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Under New Management (9/10/01)
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Speaking of retail, if you've been paying attention for the past six months or so, you may have noticed that things are none too pleasant out there right now. Even as Apple is opening its own stores, several other longtime Mac dealers have been closing theirs. One of the most recent and tragic victims of the "economic slowdown" was longtime Mac-only retailer ComputerWare, a ten-store chain in Northern California that had been selling Macs for seventeen years when it reluctantly shut its doors last April. While we're on the wrong coast ever to have visited ComputerWare, the outpouring of grief that hit our inbox when local residents heard the news of the chain's demise tells us that the Mac community lost a valuable asset that day.
Worse yet, just last week it looked like ComputerWare's corpse was being picked over-- by none other than Elite Computers & Software, the Mac retailer across the street from Apple's Cupertino headquarters. Last Wednesday, Elite announced that it had "purchased the rights to the name 'ComputerWare,' along with other certain trademarks and assets associated with the Mac-only chain." Said Thomas Armes, Elite's President and CEO, "I'm quite sure we can put the name ComputerWare to good use in the near future." By that, we pretty much just figured that Elite was looking to change the name of its single store to something perhaps a little more recognizable, if not necessarily more distinctive.
Instead, we got a pleasant surprise; in Armes's own words, "basically, ComputerWare is back." Faithful viewer avirr tipped us off to a CNET article which reports that Elite is actually planning to reopen several of the original ComputerWare locations, starting with the San Rafael store, which will rise from the dead this Saturday. In addition, Armes is "considering reopening more of the stores and perhaps venturing into new locales." And since Elite also hired several of ComputerWare's "top executives," the odds seem decent that the new ComputerWare will retain much of its original personality. And there was much rejoicing.
Customers familiar with ComputerWare probably recall the chain's motto: "We live Mac. We eat Mac. We sleep Mac. We dream Mac. All we do is Mac." Perhaps that should now be extended with "We died Mac. And we live Mac again." Now let's see if the new ComputerWare can make it another seventeen years...
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SceneLink (3295)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 9/10/01 episode: September 10, 2001: There are whispers that the new PowerBook won't surface until October or November, but something about September still feels right. Meanwhile, two Mac fans in Columbus, Ohio bring new meaning to the concept of lining up early, and recently deceased Mac retail chain ComputerWare is apparently rising from the grave, courtesy of Elite Computers...
Other scenes from that episode: 3293: Guesswork For Fun & Profit (9/10/01) Not that we're seriously suggesting that Apple crafted a massive PR letdown on purpose, but man, can you think of a better way to kill the rumors trade? Think about it: suppose that all that hype about an LCD iMac prior to last July's Macworld Expo was deliberately leaked from One Infinite Loop when the company knew full well that it wouldn't be unveiling that long-awaited product until October at the earliest... 3294: Retail Is All About Drama (9/10/01) Remember when an Apple retail store grand opening used to be news? When the first two stores opened way back in May, the press couldn't get enough; there were photos, videos, editorials, in-depth interviews with the mall janitorial staff-- the works...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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