The Apple Store Users Group assembled in front of the Burlingame (Calif.) Apple Store as early at 7:30 a.m. on Friday (Devin, you dog!) to await the Saturday 10 a.m. grand opening. For the record, Devin was #1, Thomas #2 and Matt #3.
The weather on Friday was sunny and warm, but then the weather turned a bit cloudy and cool during the evening. It remained cloudy (or was it high fog?) until just after the 10 a.m. opening, and it once again turned sunny and warm.
Workers installed two trees in the sidewalk at about 3 p.m. on Friday, and completed other exterior work. There are four more trees left to plant. We learned the store is actually smaller than the Walnut Creek store, and appears to have a second floor but does not. The front glass window of the store is actually wider than the store--the right side of the store juts inward (the store is 30 feet wide, but the front window is 45 feet).
You can't tell from the photos, but the sandstone panels that make up the store's siding are extremely smooth--not exactly polished so they would be shiny, but not rough. You also can't tell that the back-lit Apple logo on the Park Road side of the building is one huge piece of plastic (or similar) material, and that it's about two inches thick. I can only speculate that it's also very heavy.
Exclusive: We learned that the San Francisco site (former Sephora store) is undergoing a "major" renovation, and will not include a rooftop garden like Chicago. You'll recall that the store will open in the Spring, 2004.
We talked to passersby, gave Macintosh advice and technical support, engaged in iChatAV conversations, and told campfire stories. We also watched the usual weekend cruisin' on Burlingame Ave. and large crowds from several nearby clubs. Several cars drove by and the occupants yelled, "PCs rule!" or something similar. We didn't respond. A couple of people walked by and gave us mild rejoinders. We had fewer technical questions than Walnut Creek, but about an equal number of persons who were curious about the Macintosh, and who asked lots of questions. We had genuine Apple brochures for all the products, and used them to support our "Switcher" conversations.
After midnight, there are 13 persons camping out in front of the store, but before that several persons came and went, spending a few minutes or a few hours. We traded Apple corporate strategy opinions, compared our favorite stores (SoHo & Chicago are tops), and watched some Quicktime versions of old TV shows ('Celebrity Jeopardy' on SNL), and some "other videos" (Drew Carey...yikes!). Several people made food runs,
Matt assembled his complete Canon XL video camera gear and was scaring small children and dogs. Oh, and for some reason his car's battery ran down (thank you AAA for the quick assist). He also assembled, on the fly, a prototype of the iLap that hangs a Powerbook G4 from the neck to allow totally mobile iChatAV conversations.
The User Group's official T-shirt design was modeled by several members, including the special notation, "Founding Member." If anyone didn't understand the official group motto, they didn't ask! ("I Can't Because I'm Seventy.")
During this overnight session there were the usual laptops (lots of 15-inch Powerbooks, a 17-incher and some iBooks), iPods and iSights. One person arrived with a Lombard upgraded with a G4 chip, but only spent about 3 hours in line before folding up his laptop and tent. Power for the laptops was via Gary and Matt's cars parked in the diagonal spaces on the street--we were constantly jockeying batteries. I've never seen so many K-Mart (or Wal-Mart or Target) camping chairs in my entire life. Somewhere there's a cargo ship unloading thousands of these green things! Oh, if you need extra batteries for any device, check with Matt--he was sporting four Powerbook batteries and loads of others for his XL.
Unlike the other openings, there was no Apple-branded security guard on-duty either inside or outside the store. There was security during the early evening, and then again at 8 a.m.--the morning guard usually works Apple HQ during the week, and was completely flabbergasted by the crowd. He telephoned the security staff back at Apple's headquarters with the Web address for the live Webcam so they could see him.
An Apple store employee brought us donuts around 3 a.m. (anyone recall who it was?), and then sat around and talked with us about what we do with Macintosh computers and why we like them. It was pretty interesting to hear his point of view about the company and the Macintosh line.
The iChatAV conversations were limited this time to just a few people: a familiar face in Arizona, and another in Germany. Both iChatAV sessions proved the point: home-style lighting results in a poor (if not terrible) image. The fault is not iSight's, but rather the usual ceiling-mounted home lighting that shines on most computer users. The best advice is to arrange you computer lighting to provide full face lighting at moderate levels, avoiding large patches of single colors anywhere in the frame (it throws off the color balance). Otherwise, the video and audio were great.
The Apple store staff had apparently removed all the paper from any live printers, so even though we could see some printer IDs via Rendezvous, we couldn't print out anything. Thanks to WalGreen Drug Store (24 hours) and Starbucks (open at 5:30 a.m.) for providing us with needed items (is there any ice cream left?).
A Burlingame police officer arrived about 8:30 a.m., got out of his car and asked us to keep a corridor open along the left-front of the store. I'm guessing that someone complained, since he was pretty deliberate in getting out, coming to talk to us, and then driving off.
Thanks to Peets Coffee & Tea, who provided us with free coffee at about 7 a.m.--they're now the Official Coffee Provider of the Apple Store Users Group! Ron Johnson, Apple vice president of retail, arrived just before 10 a.m. on Saturday with his two children (the kids helped hand out the commemorative T-shirts).
About 10 minutes before the store opened, there was a line of 198 persons that snaked south on Park Rd. and into the alley behind the Apple Store. Just before 10 a.m., the entire store staff came out the rear door of the store, and walked the entire length of the crowd to pump up the energy. Several overnighters worked the long line of Mac advocates, offering them coffee (left over from Peets), orange soda (left over from ??) and donuts, and generally pumping up the energy level. At one point I told a person with a laptop at the back of the store to "tune in" to the live Webcam at the front of the store! He was jazzed!
Then at 10 a.m., Bill the store manager appeared, thanked everyone for coming out, and then motioned us into the store. Everyone dashed in, giving high-fives to the waiting double row of store employees.
Several overnighters purchased items during their visit (short Firewire cables for iSights, Airport base station, iSights, etc.). We talked to employees, surveyed the store, and by 10:45 a.m. were mostly back out on the sidewalk to trade final stories, thank Ron Johnson for the new store, and then pack up and head home. When we left, there were 275 persons in line to get into the store (actual count).
This store's commemorative T-shirts were in tubes (Walnut Creek's were not), and like Walnut Creek (but unlike Palo Alto and Bay Street), the T-shirts were of a different design: smaller blue, Aqua-style Apple logo, and a sans serif typeface for "Burlingame," rather than a serif typeface. In addition, the typeface was smaller than previous designs (1/2-inch vs. 1-inch), and was screened in gray rather than black. Did Apple switch vendors?
I hear that the line in front of the new store ran out about 1:15 p.m. After that, you could simply walk right in!
