lgreen@pnet01.cts.com (Lawrence Greenwald) (01/06/91)
Recently, I decided to go down to an outlet of a local computer store to check
out what, if anything, was new or interesting for the Amiga. This store
company was the one I had bought my Amiga from back in late December
1987/January 1988 (though not this particular store).
Lo and behold, they have gone Apple/Macintosh in a big way, software
everywhere, machines (the new MAc line) available, accessories, etc. What they
*did* have in the way of Amiga stuff was relegated to one corner, and there
was a nary an Amiga there (500/2000/3000). Now this store used to be big on
C64 stuff before switching to or adding Amiga. (the particular store is a
chain of three very widely dispersed in San Diego County, and the particular
store I was in didn't exist back in '87 because the mall it's in wasn't even
built till about '89).
Well enough rambling...time for the question I have in mind (this may start a
*big* flame war, so fire-resistent material is nearby).
What walk-in store (that's the key phrase 'walk-in') is, in your opinion,
*THE BEST AMIGA STORE* IN THE U.S. of A. ???
Now again, the key is 'walk-in', a store you can actually go into and poke
around in. If they have a mail-order operation, I really don't care.
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I really think the 'lack of presence' of a store where you can actually see
and touch an Amiga is the key to many problems in C= image of availability to
many potential customers.
All, IMHO. Thank you.
Larry Greenwald
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"I'm looking over a three-leaf clover that I overlooked be-three!" -Bugs Bunnylrg7030@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Loren Rittle) (01/07/91)
>Question posed about the best Amiga Store...
OK, I'll bite...
I think the best Amiga Store in the whole USA is:
MicroTech Solutions, Inc.
ChicagoLand's Largest Amiga Dealer.
[In case you are planning to fly in to see it... :-)]
1885 N. Farnsworth Ave.
Suites 6-7-8
Aurora, IL 60540
Here's why they have grown to be ChicagoLand's Largest and [IMHO]
best Amiga Dealer:
1) They, the owners, have never lost sight of their roots.
The store started out as a Commodore dealership run out
of the basement of their house. They have supported the
Amiga strongly since before I had an Amiga (three and a half
years). The store is founded on service, not glitz. Through
two moves (the last one to a location right down the street from
the BIG apple store, Farnsworth Computers), each time to a much
larger location (now as large as the BIG apple store), they
retained their friendly attitude, while increasing their
professional look.
2) They always have many toys out to play with. No, I don't
mean games, although they have those too, :-). Currently,
MicroTech has a Toster setup with three monitors, input
video camera running on a 2500/30 with large harddrive and
six or seven Megs of RAM. A3000 with videodisk player running
a neat AmigaVision presentation (from Commodore, I think).
They also have an Amiga setup with the 4 color grey scale
monitor. Of course, they have a few A500's out also. One
of the 500's has an ATonce board in it. Other neat, hooked
up to Amiga items include: DigiView, laser printer, a few
color printers. They also run the cash register off of an Amiga.
3) They run a BBS off an Amiga, the owner of the store is the
SysOp and he is quite helpful!
I hope that others out there have had similar luck with their
local dealers, but I just don't get that impression from what
I hear. I have personally been to many dealers in Illinois
and Iowa --- none come close, none measure up.
Of course, I don't work there, I'm in grad school :-),
but I do buy lots of stuff there :-) :-).
--
``In short, this is the absolute coolest computer device ever invented!''
-Tom Denbo speaking about The VideoToaster by NewTek
``Think about NewTek's VideoToaster! Now think about the Amiga!''
