Hundreds mob Grand Central Apple store opening

December 9, 2011 By Andrew Couts

Consumerism is alive and well at New York's Grand Central station, where Apple today opened its largest retail location in the world.

What happens when Apple opens it’s largest store ever at one of the most heavily-trafficed transportation hubs in America? If you guessed total mayhem, you’d be right.

OK, maybe “mayhem” is too strong a word. But the Apple-loving crowd at New York’s Grand Central Station certainly threw a wrench in this morning’s commute, lining up around the terminal to be some of the first fanboys and fangirls to set foot in the newest Mecca of consumer electronic-dom, the 23,000-sq-foot Grand Central Apple store.

The first 4,000 people to walk up the marble staircases that lead to the new Apple retail location will be awarded with an exclusive t-shirt that reads “Apple Store, Grand Central,” designed to look like a train arrival board. Giving out these kinds of shirts has long been a tradition at the opening of Apple stores, and snagging one sits at the top of the heap of reasons people are willing to wait in line for the doors to finally open.

In addition to its sprawling size, the Grand Central Apple store will employ 315 workers, have the largest-ever Personal Setup area, and feature not one, but two — two! — Genius Bars. The store is open from 7am to 9pm Monday through Friday, 10am to 7pm Saturdays, and 11am to 6pm on Sundays.

The picture above was shot by Fortune editor Philip Elmer-Dewitt. Check out his video of the crowd here.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that Philip Elmer-Dewitt works for Forbes. He does not. He works for Fortune. I apologize for this error.

Showing 6 comments

jesterking at 8:50am 9th December 2011 Hundreds are morons and better not postpone my travel tomorrow!
1. iMan at 9:16am 13th December 2011 Don't hate bro
  1. jesterking at 9:28am 13th December 2011 All day long. I even hate the fact that they defaced the actual wall to install two of their apple logos. They put them right in the tiles. pathetic.
    iMan at 10:47am 13th December 2011 That's why you hate Apple?
    jesterking at 11:59am 13th December 2011 No, I hate how apple hasn't come up with anything innovative in the past 5-6 years. instead regurgitate the same product with minor tweaks here and there. But yet they are supposedly the best of everything! Sorry, but group think isn't correct. They are clever at marketing, I'll give them that. I also don't like how they patten every single idea, no matter how absurd or out of the realm of possibilities it is to actually make that idea. And when another company tries to make a product that has a .001% commonality to that patten, they sue. Apple is a sue happy company. I could keep going.
    iMan at 2:02pm 13th December 2011 I get your point. But hey, the iPhones are shiny and not that expensive. And other companies should come up with their own innovative ideas and they shouldn't copy Apple just because they're successful. Apple has the right to pattern all of their intellectual properties.