Owning Computer Stores in the '90s

[@theserialport]

What a great snapshot in time from someone who fully participated in the 1990s PC industry with original stories and supporting sources. Very interesting to see how he saw the opportunity and jumped on it, and then also recognized the changing tides which quickly followed.

[@BillAnt]

I remember in the 80's there were many small mom and pops computer stores all over New York city. The one I went to often was Computer Centre (with that spelling) on Queens Blvd. Queens. Great memories at the dawn of the home computers, especially the Commodore C64 and later the Amiga. :)

[@jonfreeman9682]

Yeah 80s and 90s were legendary for so many small computer stores. Back in those days they all had ads in the local Computer Paper and I would excitedly check out the latest deals. After internet went mainstream they started disappearing and were all gone by 2000s. You couldn't find a single store in town.

[@einsteinx2]

Of course your dad is a well spoken, intelligent, technology enthusiast. Clearly the apple didn’t fall far from the tree! Great interview, it was great hearing your dad’s story!

[@clabretro]

haha thank you!

[@BillAnt]

I was hoping he fell far from the "Apple". ;D

[@1nico517]

​@@clabretroYou're both fantastic communicators, thank you for what you do.

[@cyberyann]

Thanks! Brings back memories

[@hi-friaudioman]

I have great memories of computer Renaissance! When I was 10 or 12 I walked into one and they gave me a challenge to turn two broken laptops into one working laptop, I came back two hours later with a working laptop and they were so impressed they let me "intern" at their Computer Renaissance, I was mostly working for free because I was way too young to get paid, but they gave me some parts and whatnot every now and then and after I left I would come in every month or so and take their box of broken parts to build my PC's with. I was sooo sad when they went out of business. Very fond memories of Computer Renaissance. Another side tangent: I got my first computer at 8 years old, it was from Walmart and it was a 486DX2 from AST. It featured a Texas instruments 486 which I saw once and never saw again. Also I broke our computer a year later when I was 9 and fixed it a week later. My father worked as paper delivery driver for his second job and he would pick me up electronics every every trash day. I would always get in trouble for screws on the carpet that my dad would step on. Lol

[@clabretro]

Haha that's awesome. Out of curiosity, which Computer Renaissance was it?

[@michaelkelly3158]

Interesting story! If only we could go back for even just a day... eh? I'm in the UK but have similar fond memories of the 90s!

[@bullyboy131]

Lol. Thanks for sharing

[@hpux735]

I'd get in trouble for getting grease in the carpet from the stuff I took apart! 😆

[@the_kombinator]

I worked at Brampton Computes from 1996 to about 1999 - It was fun, piles of ISA cards all over the place, weird customers, underage workers (I was 14), getting paid under the table in parts (which I made systems out of and sold in the classifieds for WAY more than I'd make taking cash) - it was awesome. That kind of store format will never come back. I got my start in IT from that store.

[@clabretro]

Definitely a super fun time!

[@mihoshiproductions9809]

Computer Renaissance was my go to place for computer parts. Built many custom PCs for family, friends, and clients using parts from them and still use a couple ATX cases to this day that I bought there.

[@clabretro]

ha that's awesome

[@UpLateGeek]

Interesting to see your Dad's perspective of running a computer store in the mid-late 90s. I worked at a computer store briefly while I was in high school in the late 90s, probably around 1997. Basically I had to find a place to do work experience for school, so I walked into the local computer store and asked the guy who looked like he was in charge if they took work experience students, he asked if I knew much about computers, I told him I had already built and upgraded my own computers, so he said yes. I spent two weeks building and upgrading computers, installing software, troubleshooting problems for customers, basically everything a regular technician would do. After the work experience period was up, he asked if I wanted to work there on weekends and Thursdays after school since they were open late, and I jumped at the opportunity. We sold a lot of refurbished systems, probably as many as the new systems. Pretty much every customer who was buying a new machine was also trading in their old one, so we'd give them a small discount, take their old machine and copy their files onto the new machine, install the software they were using on the old one, and they'd walk out the door happy. Then we'd clean up the old machine, maybe upgrade the memory and/or hard drive, wipe it and install a new OS, and it'd be out on the sales room floor the next day. It was great for a 15 year-old kid, but I wanted to earn more so I could afford bigger computer upgrades, so I eventually quit and got a job working at the local Maccas (McDonald's, for the non-Aussies). I was getting paid basically the same hourly rate, but I could work longer hours so I made more money. That was probably a huge mistake for my future career in IT, but I did eventually get a "real job" in IT, and it did give me a work ethic that I think helped my IT career greatly. Anyway, it was interesting to hear how the business side worked. I didn't get to see much of that, since I was just a technician, and we weren't part of a big franchise business either. So I'd like to say thanks to Brad, Mr. Ausen, for sharing your experience.

