The Jesusita Fire in the hills above Santa Barbara forced computer enthusiasts to wait a bit longer to check out Apple’s new retail store on State Street, but their day will come Saturday.

The store was scheduled to open at 10 a.m. May 2, with employees to hand out T-shirts to the first 1,000 visitors, but the unveiling was postponed. Mac representatives in bright orange shirts were out in front of the store the morning of May 2, deflecting would-be shoppers from the blocked off storefront.

Apple spokeswoman Amy Barney said the store now will open this Saturday.

The store, at 928 State St., is housed in the 15,000-square-foot building that once was home to Pier 1 Imports. Officials have been wary about releasing details even though construction has been under way for months.

Local Mac dealers include MacMechanic in Santa Barbara and the Mac Shac in Goleta, but the closest Apple retail store to Santa Barbara is in Thousand Oaks.

Until then, techies may be able to indulge some of their geek lust at Best Buy in Goleta. The store, at 7090 Marketplace Drive in the Camino Real Shopping Center, took over what was once the CompUSA store and expanded it to about 80,000 square feet. Best Buy had a soft opening last Friday, and a grand opening is planned for this Friday.

— Noozhawk staff writers Lara Cooper (lcooper@noozhawk.com) and Sonia Fernandez (sfernandez@noozhawk.com) contributed to this report.