Apple Store Glasgow Crazy Ones

Or nine hours of fun...

When Apple did their ‘Think Different’ campaign they saluted ‘the crazy ones’. Now, their definition of ‘crazy’ might not have included queuing for nine hours overnight on Buchanan Street for the opening of Apple Store Glasgow, but I like to think that we were misfits, rebels, and troublemakers.

Just how early should we turn up for the opening of Apple Store Glasgow? That was the question that caused much deliberation, originally opting for 5am, but creeping closer to midnight as time went on, and the fear of being last in line grew greater. Which is how Steve Johnson (of iphoneuklaunch.com) and I found ourselves on Buchanan Street at midnight, claiming 16th and 17th position in line. We were shortly joined by fellow-GlasMug-gers Kath, Mo, and Hugh.

What’s really nice about any Apple event is the camaraderie, and this line was no exception. Well, there were a couple of slightly grumpy people, but they were possibly switchers and may just have retained some of their Windows-residue. We met a really great bunch of people and the conversations ranged from the constant-ness of time, the differing approaches to window-cleaning, and the imminent arrival (or lack thereof) of Jackie Bird.

Window-cleaning was an important factor in the night’s entertainment: Apple had a team of crack window-cleaners laboriously and meticulously cleaning all of the windows of the building, which gave us lots of amusement, mostly of the “you’ve missed a bit” variety.

The other major source of amusement was the inevitable “what’re you lot doing?” question from passers-by, and for a while we experimented with various answers depending on how intoxicated the passer-by was, such as “we’re waiting for tomorrow”, “it is the audition queue for X-Factor”, or “we’re not really here, we’re figments of your imagination.”

The nine hours in line went surprisingly quickly, helped by craziness such as iChatting with people a mere five or six places back in the line thanks to the Apple Store Airport Network access, and instituting a policy of clapping and cheering when anyone joined the line. By opening time there were 700 people in line, so there was a lot of cheering going on. We also instigated a burst of cheerleader cheering (“Give a cheer, Give a roar, We want to see the Apple Store!”) which was shortly followed by a line-walk-past by the Apple staff before the countdown to the actual opening.

The piece of media coverage that I loved the most was the segment on BBC1’s “Reporting Scotland”:

Yes, not only do you get me posing with iPhone, but also Adam (in Apple t-shirt) and I (in CocoaCheerleaders t-shirt), and Shelley paying for my new Apple Keyboard.

The whole event was extremely enjoyable and wonderful experience thanks mainly to Steve, Kath, Mo, Hugh, the other great people in line and, of course, all the Apple staff. So, what’s next? Leopard or iPhone? We’re already getting prepared for the line — after all, we are the crazy ones.