[@RollerCoasterLineProductions]

In my old hood our neighbor used to scrap old main frames for the precious metals, I always loved climbing into the stake body of his Mercedes Benz stake body truck and look at old printers, cables, disks, disk drives, main frames and try to understand what these machines did and how they worked

[@clabretro]

very cool

[@johnkreno2488]

Cool video, That was initially a very profitable business. I started building computers for myself right towards the end of the 90's. And you could see how the industry was just changing very quickly. That was the age of the "Computer Show", very cool. Thanks for sharing.

[@ayitsyaboi]

I could listen to people tell these stories forever. Such a wild trip through the past. Thanks for taking the time to share this with us. Also the Linksys tower of power is almost tall enough.

[@pjaz6800]

I don't live in Seattle, but I visit frequently. Re-PC is a required stop every time I go. Would've loved to see where these stores ended up today. What an awesome view into the history of an industry that is sorely missed.

[@clabretro]

went to re-pc all the time! one of Dad's favorite spots haha

[@yatapaws]

I love re-pc so much.

[@bola1983]

Love the conversation ❤. I lost my dad last October. Please take case of yours.

[@ironiczombie2530]

Great story from your Dad. I miss this time in tech, we we're so lucky to live through it.

[@xp7575]

Another great video bro, you're one of a few smaller newer retro tech channels that I started following a few months ago and out of all them you've grown to become my favorite, keep up the great work!!

[@clabretro]

thank you!

[@StarBellySneetch]

I managed a small store in the mid 90s that was the busiest in the city. We had great ads. Sold OEM parts pretty much exclusively. I became friends with the guys from iD (Doom, Quake etc) during that time cause all the PC nerds would come in all the time. The first Fry's in our city opened a mile away and it instantly dried up. Now even Fry's is long gone. At least we still have a Microcenter around here and it remains busy, almost as if the times never changed . I tell people that if you want to see what a retail store looked like in the 80s/90s go to Microcenter. Good energy there and a vibe of excitement.

[@nickwallette6201]

Huh. I wasn't aware that Computer Renaissance was a chain. We have (had?) a couple here. Also had no idea they were related to Play it Again and Once Upon a Child. I see the resemblance now. Neat.

[@phia9896]

Man. I remember this time fondly. Built my first computer in 1996 from parts bought at Computer City. Spent a lot of time and a fair bit of money at Computer Sonics. Worked at CompUSA in 2001. Always something new to see and learn about. Chaotic pricing everywhere. The start of GPUs, WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, PDAs, CD-R.

[@jaycahow4667]

Here in Minneapolis there were three Computer City stores and three CompUSA stores. I never understood why but each one was almost right next to the other at each location. Every time I went to one I would would go to the other and a Best Buy/Circuit City at the same location. This had to create serious price competition between them and I always thought they would have been smarter to separate out the locations between the brands. Computer City went under first followed by CompUSA and Circuit City. Luckily the only MicroCenter in town is only a short ways away.....

[@bubba966]

Can't quite recall seeing the Computer Renaissance stores around Seattle. I was sad when Egghead closed up. Ballard Computer was way overpriced on everything so it was no surprise to me when they disappeared. I always loved going to the little local computer shops around here and have missed them greatly. The mid-late 90's was fun times to be into PC's IMO...

