Apple Store Opens in Vancouver BC, Canada (1st Update)

Vancouver’s Pacific Centre store is the fifth Apple store to be opened in Canada, and the first one in Vancouver. With a location in the heart of downtown’s upscale business and shopping area, it is set to attract all kinds of customers.

This morning, around 09:00 am, a large crowd of people waited in front of the Pacific Shopping Centre at 701 West Georgia Street. As anticipated, Palluxo! was there to cover this exciting grand opening event.

When we entered the mall around 9:45 am, there were between 2,500 and 3,000 people waiting for the grand opening of the Apple Store, one line stretching from the Pacific Centre’s main entrance on West Georgia Street all the way up to the Granville Street entrance, and another inside the Pacific Centre with the head of the line by H&M’s Granville entrance.

At 09:55 am sharp, the Apple Store’s lights went out and the crowd began to buzz with excitement. At 10:00 am on the dot, the Apple Store opened its doors for the grand launch with staff on hand ready to greet the waiting Apple fans and welcome them into the store.

No wonder Apple came to Vancouver considering that 2010 Olympic Games are just around the corner! According to a report by Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi, Apple stores are doing remarkably well with annual sales of $4,032 US per square foot (compared to Best Buy’s $930 US and Tiffany & Co.’s $2,666 US).

Security guards managed the crowd carefully, letting in groups of about 100 people at a time while the rest waited their turn outside.

Apple Store employees were handing out free gifts to people as they entered the store and at first many of the people standing in line thought Apple was giving away free iPods. 

Since most Apple fans already have an iPod, they were happy to get their hands on something they didn’t already own - an Apple Store Pacific Centre T-Shirt!  Apple gave away over 1000 free “Designed by Apple in California” T-Shirts (initially, they planned to give only 1,000!).

We filmed the event inside of the main mall entrance from 9:55 am until 10:20 am (video will be available shortly). Then we went outside of the entrance and waited 1 hour in a line up to enter the store. At that time, there were still people waiting behind us. As we were entering the store, they run out of T-shirts, but they managed to bring some more. As we were leaving the event around 11:40 am, there were still people coming in.

One month ago (old photos), the store’s premises at 701 West Georgia Street were still undergoing extensive renovation work. As you may recall in April we were told by two contractors, speaking on condition of anonymity, that the Vancouver Apple Store was due to officially open on August 19th. They commented at the time that the date was subject to change depending on the progress of the Pacific Centre Mall refurbishment.

Apple has clearly stepped up the pace of the renovations and completed ahead of schedule, quite probably in order to prepare the sales floor for the new products due to be unveiled at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June. Apple has four other stores in Canada. Three stores are located in Toronto, Ontario (Eaton Centre, Sherway Gardens, Yorkdale) and one in Laval, Quebec (Carrefoul, Laval).

In 2nd, we will provide video coverage. Stay tuned!