Pictures of Shanghai China Apple Store Grand Opening Emerge

Pictures of Apple’s second China store have surfaced on the web. Apple opened a retail store in Shanghai on Saturday. Apple’s first China store, located in Beijing, was opened in 2008 just before the Summer Olympic Games kicked off. The Shanghai store is located in the Pudong financial district, on the eastern banks of the Huangpu River, which divides the city in half.

Hundreds lined up outside the Shanghai store's cylindrical glass entrance, which borrows design elements from the New York flagship Apple Store (Fifth Avenue), including the spiral staircase which leads down to the store. A “faithful” Macenstein reader going by the name of Min has provided the site with pictures of the Shanghai China Apple store grand opening, as well as a take on the festivities.

“I got there at 7am. There were already hundreds of people waiting in line,” Min wrote. “By the time at 11:30am, there were thousands of people in the queue! And lots of reporters on the site. It’s pretty hot day, store workers were giving out free water to the waiting customers. A few lucky people got apple logo umbrella. I am one of them.  These umbrella’s body are made form fiberglass! Pretty cool stuff. I wish they could make some limited edition fiberglass back iPhone 4. The first 5000 customers also get a free T-shirt. I got one, haha! [sic]”

“The store is huge! I think it’s bigger than the one in New York,” Min continued. “By the way, there is a guy and his wife (or girlfriend) camped at the store 2 days before the opening. He is the first customer got into the store. There is a photo of him in the set (he is the guy with the Steve Jobs’ flag in one of the photos),” Min explains.