What do million dollar glass staircases, fabulous celebrities, a media-frenzy, and a mass cult of applauding fans all have in common? No, it’s not a U2 concert, but an opening of a retail store. The Apple Retail Store on Fifth Avenue, THE place to be in New York City on Friday May 19 - if you can get in.

The cast of SNL was there, buying MacBook Pros and Apple HiFi’s. Of course, they pulled cutsies in line because their time has to be more precious then the other several thousand people wrapping around the city block impatiently fidgeting and almost drooling to descend the gorgeous light-reflecting staircase wrapping around a translucent lift. Among other film and TV glamourites, was James Woods claiming ownership of the first Apple Computer, ever. See the video on Gizmodo to get the full effect. Kevin Bacon made an appearance, his second visit this Spring after a Bacon Brothers performance at the closed Tribeca Film Festival event held at the original flagship store in SoHo. Dave Chapelle, Drew Barrymore, Beyonce and Jay-Z, more SNLers, Julianne Moore, and I could go on, but you get my iDrift.

The line of iPod lovers and Mac Addicts wrapped around the GM Building, barricaded and excited to simply descend the stairs, and “walk the floor.” At least they had a beautiful 32-foot glass Louvre-inspired cube to gawk at. And as for party favors, a MacBook portable was given away every hour.

Since New Yorkers will wait in line for the opening of an envelope, this was definitely a well-advertised, overly-anticipated opening. Oh and by the way, this is the only time the store will open, since it will not close, ever. Thats right you drunk shoppers and insomniacs, you can buy an iPod at 4 a.m., or get your computer fixed after dancing all night at the Copa.Watch out F.A.O., this GM Building competitor will only become a landmark location in Manhattan as a must-see, and also give you free wireless internet access right next to the Park. Who could ask for more? As for a total geek like me, this event might be even better than a Magnolia Bakery opening on my block!

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This entry was posted on Saturday, May 20th, 2006 at 2:07 pm and is filed under Celebrities, Shopping, Music, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.