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It's a testament to the hard work Apple's put into developing and implementing their new retail strategy that people have literally come straight home from opening day to sing the praises of the effort in detail. Here's a few of the submissions we received over the weekend of individual buying and browsing experiences at the McLean, VA location as well as the Glendale, CA store:

I just got back from the Glendale, CA new Apple store. This thing is the coolest ever. Here's what we did. My friend brought his digital camera, so we shot a bunch of stuff in line, and inside the store. After this, we connected his camera to a 733MHz G4, and edited our footage in iMovie. Then, thanks to the awesome staff, we got a free DVD-R and burned our movie onto a DVD using iDVD right in the store. That was probably the coolest retail experience I've ever had. Plus I got a free shirt!

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Actually, they gave out free t-shirts to anyone who left the store. I can tell you this for fact because I actually received *two* shirts. When I was going up to the front to take a few snapshots right before they opened, someone walked out with an iBook and was showing it off to the people in line. I was snapping some pictures, and the security guard said "You can go in." I got to take some wonderful shots, and when I left, an Apple employee gave me a t-shirt in a tube. When I went to join my friends, they all beat me up for getting in ahead of them. When I went in the second time, I stayed longer and took more shots. When we left, we *all* got t-shirts.

And for all of you who think I'm a selfish schmuck for taking two t-shirts, I gave my second one away to a mother who drove from D.C. For her mac-fanatic son.

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I just returned from waiting on a HUGE line for two hours, to be among the first to visit the new Tyson's Corner, VA Apple Store.

Apple hit a homerun! The electricity of the atmosphere in the Tyson's Corner mall really took many by surprise. And the comfort and elegance of the store was something to behold. The store is perfectly laid out. There is no typical store front marquee, only just large white Apple logos (painted on the store front windows and at the top of the entrance) are used to identify on the store. Very cool!

The store featured:

- All the latest Macs beautifully displayed - with the new iBook featured prominently as the first product you see upon entering.
- Select third party peripherals
- PDAs including the latest thin Visor and color Palms!
- Books
- and at the rear of the store, the "Apple Theater" that shows terrific Apple product films at scheduled intervals.

While waiting on line, Mac addicts in the know, were surfing the web by logging on to the open AirPort network the store provided. It was awesome!

Some of the terrific people waiting to get in (and get a free T-shirt that said "Tyson's Corner" underneath an Aqua Apple logo) was a 60 year old highshool language teacher that is one of the most knowledgeable and rabid Mac fanatics I ever met. She gleefully described her over one dozen Macs, which she supplemented with a new iBook she ordered about 2 minutes after she finally got in the store.

This was really a fine day for Apple. I felt proud and sense of long awaited relief that Apple may very well grab far more of the consumer market than even us Mac lovers may have anticipated. This is probably a good time to buy more Apple stock.

Apple always kicked ass technologically and socially. Now it's clear. Apple is about to kick ass commercially.

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I was there today, arriving at the end of the line about 9:40 a.m. The line was still within the mall doors at the time, but within a half-hour was long enough to go outside. They did come around showing the new iBook, and would let you touch and ask questions, although not letting it stray too far. It was connected wirelessly to the internet (this is outside the store). At this time a question was asked about buying with an educational discount, and we were told that this would not be done in the store, and needed to be done online.

We made it inside the store just before 12:00 and stayed about a half hour. As others have described elsewhere on the web, it was a very pleasant experience. The store is light and open, and as I now find out, local regulation limited the occupancy number, thus the reason for the line.

Lots of software, which is located down the center of the store, on either side of the central aisle. The shelving is about five feet high and six feet long per unit, with about six units on each side total. With four shelves each, there is plenty of software. I would say more than a quarter was gaming software, which I can't describe as I'm not a gamer and didn't take note, sorry. Other units had OS 9, OS X, Appleworks and Applecare; Adobe, Kai, Macromedia, and other imaging software; lots of musical processing programs, and a good selection of utilities (Norton, Casady & Greene, Alsoft, etc.). Plus more (MS Office for one). There were a small selection of books at the end of the software. There was also a pretty large assortment of children's and educational software on the wall behind the "children's area."

You have digital video cameras on the left, on the back side of the software units, and symmetrically the handheld devices behind the opposite software shelving. This included: Handspring Visor Deluxe (2 displayed), a Platinum, an Edge; then two Palm models, the m500 and the m505.

Scanners and printers are in the back to the left, along with CDRW units, cables, connectors, etc.

All the hardware is set up with lots of space to observe and try out. Very uncluttered and inviting. Plenty of helpful, agreeable and non-pushy staff were available to answer questions and demonstrate software, such as Final Cut Pro (this on a Cinema display). An employee was demonstrating iMovie in the big screen theater area in back. The seating there is in bench form, in a u-shape. They have demos scheduled each hour or so through the weekend.

The Genius bar had several people asking questions, maybe a half dozen when I looked. There was more than one genius there, also - two or three that I saw.

Oh, and although I didn't make a purchase, we still got T-shirts on our way out. These were given rolled up in a clear tube, with white soft plastic end caps. The shirts are XL, white, with a blue Apple logo and the words "Tysons Corner Center" on the front, and "Shop Different" on the back. They were rolled so as to show the logo and Tysons wording through the tube.

All in all, a great first impression! I sure hope they can keep up this standard of quality experience. There is plenty of traffic in that mall and they should get loads of exposure there. The line was shorter when we left, but still very long.