[@GabrielBoehm]

Appreciate the honesty that was shared from a business perspective. Owning a small business is hard, many people don't realize that the owner is often the last to be paid, and things can go wrong that they have no control of. I've been there personally.

[@chrismisc7856]

As a 41 year old man who worked in a Flint, Michigan Digilink store during his teen years, I find this quite comforting and fascinating at the same time. Thank you!

[@dontlazerme]

I probably bought something from you in your teen years, i loved digilink!

[@thecasualfly]

I am 41 years old as well.. this takes me back to those glory days..

[@thecasualfly]

@Lordsofchaospodcast same .. never let go of that mentality... forever young .. maybe stiff and stoveat some point haha

[@jxx90s]

Same age, same feeling here. Started with an Amiga 500 as a kid.. moved on to building my own PCs around this time which was great fun. When IT was still for nerds, lol

[@steveclarke1764]

Your father's story is so similar to my story from 1993-1998 working in the gold-rush era of home PC adoption. From the building our own PCs to dealing with passive-agressive callers frustrated with their new PC, to the thefts (oh, the thefts!). Thanks for sharing!

[@Xpurple]

I worked at a computer store around that time period. It was a crazy time.

[@A_Lo_Pex]

Loved Computer Renaissance. I bought my first CPU, GPU, and stick of RAM from one in the Midwest in '98-99. Thanks for the insightful discussion from the business perspective

[@clabretro]

awesome!

[@mattb83]

I remember going to the Computer Renaissance in the mid 90s with my dad, He bought me my first computer from there. Thank you, dad! Thank you for supporting my interest in them!

[@Coleisabagel]

First time seeing your channel. Your father is very well spoken and I could listen to him talk about the history of anything. What a cool dude.

[@lemagreengreen]

I miss small/independent computer stores. Definitely pre-internet but they were very relevant up to the early 00's where I am. At first we didn't really have any other source of hardware than computer stores and computer fairs in the early-mid 90s. They were the kind of places that encouraged you to just learn to build PC's, many of them had cheap used hardware if you were in need of anything etc... just encouraged a great sort of do it yourself spirit amongst geeks. The fairs were really great, all the latest stuff showed up in those and I frequently came home with a pile of expensive new hardware I didn't know I needed until I saw it running at a fair.

[@jaycahow4667]

Here in Minneapolis there would be a computer fair every quarter. They used to be in a big building on the State Fairgrounds for years before moving to the Horse Racing Track. Hundreds of vendors with all the latest computer hardware, software and books. We would always be purchasing things to upgrade existing computers or to build new ones. Once online shopping and Mega computer stores came along the fairs were no more.....

[@xbelthesarx]

I didn't work at a Computer Renaissance, but one of my first jobs as a kid was hocking computer parts during the big downturn of computer parts stores in the mid 2000's. It was kind of a blast from the past to see where things went and how others in the space operated.

[@gw1814]

As a millennial, this video hits the feels. I started my computer journey in 1994, was hooked from the beginning and haven't stopped.

[@namenamenamename7224]

What a snapshot of a moment in time. From making money hand over fist to having to close shop in a handful of years... Great conversation and stories!

[@brent57]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. My first job was a "yellow shirt" at Computer City. CompUSA, Future Shop, Ballard Computers, were all competing. Secret shoppers. Price matching. What a time. Eventually went into network engineering.

[@midwestcyberpunk]

In 1997 I was 13 and sold my family's (then "very rare") Black Diamond Disney VHS cassettes to a seller at antique mall for $300. I then took that money to buy a Casio Cassiopeia WinCE PDA from Computer Renaissance in Evansville, IN. I proudly played with that PDA in front of my parents for at least 3 days until they realized how much it was worth and then of course wondered how I got the money lol. I was forced to return the PDA to Computer Renaissance w/ a 15% restocking fee. Then, I was forced to buy back the Black Diamond VHS tapes I sold. It was a learning experience for sure. Thanks for this video, I had sort of blocked out the name of the store until now

[@kaohsiung99]

You were quite the entrepreneur!

