Apple's Retail Store Debut Draws Crowd

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Hundreds of eager and curious Mac users flocked to the grand opening of Apple's first retail store Saturday, where some anxious consumers waited hours to be the first into what one dubbed "a Gap with Apple products."

"There's an aesthetic quality to using a Mac. It only goes without saying that their store would be the same way," says graphic designer Sean Copley, a Mac user since 1994.

The store is split into different sections, catering to all types of Mac users, from the curious passerby to the savvy graphic artist.

The Genius Bar in the back is staffed with Apple experts, who serve bottled spring water and help customers with technical questions. If the question is too tough, staff members can pick up the red "Apple hotline," which is a direct link to Apple headquarters.

"People here actually know what they're talking about," Copley says.

First of 25 Stores

The store at Tysons Corner in McLean, Virginia, is the first of 25 opening across the country this year, selling a full line of Apple products and more than 300 third-party software titles. A store in Glendale, California, also made its debut this weekend.

All employees go through a one-month training program at Apple's corporate headquarters and must have great interpersonal skills, says Kathie Calcidise, Apple's vice president of retail stores.

But the store's main attraction is the product display, which includes Powerbooks, G4 processors, MP3 players, CD burners, 22-inch cinema displays, and digital cameras, all loaded with programs and available for everyone's use.

"Apple seems to take retail out of the equation," says 24-year-old Patrick Donohue, a proud G4 owner, who's been using Macs since he was a child. "It's an interactive experience where customers can actually see their products in action. They have taken a real hands-on approach to selling computers."

Most customers agreed that true to Apple's creative and innovative nature, the store has a lot of style. The brightly-lit "boutique" has a clean and almost futuristic design. The front store windows are made to look like the desktop of Mac OS X.

Toys but No Coffee

"First of all, I love the store," says Apple store employee Ali Mohan, 28, who was helping customers with software. "I love the Mac. I've been using them for at least six years."

Mohan says customers are especially interested in the IBooks and whether some of the third-party software will work with Mac OS X, the company's latest operating system release.

The store also houses a brightly colored children's section, where the youngest of Mac users can play games such as Toy Story 2 and Bugdom, on Blue Dalmatian and Flower Power iMacs.

"[The store] is pretty cool," says 4-year-old Thacher Shields, as he expertly maneuvered the characters in Toy Story 2. "There is real cool stuff here."

However, longtime Apple user Barbara McCall says she is a little disappointed.

"There's no Internet café that I can see here," McCall says. "We need to get more passionate and spread the word. We need to get out that we love it."