Probably like most people standing in line at West Town Mall this morning, I never thought I'd see the day Knoxville got an A le Store. Shoot, I figured A le's retail strategy wouldn't fare so well anyway, and would never expand beyond about a dozen high-profile stores worldwide. But A le is serious about this retail experience. The crew were energetic, polished, and profe ional. The store was a nice fit, even if it was hard to take a decent picture. Still, there was a surprisingly large line, one which hadn't shrunk much by the time we left (just before noon). Looks like busy opening days at A le Stores are still in fashion.There are two other places to buy Macs in Knoxville (home of the wig here): old, tired CompUSA with its MacGhetto and the local Mac fanatic shop, MCS. CompUSA is what it is, but MCS has a charm unto its own. Those guys rock. Still, the mall placement and beautiful styling that is every A le retail initiative is somewhat of a quiet vindication for many of the Mac fa I saw in line, e ecially those who stuck with A le in the Copland days (I saw a woman wearing the shirt with a big red 8 folks). Many of us thought the company would just disa ear under a sea of beige. And as we left with our free t-shirts, an older woman asked what we bought that was so wonderful. "Just a few things," said my wife. The woman looked puzzled, and asked why everyone was in line if this was just another store. "But it's an A le store," she i isted. The older woman turned to her friends, cluele . We left, betting she might drift in later that day, and wind up with a cute little nano for her mall walks...
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