The Observation Deck

photo courtesy of http://WestlakeBayVillageObserver.com

With 13 hours before opening, Jeff Morin from Lakewood, Ohio was first in line at the Apple Store at Crocker Park.

Read the full story at http://westlakebayvillageobserver.com


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Okay, Jim, it was raining and DH had to get up very early this morning. He suggested that because of the rain the line might not be too long, and I should go.

I was #15. I did want to buy my niece a gift, so it was more than a free t-shirt, although I now have one of those.

There were team-building exercises all over the place and the first groups who entered were encouraged to high-five all of the employees. This meant you went all the way to the back of the store and then back to the front.

There were so many employees that you couldn't really get to the merchandise, but after a while, the employees attached themselves to customers to be helpful.

Of course, they had cool stuff. And my niece is going to get one of the first things sold from that store on that day.

I hadn't waited in line for something silly for a long time, and I appreciated the coffee and juice brought out for us. As Jim mentioned, there were some folks who were out all night, but I only hung around for three hours. By 10:15 I was out the door.

It's a nice looking store and I'm happy they're on the west side, but I'd be a happier if that shirt said "Lakewood". Then I might have stayed outside all night!

I think there are a lot more shirts to give away, so don't be shy! There were about 170 people in line when the doors opened at 10.

Almost as many employees as customers...

Oh, and p.s., LOVED seeing the story on http://westlakebayvillageobserver.com and loved that there's some sharing going on.

Some of the part time workers there are college students that happen to be LHS graduates as well!

Why is this exciting for the Lakewood Observer?

Why is this exciting for the Lakewood Observer?


Nobody said it was "exiting" for the Lakewood Observer. It was just a comment. Sorry if it wasn't "newsworthy" enough for you.
There was interest in the fact that the Apple Store opened at Crocker Park. Some people are happy to see an Apple store on the west side of Cleveland. That is all. I mentioned that there are some people from Lakewood that were lucky enough to find jobs with a prospering company such as Apple.

Mary Breiner wrote:Why is this exciting for the Lakewood Observer?


Nobody said it was "exiting" for the Lakewood Observer. It was just a comment. Sorry if it wasn't "newsworthy" enough for you.
There was interest in the fact that the Apple Store opened at Crocker Park. Some people are happy to see an Apple store on the west side of Cleveland. That is all. I mentioned that there are some people from Lakewood that were lucky enough to find jobs with a prospering company such as Apple.

This was actually a response to Jim's post...I even got a very rare e-mail advisory for this thread about it! When I dug into the LO to see what was up I had thoughts that a new store was opening in Lakewood, etc, etc...the usual thing that Jim gets excited about. Then I read it was a new store at Crocker Park and I had to ask, that's all.

Jim hasn't sent an e-mail all excited about the new "L'Occitane en Provence" opening there, soon. Nor the DSW Show store. Or the (checks Crocker Website one more time) the "Jupe" store moving in soon.

So I had to ask...what makes this special for the LO...and Jim in particular, since he started the thread (and e-mail).

My suspicion is that this is a nerdy Mac thing and being a nerdy gamer guy, I can appreciate the excitement of having over priced computers a bit closer to home.

Jim's e-mail had, "Thanks to all, it is about to be serious fun, as dreams are realized" in it so I was hoping to find something awesomely cool happening to Lakewood but it wasn't meant to be. Now if we got this store...dang, that would be exciting. But one less reason to shop in town? Nah, I will be more likely to shop at L'Occitane (whatever that is...do they sell games???).

Phil-

The Bay Village/Westlake Observer has coverage of this event on their website. They're getting ready to publish their first paper.

A former Lakewoodite, Denny Wendell, is heading up that project.

I'm prejudiced, but whenever another Observer starts, I'm excited that a Lakewood company sparked it.

The other part, like my wasting three hours to get a t-shirt was just silly fun.

Phil, You bring up a good point. Westlake is nice but why not put a store in Lakewood. I am no business major, but with Lakewood's high concentration of macbook toting youth it seems like a slam dunk.

Also, I am sure it would be cheaper. I have heard stories about the crazy rent at cooker park. I am sure you could get space in Lakewood for much cheaper and still have the West side market.

While I would never shop there, I would welcome a store here!

Phil Florian wrote:Why is this exciting for the Lakewood Observer?

Phil

For a million reasons. One it is proving to work. When the Lakewood Observer was started it was started for a couple simple reasons. Vet and announce ideas and events, help non-profits, and bring a city together but letting the resident learn more about the city than any resident had known before.

As I have hinted on in the past there are many working Observer projects out there. The problem is it takes time to bring them online. There are more on the way this year, and next.

"The Observer" is a monumental project that getting attention around the world, this brings Lakewood into focus. I wish I could go into detail but NinthEstate which powers the Observer is "Community Building" software. So as other cities and media groups look at Observers, they also look at the community and the feedback is generally extremely favorable. This is great for Lakewood. Between the Library, the Schools, Observer, LEAF, MAMA, BikeLakewood, LIA, Emerald Canyon Co-Op, the Visionary Alignment (now refered to by some at LW∞) feedback is that of a extremely progressive community with solid community support and involvement. These are community success stories, we should all be proud of. Eight of ten receive ZERO tax-dollars, and are sustainable.

This was the first time Observers had a legitimate(?) reason to share and work on stories together. In 2009 you will see more as we help each other cover respective communities. Hyper Local On A Global LevelSM.

While some love to talk of my ego, let's be honest this has never been a Jim O'Bryan effort. It is a Lakewood effort, that makes me very, very proud, as it does the board, and should every member, lurker, advertiser, writer, photographer, illustrator, delivery person, and staff.

The Lakewood Observer is much more than a paper, and a website.

Someday my hope is Lakewood will understand that.

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The store opened just in time, our TimeMachine stopped working last night and we are going to have to make a trip out there, yippee we don't have to drive to the eastside.

Jim DeVito wrote:Phil, You bring up a good point. Westlake is nice but why not put a store in Lakewood. I am no business major, but with Lakewood's high concentration of macbook toting youth it seems like a slam dunk.

Also, I am sure it would be cheaper. I have heard stories about the crazy rent at cooker park. I am sure you could get space in Lakewood for much cheaper and still have the West side market.

While I would never shop there, I would welcome a store here!

As an avowed Mac geek, I would love nothing more than an Apple store in Lakewood.

But, the truth of the matter is (and this goes for most, especially high-end retail) regardless of how cheap the rent would be in Lakewood, the storefronts are outdated and there's a complete lack of critical mass of shopping. High-end shops like to be clustered, they feed off each other's business.

Many places have a street with high-end shops and restaurants...I'm thinking of places in Boston, Philly, San Francisco...but Lakewood is just not one of those places yet.

And to be honest, there are a lot in Lakewood that have an issue with any suggestion that we might actually want to try to cater to people with money as if that was a bad thing.

But hey, we're getting an Autozone!

I will be heading to the Apple Store at Crocker next weekend to pick up my iPhone...yipee!

Hey man, don't knock autozone. I got a new serpentine belt there last weekend.

Jim DeVito wrote:Hey man, don't knock autozone. I got a new serpentine belt there last weekend.

Being as car illiterate as I am, I'll trust you that's important.

Hey--- We got the Mac folks, PC people---each a unique demographic.

But I like this new Autozone. How 'bout a new demo------

brake shoe dude (ette,also) ???