After waiting for 20 hours, fan becomes 1st visitor to new Apple store

Taipei, June 15 (CNA) A loyal fan waited for about 20 hours to be the first person to enter the second official Apple store in Taiwan, which had a grand opening in Xinyi District, downtown Taipei, at 10 a.m. Saturday.

"I came here between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. yesterday because I wanted to become the first visitor to the new Apple store," Lu Shao-hua (呂紹華), 33, said excitedly when he spoke with CNA.

In July 2017 when Apple opened its first official store inside the Taipei 101 shopping center, the landmark building in the capital, also in Xinyi District, the first visitor was a 28-year-old foreigner who lined up for 68 hours.

"This time, I, a Taiwanese, was the first visitor to the new Apple store, instead of a foreigner," Lu said.

Unlike the first Apple store in Taiwan, the new Apple store -- Apple Xinyi A13 -- is located at an independent location at the corner of Songshou Road and Songren Road. Before its grand opening Saturday morning, about 1,200 fans were lining up and waiting to visit the store.

Inside the new Apple store, visitors can see stone, wood and metal construction materials which are the same materials used by the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California.

The new Apple Store's exterior resembles Apple's flagship outlet in Chicago -- Apple Michigan Avenue -- an airy glass box with a curved-edge roof modeled on a MacBook.

According to Apple, the first group of visitors received the company's T-shirts to celebrate the grand opening. However, the American consumer electronics giant did not disclose how many T-shirts were given to the visitors Saturday.

Lu, the first visitor on Saturday, said the first Apple product he bought in 2006 was an iPod Shuffle and ever since then he has become a fan of Apple for 13 years. So far, he has bought at least 20 Apple products.

To his knowledge, Lu said, many of the other people lining up to enter the new store have been Apple's fans for two or even three decades. Lu is one of the few Apple Certified Trainers in Taiwan.

Lu said since Apple has an independent new store and it will not restricted by business hours in a shopping mall, the company is expected to have a flexible schedule to launch a comprehensive series of activities for its customers.

After becoming the first visitor to the new Apple store, Lu said he just wanted to go home to get some rest, adding that he is planning to participate in the Apple photography courses in the near future.

After Apple released the information about its second store in Taipei on May 24, some netizens in Taiwan said they hoped Apple will open its next official store outside of Taipei.

Apple sells most of its products in Taiwan through its own online channel and authorized resellers like Studio A, iStore, and Data Express, in addition to its official store.