Click the Roadster for a high-res gallery from the Tesla store opening.

The very first Tesla Motors retail outlet had its grand opening party last night in Santa Monica, CA. We're still waiting for some first hand accounts from the event so if anyone was there and has pics please feel free to share your thoughts. A second outlet is currently being prepared closer to home base in Silicon Valley although we're not sure when that one is opening. During a chat with Tesla Marketing VP Darryl Siry earlier this week, he indicated that production car #3 is now ready for delivery and should be in someone's hands shortly. Car number 4 is the unit that has been shown around Europe this week in Monaco and elsewhere. The first car, of course, went to Chairman and chief fundraiser Elon Musk. That leaves #2, the car destined for ousted company co-founder Martin Eberhard. Martin's car is apparently taking a little longer due to a custom paint job but it should soon be ready as well.

Update: We now have images from the store opening in the gallery. Among the famous folk in attendance were Quincy Jones, Jenny McCarthy and Jenna Elfman.

Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk has a new post up on the company blog about the thinking behind the new Tesla stores. Martin Eberhard touched on the retail plans when we talked recently, and Elon goes more in depth. He describes the goal as a cross between an Apple Store, a Starbucks and a good kitchen.

It's already been reported that all the Tesla Stores will be company owned rather than franchises like most dealerships. And instead of hiding the garage in back or in a separate building, the shop will be right up front so you can watch what's going on. As a Silicon Valley company it looks like they're following the cues of other tech companies and service technicians will be both company employees and stockholders.

It will be interesting to see how the stock option approach works out in the car business. Tesla has an interesting opportunity with their cold start and they appear to want to try a different approach to car retailing. Saturn tried it in the nineties and it took them pretty far until they were ultimately felled by lack of product. Ultimately it always comes back to that and now that Saturn finally has some decent products combined with the marketing they are starting to show signs of life again. Hopefully the product launch will go smoothly enough for Tesla that we get to see if their ideas work. Read the rest of Elon's blog post at the read link.

[Source: Tesla Motors]