The morning after the announcement that the legendary innovator and former Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, had died, crowds at all four of New York City’s Apple Stores paid respects at makeshift memorials, while inside the retail and customer service hubs Jobs had pioneered continued their daily bustle.
Everywhere, tourists and locals took pictures and discussed Job’s lasting legacy. Italian, Swedish and other languages bubbled over the general hum. Some said they came just to see the memorials, others noticing them as they passed and stopping to honor the Apple (AAPL) executive.
At Broadway and 67th, a small group stood outside the Apple Store Upper West Side, staring intently at an impromptu memorial of flowers, newspapers and, of course, apples. Maartje van Vugt, a tourist from the Netherlands, was there to buy an iPad 2 with her sister. The two had heard the news the night before and waited a moment before going inside to watch the memorial. Branch Freeman, a classical pianist in the 8th grade at the Special Music School at Kaufman Center nearby, had heard from others to check the memorial out.
“I’m a Mac user, and my family is a family of Mac users, so I’d like to say I have a relationship with the company,” Freeman said. Echoing the sentiments of others, Freeman said he felt Jobs’ death personally and was happy to see a memorial near the stores, themselves part of his legacy. Leaving the store, Nancy Jacobs, an agent for digital studios, pointed out the roses and apple she had left for Jobs on her way to a training class at the store, a gesture she’d thought of on her way there earlier Thursday morning.
Across from the Plaza Hotel at 58th and 5th Ave., a larger crowd gathered at another memorial of flowers set against the plywood fence protecting passersby from the large renovation project there. (That store’s famed glass cube is being completely reinstalled.) The crowd was tourist dominated, but some said they had stopped as they worked nearby.
Assalay Wodobode, a French citizen living in New York, sells an application for hospitality resorts on the iPad and was at the 5th Ave. Store to get one-on-one help with her own tablet. Her day, however, had rapidly become about honoring Jobs as well. “When I woke up in the morning, the first thing I thought when I was reading the news was the loss of this genius, Steve Jobs,” she said. Downstairs in the store, “it’s very crowded as usual, it’s not a positive or a joyful attitude — but it’s positive and joyful to continue the work this man had done. We’re lucky to have had him.”
Indeed, the store bustled like its sister stores, with long waits for the Genius Bar and people tinkering on demo iPhones, iPads and Macbooks. Though most employees would not comment — at every store, employees were instructed to direct reporters to a PR hotline of corporate spokespeople — one employee did admit, anonymously, that it was a sad and difficult day to work, noting that the memorial outside was assembled by fans of Jobs and Apple, not the store.
An employee at the SoHo Apple Store on Prince Street confirmed that there was no store-generated memorial, but did say that at that store at least, demo phones had been set to “sleep” in memory of Jobs, though customers kept turning them on to try them out. Employees had received an email from CEO Tim Cook with the sad news late Wednesday afternoon, and the mood at the morning meeting had been “somber.”
Outside that store, a mourner had left post-it notes and a Sharpie, and people stopped to write messages. Robert Haavie, a local professional in photo and design, said he “came by to get the vibe, to see if anyone was chatting or commiserating in any way.” As Jobs was the same age, he had inspired Haavie for “pretty much my entire adult life,” he said. “ I think this is an appropriate outpouring of grief and gratitude you’re seeing all around the world.”
In the tourist-heavy Meatpacking District, the Apple Store on 14th and 9th Ave. Had two faces of its glass corner walls covered in Post-Its notes from mourners. TV news operations had set up camp nearby (though crews, one even Italian, stopped by the other memorial locations), and one person stationed there all day noted there’d been at least three car accidents on 14th St. As drivers rubbernecked, including one still being sorted out as Coins2Day stopped by in the early afternoon.
Among those gathered outside, Veronika Borg, visiting from Stockholm, said that Job’s legacy was felt around the world. She’d been passing by, seen the memorial and stopped to pay respects. Native New Yorkers and tourists coalesced for a rare moment, passing pens around to write their own notes.
Everywhere, people paid tribute to Jobs’ ability to innovate and inspire. On the Upper West Side, a mother pushing a stroller explained to her small sons about Jobs’ importance as she passed. Outside 14th St., one woman fought her way through the crowd and into the store, with a befuddled “what the heck is going on” as she went. If she had only looked up, she would’ve realized — but she was too focused on the message on her iPhone.