drove 75 minutes to the Ann Arbor opening. My first opening. There were so many people,and I got into the the store 40 minutes after the opening. It was fun, and I got a free t-shirt. I thought it would be a long time before I could go to a store opening since Apple never opens that mnay stores.
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Jason said 3:16PM on 7-22-2007
I didn't make it to Holyoke but THANK GOD.
The Northampton-Amherst local Mac dealer is just so mind-numbingly horrible. I always try to shop local when possible, but I've driven machines to Hartford (50 minute drive) instead of trusting the local NOHO shop. They've screwed up every service they've ever done for us (we've given them "one more shot" about 5 times, you'd think we'd learn). The most absurd was a Cube that would shut down randomly (remember those). We printed out the apple directions to update it, and the part number they had to order to fix it, and after 2 weeks they returned it because they "couldn't figure out what was wrong". How did they manage that one?
I have a customer where everyone in his 25 person company have vowed never to use a Mac again because the local Northampton shop totally misrepresented how software works on Macs, and they really couldn't do their work with Macs, so after getting $40,000 plus in hardware and software on the Mac, had to go back to Dell and repurchase machines for everyone!
I have heard horror stories from people who have worked there about what the local Northampton shop thinks "customer service" means, and I've heard tales of how they treat their employees. As a local small business I love to shop local, but without any remorse I can say "If you live in Western Mass, go to the Apple Store, don't stop in downtown Northampton.
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Ben said 4:04PM on 7-22-2007
I went to the Holyoke store opening, Got there around 8:00 and read harry potter in line... Link to photos of the opening:
It was great fun. (I was the first round in), though I didn't get any pictures as I was going in.
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David Beaman said 5:36PM on 7-28-2007
Speaking of Apple Store openings. I went and asked customer service when the Apple Store in Oxmoor Mall, KY is opening. She said on September 8th. I would like to go to that one
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JerryR said 9:20PM on 8-07-2007
I want to go to the Oxmoor Mall opening as well... is the Sept 8th date good?
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