[@branscombe_]

my first IT job outta college in 2005 was at Computers For Schools. It was a massive e-cycle donation centre and we’d strip and build computers freshly reimaged for school donation.

[@TactDB]

You remind me of my old man and the childhood I had growing up in his PC store (1995-2005). Killed by Best Buy that popped in a mega plaza just 2 streets over. RIP.

[@smokey0066]

So cool. I grew up working in building custom pcs while in middle school/high school for schools and other public entities. We didn't have an assembly line though. Each person built the thing from start to finish then we'd run down the line installing windows, first from disks then cds then images. This stuff brings back a lot of good and bad memories. Man the cases back then were so sharp. lol

[@navegantes_del_magallanes]

I remember in early 80's in a 3rd world country where I grew up, very few families had PC's at home. My father an engineer bought one Epson Equity I+ PC in 84' which was 98% compatible with IBM PC, he never learned how to properly used it, just the basic stuff like word processing. One year later PC was totally mine. When I was in high school, I had close friends whose parents had PC computer stores without knowing nothing about it, they weren't system engineers or computer science with bachelors but just business men. Those PC stores which sold PC clones were very successful in my city during late 80's and during all 90's. When 2000's came up, 90% of them were gone forever. I worked for free in one of those PC Stores, when I was 12 years old during summer vacations just to learn how to build a PC from scratch and troubleshoot them. My brothers spent those same summer vacations in travels to europe and north america. When I was 17, in 1989 my parents bought me my first PC clone around intel 486 and started programming on my own and earning money by selling custom made accounting software to small businesses and restaurants. I remember how technology and trends in PC industry changed so fast overnight.

[@Gadgetman1989]

My dad worked at the one in Prescott, AZ as a sales rep and then when they rebranded as E-Systems it was a joy to always go in the back and see how the workers tinkered on computers and now since his passing I do tinkering using the tips the techs taught me

[@Expansionit]

Great interview! I worked at Computer Renaissance and enjoyed reselling those Dell Omniplex pcs to college kids as the performance/price point was good! Great times!

[@clabretro]

nice! which store?

[@spyder000069]

I would argue one of the main influences of computer sales in those years was AOL. This not only brought chat rooms but classifieds and a gateway to the rest of the internet. The diskettes and cds would show up in the mail, at the store, everywhere. This pushed upgrades as well and I can remember when the 28k, 33k, and 52k modems came to best buys. Sometimes they would be totally sold out of high speed modems as the new tech hit the stores. I can also remember in '98 when our area first got cable modems rolled out. That was a huge jump. Suddenly I had faster internet at home than our T1 line at work. The huge jumps and competiveness of graphics cards and cpus was amazing. You could buy a case for $20 with a power supply off ebay back then and often it was fine for a starter. There were great sources for parts like Tiger Direct or Fry's. The late 90's and early 2000's were some of the best years to be a techy.

[@clabretro]

Agreed! AOL and the web were definitely on their way.

[@deathbyharakira]

This video is adding so much more context to this channel.

[@deathbyharakira]

Just got to 41:55 LOL

[@TomStorey96]

Two people I'd have a beer with any time. There could be so much geeking out over so many topics, it would be incredible! 🍻

[@VK2FVAX]

This is a really wonderful insight into your family. I really hope you back up and archive the footage for your grandkids. The family history here is quite wonderful. Really heart-warming!

[@carlw6247]

Great video! Thanks to Brad Ausen and his son and all computer store owners for providing people with functioning equipment during that time for helping many people to learn basic computer literacy. In doing so, they promoted the idea that hardware and software, even when partly failing, can often be made to work perfectly, leaving those involved as genuinely pleased and sparing the Earth of some junk. Thanks, guys, for all your hard work and for the sacrifices that were involved. Many of us owe our careers in computing to those early experiences that we had which often started in a computer store.

[@Karreth]

That was a fascinating look at how the computer business looked and worked in the 90s. Your dad is a great story teller, very well spoken and lucid - and you can tell he's got a wealth of experience to draw upon.

