UNITE ‘Sweats’ McQueen Shop

NEW YORK — Whether the lighting isn’t perfect, the hangers aren’t quite right or someone has simply thrown a fit, last-minute glitches often pop up to slow the opening of big-name designer boutiques.

UNITE organizers learned this for themselves Wednesday when they pulled up at 10 a.m. in front of Alexander McQueen’s new store on West 14th Street in Manhattan, where the workmen were still cleaning the sidewalk, leaving the demonstrators no place to set up. So they drove around the block for half an hour.