[title]
Snapchat surprised everyone yesterday by opening a pop-up shop right in the middle of NYC. The store will be open for the holidays (it runs through New Year’s Eve) and contains a single vending machine that sells one item: Snapchat Spectacles.
The allure of the video-recording sunglasses was enough to convince many New Yorkers to join the line yesterday. If you’re thinking about heading there sometime over the next month to snag one of the exclusive glasses yourself, here are a few things you should know.
1. Be prepared to wait a really, really long time. Most of the eager tech enthusiasts who posted about their experiences yesterday waited for about six hours. That wait time is sure to increase as more people hear about the pop-up. (The first person who got in line today arrived at 4am.) So bundle up!
Braven Stone was first on line at 4 Am this morning. He's now the proud owner of two @Spectacles. pic.twitter.com/G9O74SanRL
— Eli Blumenthal (@eliblumenthal) November 22, 2016
2. Maybe don’t eat or drink anything before. There are no bathrooms in line and none inside of the store, either.
3. Try to have a second payment method on hand. There were multiple reports yesterday of customers’ cards not working when they finally made it to the machine, forcing them to call their card companies and explain that, no, they were not trying to attempt fraud. Apparently, credit cards have had less issues than debit cards.
4. Maybe pay someone else to wait for you. You can use a service like TaskRabbit to pay someone to wait in line for you if you simply don’t think you are up to the task of standing in one place for a really long time.
5. Decide what color you want. You can get black, blue or coral. Don’t be that person who waits for six hours and then chokes at the finish line. Everyone still waiting behind you probably won’t be pleased.
Hours for the NYC @Spectacles pop up are online now pic.twitter.com/pYXCztwUuj
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) November 21, 2016