Today’s post is a guest post from my husband, Scott. I don’t do lines or crowds, so I was happily sleeping in while all this was happening…
There are few things that will get me out of bed early on a weekend, but naturally the opening of the new Apple Store in Munich is one of them. The store is Apple’s first retail presence in Germany and only the fourth in continental Europe. The location is hard to beat, right around the corner from Marienplatz and within sight of that great tourist magnet, the Glockenspiel.
The opening was scheduled for 10AM and I arrived a little before nine. There were already 150 people in line, with the people in the front claiming to have arrived around six. Half of the people seemed to be documenting the event, including the local television station, official Apple photographers and a couple of people who were live-blogging. The guy in front of me in line was talking to two people in a studio someplace doing a live video broadcast of the event from his laptop. A couple of times they cut to him for his exciting report, “The staff just came running out of the door, circling the crowd. Can you see them?” I already felt a bit dorky standing at line at 9 on a Saturday, but suddenly I was wondering who would want to be watching me standing in line?
By the time the store opened there appeared to be over 500 people in line, but things proceeded in an orderly German fashion. Everyone that entered was greeted by cheering staff and commemorative T-shirts were given to the first 2500 entrants.
Inside the retail staff were quite busy answering people’s questions. I was surprised how many people were actually buying things, including new laptops. There are at least three stores within a five minute walk where you could have bought the same items last week. For those who wanted to buy something today, there was always an employee nearby with a wireless checkout device.
If you have been to an Apple store recently, this one looked about the same. It is a two-story layout, with a spiral glass staircase. The highlight was of course the Genius Bars upstairs, where you can bring in your Apple product for free help. The two bars looked capable of servicing 4-5 people each, but you may have to wait a while to get a reservation; the website said there were no more spots available for the next week.
There are more pictures on the flickr account.
apple store munich
“By the time the store opened there appeared to be over 500 people in line, but things proceeded in an orderly German fashion.”
You mean the Germans were actually queuing and not running people over? Things must be different in the south! I was run over twice today just buying glühwein!
commemorative T-shirts were given to the first 2500 entrants.
Looking for picture of you in your T-shirt!!
Those photos make me nervous just seeing all those people. Can you tell I haven’t been in a real city in quite a while? 😉
Yelli – I’ve heard a lot of expats complain about the Germans’ lack of queuing ability here, but I can’t say that it has bothered me. They’re a whole lot better at it than the Italians!
Leon – He can’t wear it! That would destroy the value! (Kidding. He better wear it!)
Michelle – I’m with you – nothing good can come of a crowd that big!
this crowd was the most happy and pacific one you might imagine. All 100% pure Mac fans. See the happy crowd here on my interactive panorama.
http://homepage.mac.com/wkaemena/FS/Muenchen/AppleMUC1
There could have been other reasons that the crowd was so passive: the early hour, the security guards and the lack of alcohol.
A couple of times the staff tried, unsuccessfully, to get the crowd cheering and doing the wave with them. The crowd decided to take pictures of the crazy staff instead.