Meet the First (and Last) Teens in Line at the Kylie Pop-Up

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This morning, every single teenager in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and probably the other 47 states waited outside 27 Mercer Street in a line that wrapped around two entire square city blocks. It was, of course, the Kylie Jenner pop-up store, and much like our reporter stationed at the Los Angeles event, I did not get inside.

I did, however, manage to meet some people who definitely did get inside, the heroic teenagers who have been standing/sleeping/warding off rabid line-cutters on the Soho sidewalks since Saturday afternoon. To understand the gravity of this, it is currently Monday morning, and the two hours I spent waiting outside the Kylie store were extremely cold, crowded, and unpleasant (you can watch physical evidence of this on Snapchat).

It should also be noted that yesterday’s weather in New York City would have been a suitable backdrop for a French film about depressed people, and by that I mean it was alternating between heavy rain and slight hail all day long. This probably explains why none of the dozen teens I interviewed who had been waiting for longer than a day had slept. Side note: Never questions whether today’s teens care about anything ever again.

Below, the full interview with both the first group in line, and, lest we forget about them, the very last: two 12-year-olds along with their extremely cool mom who let them skip a whole day of school.

The Front of the Line: Justin, 17, Ashley, 27, Agnes, 17, Ruby, 16, Armani, 17, Ella, 14

Do you guys have... school?

We’re going to school straight after this. We’re going to be so late. Third period!

What time did you get here?

Saturday, around 2 p.m.

Oh my god, did you bring food? Blankets?

Yeah, we brought snacks. And we have sleeping bags, they’re over there. We’ve been taking shifts going to McDonald’s. Our friends came this morning to bring us coffee. And now we’re at our final hour!

How do you feel?

I feel nervous! Like, we’re gonna be in the same room as Kylie. Well, hopefully she’ll be here. She actually came by yesterday; we took a video. At that time, it was only us in line.

When did the next people get in line after you?

It was around Saturday night at, like, 7 p.m. So it was really the six of us for the first five hours. And then we started getting into a fight with people because they were skipping us. They were telling us “We were here on Friday,” and we were like, “No, we were here.”

And then this guy threatened my little sister, who’s 14. He was like, “I’ll slap her if she takes a picture of me.”

What?!

And he was like, “I’m gonna get my homies to come shoot this shop up.”

WHAT?!!!??!

So I called security. I was sleeping and they woke me up. They’re in the back of the line now.

Um, that is insane.

Yeah, and then later he asked if we could get him up in the front of the line! I was like, no!

Is that the craziest thing that you’ve seen so far?

A lady tried to give us $100 to get her daughter in front of us. We weren’t having it.

So what are you trying to buy?

I want to get her collaboration with Champion, so the flame crewneck and sweatpants, and also some lip kits for my friend, and a pin. And of course, we’re going to have our own photo shoot in there. I also want the yellow “Thick!” sweatpants, and the diary.

Well, good luck guys!

Thanks! Yay!

The Back of the Line: Annemarie, 12 and Julia, 12

So, it’s a school day.

Yeah. Our mom is letting us skip. She’s over there.

Wow, you have the coolest mom ever.

Yeah.

It’s 9:30 — you just got here? Do you think you’re gonna get inside?

I don’t know. I mean, it closes at 10 p.m. so, probably!

Did you bring any food or blankets?

Nope!

What are you hoping to buy?

I want to get some of the lip kits that aren’t on the Kylie Cosmetics website.

Are you wearing one right now?

Yeah, I’m wearing one from the Koko palette — it’s weird, I can’t pronounce it. It’s the one with all the Rs in it — Okurrr? And she’s wearing Moon.

What do you love about Kylie?

I just love how she did this by herself. None of her other family members did lipstick, so she kind of branched out by herself. She’s young, she’s only 19, so it’s motivational. So many of her things aren’t just for her. Like, she donated some stuff too, so that’s inspirational to kids.

Well, good luck to you both!

Thanks!