Report--The Apple Store "Shop Late. Stuff Early." Promotion (with photos)

began at 6 pm yesterday evening and ended at midnight at each of the 50 Apple Stores throughout the country. (Click on the photos for a larger image.)

We went to the promotion at the Tysons Corner (McLean, VA) store just a couple of miles from Macs Only!'s global headquarters. We showed up at 5:30 pm ET and already there was a line of about 100 people waiting for the 6 pm re-opening. The front of the line is shown in the first photo above. The line bent back around to the left in a "J" pattern.

When 6 pm arrived the store re-opened to a cheer from the crowd which had increased to over 200 (see photo at right). The major announced attraction was a drawing for a 15" LCD iMac. Store Manager Ilene Magee (below left) was handing out the iMac drawing's entry cards at the entrance.

The card also had a list of special prices that were good through midnight: 17" iMac--$1888, iPod--$268, AirPort--$268, Mac OS X 10.2--$68, .Mac--$68, Canon PowerShot 5200--$268, HP Deskjet 5550--$128, Canon ZR40--$498, and JBL Creature Speakers--$98.

On the way out, early arrivers were given a 4x6" refrigerator magnet. The magnet can be separated into about 40 pieces to hold notes on the fridge. When we left the Tysons Corner Mall at 7:15 pm there were still 200 people in line to get in. A good time was had by all.