Filed under: Retail, Cult of Mac
Greensboro store opening draws cheering crowds
After extended delays and much anticipation, the Greensboro, NC Apple Store at Friendly Center finally opened its doors yesterday to paying customers. The photo here is courtesy of the Iconfactory's Talos Tsui, who appears momentarily in this local news coverage from prior to the store open; unfortunately, his colleague Gedeon Maheux is misidentified as "Corey Marion" in the clip. Whoops! Perhaps that lingering closeup on the Twitterrific icon in the store window will help soothe the pain.
You can check out all the Greensboro excitement from those who were there:
- The Triad's newspaper story
- iPhone Savior's post
- Before and after stories from the News & Record (money quote: "'Welcome home,' general manager Dave Arnold shouted to the crowd before letting the first customer inside...")
- More photos from Frijole, and his tumblog of the campout
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ipodrulz said 1:27PM on 2-22-2009
I love the cult factor of Apple so much!!
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wako said 4:46PM on 2-22-2009
i just like using my mac... but this whole cult thing scares me Oo
mantia said 1:42PM on 2-22-2009
LOUIE WUZ THERE
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Sam said 1:55PM on 2-22-2009
yeah, i visited the store yesterday. it was pretty nuts. Very spacious and extremely crowded.
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Jared Childress said 1:57PM on 2-22-2009
I was in line right behind the IconFactory guys. Awesome day. :D
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Coke Boi said 5:01PM on 2-22-2009
where's my Little Rock, AR store doggit :'-(
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Mark said 6:37PM on 2-22-2009
I was about 30th in line to get into the store yesterday. Met some really nice folks and had a great time!
My brother in law even drove down from Lynchburg, Va for the event!
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Alex said 7:36AM on 2-23-2009
Mohawk dude! I was there too, right behind Mark.
I love me shirt :P
iphonerulez said 10:28PM on 2-22-2009
I'm guessing this one of the worst turnouts of any Apple store openings. The skinny (media and analyst findings) is that nobody is buying Macs during the economic slump. Of course, the people could just show up to get free T-shirts and then leave.
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CarolinaNMyMind said 11:12PM on 2-22-2009
In sales, perhaps? In excitement, no! Although from what I've read and heard from first hand accounts, many people were seen purchasing.
Jason said 11:43PM on 2-22-2009
I don't know, Greensboro is really just a smaller city compared to others in NC like Raleigh and Charlotte so I would expect to see a smaller crowd. The Apple store in Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh is pretty much always busy (And pretty much the only reason I go to that mall.)
Still looks like a pretty cool Apple store though.
conturax said 7:33AM on 2-23-2009
Worse turnouts? Did you read the newspaper article?
"The store estimated 750 people were standing in line shortly after it opened."
I was there Saturday... It was a madhouse. I consider it a highly successful turnout.
CarolinaNMyMind said 12:57AM on 2-23-2009
Regardless of Greensboro's size, Apple must see promise in the Triad market to have built a store that is more than 2,000 sq. feet larger than those at Crabtree or Southpark.
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Jared Childress said 7:15AM on 2-23-2009
Example: I live in Clemmons (southwest of Winston-Salem, in Forsyth County), and I'll be going to Greensboro when I need to make an Apple Store run now, instead of the 85-mile trek I used to make to Charlotte.
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Dan S. said 8:56AM on 2-23-2009
Once again, Ian Meyer was first in line at an Apple Store opening.
WTG Ian!
--
I had considered writing something about the relationship between the Durham store and the Raleigh store, in terms of relative sales, but I don't really want a call from Cupertino for violating my NDA. Let's just say that just because Raleigh is the bigger city, it doesn't mean that they have the higher volume sales.
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Nick F said 8:59AM on 2-23-2009
Where TF is Greensboro, and does 99.999% of the rest of the world really give a hoot? Sorry but does a store opening in some backwater town most of us have never heard of really merit a story in a blog that's meant to be about Apple matters of interest to most people? You've got to be a seriously sad fanboy to care about this, if you live anywhere but Greensboro... wherever that is!
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conturax said 9:42AM on 2-23-2009
Flame Bait. Did you not read in the 1st sentence that Greensboro is in North Carolina? Go troll somewhere else...
FYI- in 2000, the Greensboro MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) was ranked 37th largest in the nation. Hardly a "backwater town".
Greensboro--Winston-Salem--High Point, NC MSA 2000 pop. 1,251,509
www.census.gov
CarolinaNMyMind said 10:06AM on 2-23-2009
It's now up to about 1.6 million, home to several fortune 500 companies, and the headquarters for many high technology companies, like RFMD and HondaJet. Backwater town indeed.
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Jared Childress said 2:07PM on 2-23-2009
Not to mention that GSO is the site of one of the most important Revolutionary War battles and also the start of the civil rights movement. And is also the home of the ACC. Naaa, nobody cares.
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