[@RandomTechWZ]

I remember going to a couple local computer stores as a kid in the 90s. I bought a case from one of them with the hopes to build a PC but that never happened. The atmosphere of a a computer store with cables and peripherals all over the wall can never be replicated. Microcenter is the closest thing to it in 2024.

[@jimbotron70]

It was a blast in the '80s until late '90s for computer retail.

[@stoneneils]

It still is if the doltans got off their little tiny teensy weensy teenie-bopper phones.

[@ocsrc]

Before the Internet and eBay and Amazon. Today, you can get parts in a day I remember when CompUSA opened and I had previously been doing the Computer Shopper magazine That massive catalog that was bigger than a Sears catalog I remember ordering my first computer parts through them and 386 boards and 486 boards and I think even 586 boards but the P2 and P3 days the CompUSA was so awesome Being able to just walk in and buy what I needed I bought my first SCSI CD recorder and SCSI card there Then my first IDE CD recorder with Windows 95 I remember getting the 95 upgrade CD and Internet Explorer CD came in the box. It was an incredible time The world really changed when Windows 95 came out

[@JoeHamelin]

Wonderful historical interview. In the late 90s I was a modem wrangler for WolfeNet and I'm sure a lot of our customers ran his computers. Now, decades later. I'm a "systems engineer II" for Safran Cabin out of Marysville. A big tip of my hat to your father, I'm sure that we could tell a lot of stories over a few beers.

[@tstahlfsu]

Just an amazing story! I worked for a few small computer companies in the 90's and this was exactly what happened to them. I was on the service side of the house and when they went under ended up at Radio Shack (The service side of the house).. that didn't last much past 2002 either.. :(

[@brentkellogg9977]

I really enjoyed your fathers story. The 1990s were an exciting time in computing. Id buy a new computer every two years, complete W a new monitor and printer. I lived in North Seattle, and visited Ballard Computer, Computer City, CompUSA, and Egghead. The only hardware I ever bought from Egghead was my first Palm Pilot. They shut down all their stores but opened a huge one just south of their original Lynnwood location. It closed in a few months. Thanks for the memories…your Dad seems like a great guy.

[@clabretro]

thanks for watching!

[@mwitters1]

I remember computer renaissance! I been to the one in Federal Way. I grew up in Seattle and still live there. DiscGoRound I remember that, they were something else first, there was one in my home suburb of Burien.

[@drgti16v]

I worked at ComputerWare in the greater San Francisco Bay Area during the mid 90's. I vaguely recall a bit of internal news that we were possibly expanding into the Washington area.

[@clabretro]

cool!

[@-r-495]

Used to get the scraps from one of the top-500 companies, something something money and contracts etc. It runs in the family 😊 Thank you both!

[@callmebigpapa]

Amazing video and you are fortunate to have the Dad you do. When he brought up @24:10 Caps it reminded me of the Capacitor Plague....can you do a video and talk about the overall issue and how it affected you or your Dad personally if at all?

[@alphabetaxenonzzzcat]

There was a local one near to me, it was a mom and pop store owned by two guys. It was there from 1989 to 1999. Started off as a Commodore specialist, what with the C64 and then the Amiga - then went into DOS PC and the CD-ROM era, with selling consoles as well. It did sell games as well - but hardware was a big thing there. In the Amiga era, their basement was set aside for Amigas and you could play on them for a fee for an hour. What really effected its business was a PC World opening up in the same city(on the industrial estate) and that killed their PC building business. It's just the sort of place that we will never see the likes of again.

[@clabretro]

Amazing, Commodore and Amigas were really rare in our area (especially by the mid to late 90s)

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

What a blast from the past. A friend and I started a company in 91 fixing printers and rebuilding toner. At the time I had been working on computers (Commodore mainly) but a chance job offer in 1989 at a copier company saved me from the computer boom and bust. Our first retail location in 1994 was all slot wall and looked much like your stores (although it was not a franchise). Printers and copiers got us to January 2020 when we sold and dodged that human malware bullet!

