Apple threw open the doors to its Waikiki store today with blaring music, hootin' and hollerin' employees and a line that started out long but dissipated relatively quickly.

This may not be the most advantageous time to open a store in Waikiki, given the slumping tourism market. But the people who queued up on the Kalakaua Avenue sidewalk fronting the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center appeared to be both visitors and local, and all seemed eager to grab a T-shirt and enjoy the glitz of the shiny new store.

I got there a bit late, so I hope I didn't miss Steve Jobs, if he was even there in the flesh. In fact, I doubt this opening would be big enough to draw him out of Cupertino. However, hope springs eternal that I will, in my lifetime, get to interview the man who raised Apple out of the ashes. I'd take a meeting post-lifetime, too, Steve, in case you're reading.

A hack note about parking: I made the mistake of using the Sheraton Waikiki/Royal Hawaiian Hotel structure rather than parking on the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center side. Had I done this right, I could have gotten a validation at the Apple Store.

Instead, I went to the Sheraton, bought a couple of $10 sandwiches to get my ticket stamped at the Ingredients deli. The deli will only stamp a ticket with a purchase of $20 or more.

Now, these were very good sandwiches, turkey and cranberry with chipotle cheese, but no wonder tourists say Hawai'i is too expensive to visit.

Anyway, it was a costly lesson — of interest perhaps to those of you headed to the Waikiki store who would rather spend money on Apple gadgets than visitor-priced sandwiches.

The details: If you're coming from Royal Hawaiian Avenue, make a sharp right up the ramp to the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center parking structure. Entering from Lewers Street? Go past the Sheraton Hotel parking entrance and look to the left for the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center parking structure ramp.

Here's a pix of the Apple Store T-shirt, by popular demand. OK, it was one request. But a big one.

Tags: Apple store, Apple T-shirt, Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, Steve Jobs, Waikiki

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 27th, 2008 at 12:31 pm and is filed under Hawaii Hacks, Technology, Web sites. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.