London opening draws Apple fans
By Kris Vera
London, Residency at Reuters TV
published in the Daily Herald
11/20/2004
LONDON – Some Americans visit London to see Big Ben, take pictures of Buckingham Palace or participate in a rowdy British bar crawl. The last place you’d expect to see an American tourist is sitting on a sidewalk sitting through the chilly night, checking e-mail on an Apple PowerBook.
Yet a huge and motley collection of Apple fans were waiting patiently Friday for today’s opening of Apple Computer’s first store in Europe. Some of the Americans in the crowd came to London just for the store opening.
Shippy Stormy of Kansas City, Mo., made camp on Thursday, and logged on to the Internet over a free Wi-Fi connection provided by the store to its sidewalk groupies.
He and others hoped to snag a free Apple product, like an iPod, guaranteed to the first couple of hundred customers, and they were enjoying the close company of other Mac fans from around the world.
“I love it,” Stormy said. “I knew I had only one chance to do this and I wanted to challenge myself and see if I can go all the way with this.”
Stormy said he spent $470 on a roundtrip ticket to London and nearly $700 on supplies.
“I came prepared,” Stormy said of the 30-degree temperatures. “I have my sleeping bag and an inflatable ground mattress.”
The Apple Store promised 300 lucky bags filled with Apple hardware and software worth about $1,300. Customers were offered a choice of grabbing a free Apple product from the bags or buying one bag and all of its Apple goodies for $460.
Some were writing about their experiences in their weblogs. Gary Allen of Berkeley, Calif, chatted online to strangers who visited his site, ifoapplestore.com.
“They want to know what’s going on and how many people are waiting in line,” Allen said. “I guess they’re trying to judge when they can come out and wait as well.”
Allen got in line at 4 a.m. Friday. He brought his 17-year-old son who had never visited London. They planned to return to the United States on Sunday.
“You meet these kindred spirits only at an Apple opening,” Allen said. “Being a Mac enthusiast, it defines a certain type of personality. We have a similar sense of humor and outlook on life. Even coming across the Atlantic Ocean, you find these kindred spirits from other countries.”
Allen said he will try to take his son to some of the tourist sites in London, like Big Ben and Buckingham Palace, if they still had any energy left.
“After a store opening, we’re depleted of adrenaline,” Allen said. “We’re so tired, we don’t know where we are.”