[@mustachesally4134]

The 90s was an amazing time for shopping for computers, pc parts, gadgets and software. I was a kid in the 90s but I recall a lot of the early 90s and late 90s computers. Shopping for a pc game was a nice experience. Analogous going to blockbuster but you were looking for anything pc related. What a wonderful time to witness that time period.

[@SylvieCanuck]

That was great to just put on and listen to while working on my homelab. Incredible that he not only kept all those documents, but kept them in good condition too from the looks of it.

[@THXUK]

This is absolutely fascinating and very interesting to hear. Mimics what was happening in the UK at the time. In the 1980s British computers such as the Spectrum, Dragon 32 (TRS80 clone) and BBC Micro dominated the British home computer scene and the range of products seen in British computer shops would be quite different to products on sale in the USA, but by the 1990s PC compatibility was rapidly becoming the de facto for both home and business computing mirroring the US market. Small and independent computer shops would slowly decline until the 'PC World' chain of out-of-town mega shops were pretty much the only player left. They too have gone. I miss the small shops where the sales guys and technicians were just as enthusiastic as the customers.

[@willj1927]

Got my first ‘home built’ PC around 1994 in the UK. Was through a school friend who’s dad was running an operation like yours out of a nearby warehouse. Would save my pocket money and call in and get the parts over several months. He had big boxes of memory, CPUs, pallets of cases. Fascinated me!

[@willj1927]

Oh…. And I remember being sad when I got the CPU and motherboard home and it didn’t work - took it back and he simply pushed the CPU in a bit harder! (Pre ZIF days!).

[@Thiesi]

4:40 - For anyone interested - I punched the $20.000 into the official _CPI Inflation Calculator_ of the _Bureau of Labor Statistics,_ and it says those 20k had a purchasing power of *$42,350.10* in March '24.

[@HyenaEmpyema]

that takes a lot of courage to put up that kind of money. especially at the 12% interest rate at the time. Plus the foregone income for the first few months until you turned a profit. We have perfect hindsight that computers went ape-s--t in the '90s, but they just as easily could have levelled off due to cost ...OR either of these extremes: 1) failure of Moore's law, i.e. we could have been stuck at pentium-level PCs indefinitely, or 2) If wafer processes/speed increased TOO much, there could have been a leap where CPUs were fast enough and competition slowed, and nobody needed new computers anymore. It's really serendipitous that Moore's law kept going for another 2 decades (almost).

[@floodo1]

And here I was at “The Computer Show & Sale” at the fairgrounds buying all my parts in the mid-late 90s. Very cool to see this side of things

[@yehaoli829]

Enjoy this interview on Friday night bring a lot memories from 90' of computer stuff, computer and softwear stores were my favorite places back to then.

[@FLECOM]

We had a computer renaissance near me, as a kid the owner would let me work on machines in the back, usually things they wrote off as non-repairable... got many up and running and he would let me take hardware they had laying around as payment... really enjoyed my time there

[@MicheIIePucca]

I worked at A+Computers in West Edmonton Mall (was the largest mall in North America for a short time) in the 90s. I was euphoric around computers and this got me started in IT, where I ended up retiring from. This bought back memories, and had me missing those "days" of computers and the internet evolving. btw.. Your dad is cool and I loved his stories! Thank you!

[@clabretro]

definitely a fun time back then. glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!

[@navegador5175]

I had a great time listening to your dad. A nice introduction to your channel - yesterday was my 1st visit. I can tangentially relate to 90s computer sales businesses because my brother and I (born 1979 and 1980 respectively) as teenagers would get our pocket money from assembling PCs for friends, friends' parents, small businesses and families in the late 90s. We would immediately spend whatever money we made on more computer gear, of course, and to this day I have far more computers and photo gear that I'll ever have use for. But it was fun. The love for computers and assembling them still bonds us to this day, and my brother's even made a career out of it as a software developer and sysadmin.

