Apple's stunning 23,000-square-foot store opened in downtown Portland on Saturday, with a lineup of blue-shirted employees giving the first customers high-fives and boxed T-shirts.

Just before the 10 a.m. opening of the giant box of a store -- all glass, blonde wood and polished metal beneath a glowing Apple logo -- about 500 people stretched around the block.

One person called the store's architecture, arguably the most striking in the downtown shopping district, "a Taj Mahal of technology."

That may be pushing it. But it is a lot cooler than the cramped retail space Apple has been operating out of in Pioneer Place basement.

Check out these scenes from the opening of the new Apple Store.

Apple's new Portland store opens Saturday, May 31 48 Gallery: Apple's new Portland store opens Saturday, May 31

-- Joseph Rose