New Naperville Apple store attracts crowds
You could say he's a Mac person.
Tom McCluskey skipped the first day of his family reunion - in Ohio - so he could be in Naperville bright and early Saturday for the opening of the latest Apple store.
Members of his family weren't surprised, he said. "It's always been an Apple house."
The Oswego man can name all the dozen or so Mac computers he's owned, including the ones nicknamed Fred, Wilma and, his latest, Gazoo.
And yes, those are all Flintstones characters. McCluskey turns to the stock of Hanna-Barbera cartoons for all his Apple computers, starting out with the Jetsons and working his way through the Flintstones.
You'll never catch McCluskey on a PC.
"My friends have PC's; they have problems," he said. "I don't have problems with my hardware."
That seemed to be the consensus in downtown Naperville, where hundreds lined Jefferson Avenue and Webster Street in anticipation of the 10 a.m. opening of the new Apple store.
Snatches of conversation revealed these weren't casual fans.
"Steve Jobs tells us what to do," one joked about the CEO of Apple, while another spoke about the wonders of backing up his iPhone.
Most agreed they wanted to come to the store at 120 W. Jefferson for the atmosphere and the other fanatics who understood exactly why the store is so amazing.
The employees set the tone for the morning, running a lap around the block minutes before the opening and leading chants of "Apple."
"It's a great opportunity to be a part of this Apple community," said Mark Fijor, Arlington Heights.
Ryan Benuska, 12, and Mark Irion, 14, were the first two customers in line, having spent the night camping out.
They arrived at 6:40 p.m. Friday and spent the night chatting with others who came after them and, of course, playing games on their iPhones and iPods.
"We are big Apple fans," Benuska said. "We wanted to be the first ones."
Their patience paid off when they were the first to be greeted by more than 50 cheering store employees, all dressed in the store's signature bright orange, blue and turquoise shirts, clapping to The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop" lyrics "Hey ho, let's go."
The first 1,000 customers also received free, limited-edition T-shirts, another big draw.
"We knew there'd be a ton of people," said Rita Marks, of Naperville, who came with her son Jaison. "We planned our day around being here this morning."