STREETERVILLE — Some Apple fans take the day off work to wait in line outside an Apple Store in anticipation of a new iPhone release. Others get in line to go to work.
Outside the Magnificent Mile Apple Store early Thursday afternoon, 20 people sat in chairs to ensure they'd snag an iPhone 6 Friday morning. A handful of them were there for another reason: to sell their coveted place in line.
Kyla Gardner explains just how long people will wait in line, and how much they'll sell their spot for:
Beverly resident Fred Brisco was the 14th person in line, his folding chair set up where the line wrapped around onto Huron Street. He got to the store with his nephew and brothers at 6 a.m. Thursday, and they all had signs advertising their seats.
Written in Sharpie on the lid of a pizza box, his nephew's sign read: "iPhone 6. You can have my spot. OFFER UP!!"
Brisco said he's been selling places in Apple release lines for three years.
"It runs from $300 to $1,000," he said. "I already got my phone. Mine’s coming tomorrow. I’m doing it just to get my money back."
People can preorder the iPhone 6 online, but for hardcore Apple fans, waiting in line — sometimes overnight — is part of the experience.
Marc Cain, of Uptown, and Chris Anderson, of suburban Wheaton, were the first and second people outside 679 N. Michigan Ave, with the next three spaces being taken up by their coworkers from web design company BolderImage. They staked out their space at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
"We could have come at some point today," Anderson said. "It’s the fact that we were able to come and get these first five spots and be on the strip where everyone walks by you that adds to the excitement of it."
Anderson said he'd met people from all over the world during the 11 hours he'd been sitting on Michigan Avenue. Passers-by stop to take pictures with them, strike up a conversations and ask how they go to the bathroom. (Managers let them use the store's restrooms.)
A few spots farther down, a man was selling two iPhone 6 vouchers for $1,000.
He stood in front of his folding chair Thursday, approaching potential customers as they stopped to gawk and take pictures.
Anderson and Cain said they've seen people selling places in line at every release they've been to.
It takes a bit away from the fun, Anderson said.
"We’re here to celebrate the brand, and celebrate how passionate we are for it, and they’re kind of mooching off of that brand, so it really kind of gives a negative connotation to everything," he said. "People stop looking at it as, 'Oh, you guys are doing this, that’s awesome,' and instead look at it like, 'Oh, stop pestering me to buy your seat."
But Brisco and his nephew, waiting around the corner on Huron, didn't think they were ruining anyone's experience.
In fact, Brisco was excited for the line to grow as the afternoon inched closer to Friday's 8 a.m. release.
"All I know is that we might end up having a party tonight," he said, laughing.
That is — if someone doesn't buy his ticket to the party by then.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
