Today, the Apple Store at the American Dream mall had its grand opening. American Dream, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, is the second largest mall in the United States.

The store was scheduled to open at 11am, but they opened a few minutes early. Apple always gives a free gift to attendees (shirts, books, posters). This time, it was a tote bag with the Apple logo. It didn’t have the location which is unusual. Seemed rather generic.

There were 100 people in line when it opened. The line grew as more and more mall-goers noticed the line.

Many employees from other Apple locations cut the line. I’ve seen this a lot in New York City. One guy will be in line, then his coworkers show up and join him. The entitled people behind me were from the Willowbrook Mall location.

I got introduced to Craig, Apple’s “Market Leader.” He’s been at Apple ten years and has been part of all the Apple Store openings in the area.

An American Dream Apple Store employee told me this is the only new Apple Store in the US this year.

Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad (and more) fame were at Stew Leonard’s in Paramus, New Jersey today to promote their Mezcal, Dos Hombres. Stew Leonard’s started taking Dos Hombres pre-orders a few weeks back and quickly sold out. There were over 200 people in the queue to get their bottles signed.

They arrived at 9:15am after spending the previous evening bar-hopping all over New York City.

Stew Leonard’s was super-organized and kept the line moving.

Bryan and Aaron shook everyone’s hands, thanked them for coming and posed for photographs.

Today, some of Apple’s top brass (Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, Greg Joswiak and Deirdre O’Brien) were on-hand for the grand reopening of the Apple Fifth Avenue store in New York City.  It’s also the launch day of the iPhone 11. I’ve never seen Schiller and Joswiak at an East Coast Apple Store so this was a rare appearance. They spoke briefly with reporters before entering the store via one of the two new side entranceways.  I never saw them again.

Tim Cook greeted people in line.  He was super-friendly and charismatic.  He and Deirdre opened the doors when the phone went on sale at 8am.  I later saw him in the store posing for selfies and having conversations with fans/customers.

Deirdre was in the store speaking with customers all day.  She genuinely cares about the retail operations.  And apparently she likes dogs (see below).

The new store is beautiful.  There are hypoallergenic trees which each originated from the same tree (an employee told me).  Off to the side is an Experience Room.  It’s one of only three in the world.  It simulates a room in your home so you can hear accurate acoustics. You sit on couches positioned in front of HomePod speakers and a flat screen television.

When I left, there was still a long line.  I haven’t seen a line this long for a product launch in years.  Later that afternoon, I went to the Grand Central store.  Equally long line.

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The iconic Marcal paper plant in Elmwood Park, New Jersey caught fire this evening.

On Monday, I had the privilege of seeing Adam Horovitz and Michael Diamond (Ad-Rock and Mike D) of the Beastie Boys at Town Hall in New York City.  They were promoting their new book, Beastie Boys Book.

Earlier that day, I arrived to see merchandise and their books being delivered.  I also saw set pieces being unloaded.

After being let into Town Hall, the line for exclusive merchandise filled the entire venue.  I went upstairs to check out the Beastie Boys exhibit.  There were display cases full of rare items.  It overwhelmed the senses.  The Sonos company had records that were sampled on the Beastie Boys albums that people could play.  Sonos also had a complementary Beastie Boys playlist poster.

In the audience was their family, Jimmy Fallon, Murray Hill, Champagne Jerry, a member of Twenty One Pilots and the crew from MCA Day.

It was a great, well-produced show.  It consisted of readings from the book, Adam and Mike riffing back-and-forth, photos and videos, as well as the awesome Mixmaster Mike spinning classics in-between.

It was funny, deep and emotional.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I’m so glad I was there.