I never miss the opportunity to check out an Apple Store opening when it’s relatively close by. Apple sent me an email to let me know that they are reopening the Apple Store in the Garden State Plaza about 25 miles from me.



The old store was really small and was in desperate need of a makeover. The Garden State Plaza is huge and very busy. The old Apple Store just could’t support the foot traffic.

It’s cool to grab one of the free t-shirts they give away. It just so happens that I need an extra Lighting Cable for my car and my wife just asked me for a new pair of headphones for her iPhone. That’s sounds as good a reason as any to take a trip to the grand reopening.

The store opened at 8:00. I left around 7:30 and got there just about 8:00. As expected, the store was already packed.




After having a little look around, I grabbed a pair of the new EarPods and a Lightning USB cable.

My wife’s iPhone 4 headphones got caught in the car door as she closed it. They didn’t fair too well being slammed in a card door. Needless to say, she needs a new pair now, but she told me to just hold off and give them to her as a Christmas present.





Finally! I’ve been meaning to pick up a new cable ever since I bought my iPhone 5. My local Apple Store didn’t have them the first week they came out. I hadn’t had the chance to swing by the mall since. In the meantime, I had to keep remembering to bring the cable with me so I could plug my iPhone into my car stereo. It was a pain to have to keep bringing it with me to work and remember to bring it back home. Now I can just leave one in the car.







The cardboard carrier they have the cable wrapped around is glued together. Too bad you can’t just slide it off. You have to tear it to get the cable out.



I like the t-shirt. They went with a smokey gray this time instead of the usual black.





I also grabbed one of these 2012 holiday fliers. I like the fliers. They’ll be worth a little something 10 years from now. I’m sure it’ll be fun to look back on some of the products and laugh at how expensive they were.







I paid for the cable and headphones and headed out. I was back home by 9:00 AM. Not a bad start to a Saturday morning.