chipotle_center
Perched on the brick stairs of the new Chipotle with shiny silver goggles atop his knitted ski cap, Dewey Nelson nonchalantly leaned against one of the off-white pillars last night, prepared to spend a night outside to be the Blacksburg store’s first paying customer. Not even shivering once, he made braving the frigid conditions outside the burrito haven seem routine.
“It is a true test of manhood. It is a real test of my convictions,” Nelson said, adding that he makes campouts for events such as DVD releases a habit. “I wasn’t born with a silver burrito in my mouth. I have to work for it.”
Nelson, a Roanoke resident, along with several other men, camped out in front of Chipotle Monday afternoon, prepared to stay wide-eyed through the night, just to purchase a burrito this morning.
Blacksburg’s Chipotle will open today at 11 a.m. after several months of construction delays. There will be no delay in welcoming its first customers.
Related: Photo gallery from Chipotle grand opening
At least four burrito-obsessed troopers intended to stay the night outside the restaurant.
“It is like, why do we cry when we see ‘Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan?’ Why do we feel patriotic before we hear ‘The Star Spangled Banner?’ Why do we fall in love?” Nelson asked, his voice getting higher-pitched and rowdier with every question.
“Chipotle is the pure happiness of this world condensed into one tinfoil-wrapped burrito.”
Some Blacksburg dwellers, including Nelson himself, were lucky enough to get their hands on special Chipotle promotional cards, offering one free burrito, chips, salsa and a soda yesterday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., the day before the actual opening. A customer offered the determined camper an extra card, but he refused it.
On the other hand, Charlie Rearick, who hasn’t had a Chipotle burrito in a long time, since one of the restaurants opened in his hometown six years ago, was quite disappointed he didn’t receive a card. He was also frustrated while watching all the fortunate people who were blessed with burritos a day earlier than him. However, he was willing to wait, because in his opinion, it was worth it.
A version of this article appeared in the Oct 5 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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If Chipolte manages to actually serve everyone "Attending" the 5200 people attending the grand opening Facebook event set for tomorrow, they would have to serve one person every 7.6 seconds for 11 straight hours. Assuming an average customer pays $8, they will gross $41,600 in sales TOMORROW alone.
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You are obviously an engineer
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You're right! Must have been my mediocre English skills exemplified by my unnecessary repeat of the word "attending" in the first sentence that gave me away. Anyway, I just wanted to point out a few of the numbers behind the madness here. The demand for this restaurant among the VT students is quite staggering. (:
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If Chipolte manages to actually serve the 5200 people "Attending" the grand opening Facebook event set for tomorrow, they would have to serve one person every 7.6 seconds for 11 straight hours. Assuming an average customer pays $8, they will gross $41,600 in sales TOMORROW alone.
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if anyone was actually a burrito connoisseur, they would stay far away from Chipotle.
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if anyone didn't like chipotle, they'd be a terrorist. the flavor is exquisite. end of story
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Hey brainless, Chipotle sucks. I can crap a better burrito.
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If anyone were just nice, they'd reserve all of their snarky commentary
for the people they truly love  then the rest of us attending, attendancing,
attentioning, altituding....whatever the heck we want to call it, could just
enjoy life while you sit stewing in your own sorrow. That includes the
grammatical police. HA HA HA. I know it's grammar. Just said that to really
curly the hair in your mole.
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Wonderful article, fun and articulate. Well done, Lindsey.
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http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs179.ash2/44210_947613298253_6233650_49942658_8062524_n.jpg
Check out the line at 11 AM!
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Idiots.... It's not like you're camping out for football tickets or concert tickets, but unhealthy fast food.. I wonder how many classes were skipped to get a chipotle taco..geez
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Hope they all brought their Chipotlaway
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Great article! Glad Chipolte finally made it to Blacksburg, VA.
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