Loren J. Rittle lrg7030@uxa.cso.uiuc.edujph@ais.org (Joseph Hillenburg) (01/08/91)
[Contrary to the Organization: line, I am in Indiana. The machine is in MI] In article <1991Jan7.130119.5913@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> lrg7030@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Loren Rittle) writes: >>Question posed about the best Amiga Store... > >OK, I'll bite... > >I think the best Amiga Store in the whole USA is: > >MicroTech Solutions, Inc. We have two nice ones in Central Indiana: CPU Inc. 5168 E. 65th Street Indianapolis, Indiana All Amiga, 24 hour BBS Then there's a local one, Digital Arts. Corner of College and 6th street (Sorry, I dunno the exact address :) Bloomington, Indiana Amiga/Mac/PC (but all I've seen is Amiga stuff. someoen sabotaged the Mac :) Yes, this is a store that concentrates on Amigas. They only have ONE mac and ONE PC on public display, but about 7 or eight Amigas, one being an A3000 hooked up to a Pioneer VideoDisc, a Xetec CD-ROM drive (the Xetec software has a problem bug though...you can run programs off the drive, but you can't copy them off!), and an A2500 w/Toaster, (Nice!), and two other Amigas running musical stuff, and then, an A2000HD running the Accountant as the cash register. Actually, both stores are very much alike, except Digital Arts is mostly gears towards artisic/multimedia stuff, as where CPU Inc is geared at the professional market. Amazingly enough, even though Digital Arts is only a few months old, and they're in a MUCH smaller town than CPU Inc, it's much larger. Digital arts is also putting up their own BBS. (boy, in this town, we have about 20 bbs's. 2/3rds support amigas, and 2 are currently all-amiga, and that will jump to five in the near future...) >-- >``In short, this is the absolute coolest computer device ever invented!'' > -Tom Denbo speaking about The VideoToaster by NewTek >``Think about NewTek's VideoToaster! Now think about the Amiga!'' >Loren J. Rittle lrg7030@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu -- Joseph Hillenburg, Secretary, Bloomington Amiga Users Group iuvax!news!valnet!joseph jph@ais.org anlhille@iubacs.BITNET "Only Apple could slow down a 68030 chip" --Computer Shopper
amiga@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Paul) (01/08/91)
Amazing computers has my vote -- "The problem with the Eunuch's Operating System is that it has no balls!" - John Richter Amiga@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu .....Paul......
ilios@pro-graphics.cts.com (James Sibley) (01/08/91)
In-Reply-To: message from lgreen@pnet01.cts.com
In the quest for the 'Best Amiga Store' (which I believe every Amiga user
is perpetually involved in) I was made quite happy with a particular store in
Latham, New York. It is called Contemporary Computers and it is not a chain
of stores nor is it totally Amiga related. They sell IBM and MAC software and
some hardware but their main selection is Amiga hardware and software. The
staff is very knowledgeable about the Amiga (Yes, I know it is hard to
believe), as well as the other computer components that they sold. Their
store was the site of the local Amiga User Group, you could use their in-store
Amigas to print out documents or just to use the latest software. In my
opinion this store was exactly what an Amiga (or any) computer store should
be. They were friendly, willing to help and knew their stuff. They provided
many services to the local Amiga community and used the Amiga themselves.
My only regret is that I no longer attend school in that region. I sorely
miss this type of Amiga Store and I wish more retailers had their act together
like this place did..
So, now begins the mass exodus to sunny Latham, N.Y. >-) (Route 9!!)
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Internet : ilios@pro-graphics.cts.com YESjerry@truevision.com (Jerry Thompson) (01/08/91)
In article <1991Jan7.130119.5913@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> lrg7030@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Loren Rittle) writes: >>Question posed about the best Amiga Store... > >OK, I'll bite... > >I think the best Amiga Store in the whole USA is: > >MicroTech Solutions, Inc. >ChicagoLand's Largest Amiga Dealer. MicroTech sounds a lot like CPU Inc. here in Indy. They have a couple of Toasters, machines set up for demos and test drives. They also have the Fred Fish disks and a donation box, proceeds going to the local Amiga Users Group. The sales team is honest, knowledgeable, and helpful. They have professional S-Video and 3/4" equipment and produce animations on the Mimetics Framebuffer and now on the Toaster. They also run the only really decent Amiga BBS here. I haven't seen any MIDI gear though, and their repair department isn't that great, but I have vowed to repair all my own equipment anyway. I guess after living with the atrocious Amiga dealers in Champaign and Bloomington IL, any decent store would be dazzling, eh Loren? Did Keep 'n' Pace finally die off, or has their phone been reconnected? -- Jerry Thompson | // checks ___________ | "I'm into S&M, I loved the peace and solitude | \\ // and | | | | Sarcasm and so much, I invited my friends. | \X/ balances /_\ | /_\ | Mass Sarcasm."
rcj2@cbnewsd.att.com (ray.c.jender) (01/09/91)
In article <&-L+S&&@irie.ais.org>, jph@ais.org (Joseph Hillenburg) writes: > > [Contrary to the Organization: line, I am in Indiana. The machine is in MI] > > In article <1991Jan7.130119.5913@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> lrg7030@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Loren Rittle) writes: > >>Question posed about the best Amiga Store... > > > >OK, I'll bite... > > > >I think the best Amiga Store in the whole USA is: > > > >MicroTech Solutions, Inc. > I have to agree on Microtech Solutions. As for mail order, I like Safe Harbor in Waukesha, WI. Quick turn around and great prices.