[@clabretro]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@Spearhead45]

33 year old here. very relaxing conversation about the interesting times in the 90's as the pc crazy was booming. i remember the tan speakers on my little desk all cramped with monitor and tower. mouse and keyboard. lmao fun times

[@jonakers704]

I remember these stores well... I used to go to the Silverdale location you mentioned, and worked at a mom-and-pop store in Gorst (just South of Silverdale and Bremerton). My interest in computers and looking for the really odd gear is what got me my job at that location, because I appeared to know some of the really esoteric gear. I enjoyed my time there, but working as a tech was not a sustainable living, and I got out of there in '99 and went to work for a University.

[@brigittehazelmyer605]

I remember when that store opened in Federal Way..... I was living in Tacoma at the time.

[@casmart]

Very interesting. I was coming out of the military at this time and got into computers as a hobby and career. It really is amazing to remember the mid 90's compared to now. It was kind of a gold rush era on computers. Thanks for the historical perspective of PC retail history. My first computer was a used Tandy laptop in high school. I was the bomb for having a dot matrix printer for project such as science fairs.

[@mog068]

So cool. I went through college 86-90 with a 286 system that I bought from my summer internship boss. The standout thing I recall is 16MB RAM for $860 at the time. It was a great machine. In that job, software dev., which I went on to work at for 5 years was all about Quattro Pro, Paradox, MS Basic (not yet VB), Borland C++. It was electronics manufacturing so I was working at all levels, from assembly drawings, to inventory, and payroll. 10 base 2 networks, for which I was also the guy digging up in the ceiling tiles for.

[@mog068]

oh and, I had that car @31.43 in college.

[@nickjennion]

Great video, fantastic snapshot in time. The fit out photos look so similar to stores we had here in Australia around the same time as well and great to hear about the backend operations too.

[@v12alpine]

I worked at one as a Mac technician for a couple years (97-98). My uncle also owned a store in another state. Nice blast from the past.

[@williama29]

your dad does a great job talking about computer stores in the 90's i never went to a computer store in 1995-1999 as i was a kid born in i am born in (1992) however

[@computersales]

I didn't realize computer Renaissance was a chain. I remember having one in town growing up and liking to go to it. The prices were high though and the only stuff I could afford was the stuff in their junk box.

[@behn1220]

I worked part time at the CR locations in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Iowa starting in 1995 when I was 15 until around 1999/2000 when they closed. I did repairs and new builds and also sold stuff from time to time. They also made me clean and vacuum since I was a kid and no one else wanted to do it. :) My dad and brother also worked there so there were some work days when it was mostly just my family running the shop. I'm now an IT Architect for a streaming media company and I definitely attribute some of my success to things I learned working on computers there. I truly loved working there and have lots of fond memories. Lots of crazy stories, too! Thanks for the video, it reminded me of some amazing times from my childhood.

[@Gr8thxAlot]

This was the golden age of PC's. I worked with my family too, great times!

[@brandonlehman7440]

this is a really interesting insight into what it was like to sell computers at a time when they advanced so fast that it was really hard to sell used equipment. thank you very much for sharing

[@55mga]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I always loved picking up the monthly Computer User and looking at prices/ads. HDNW. Computer Stop. Etc.

[@doalwa]

I started out my career in a small PC sales and repair shop in 2001…but even back then it was getting harder and harder earning money by simple assembling and selling PCs. Still a great time and you learned a lot…good times! Very cool video, the Apple did not fall far from the tree 👍

[@terrytas13]

8:40 and the mention of bulletin boards. What great memories

[@kingforaday8725]

Very interesting interview. Didnt have a Computer Renaissance in my area but did have similar stores. We had stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, and Sears. A couple of mom n pop's that sold new gear but mainly sold computer services. It was always incredible back in the 80's-90's to go to a big city like Denver, OKC, Dallas, Houston, etc that would have many more dedicated computers stores like CompUSA, Staples, and Office Depot.

[@wicksee]

Fascinating actually. I always admire people who run small businesses, I couldn’t handle that kinda stress! I wish we could go back to that era, they were great times. Nice one, dad.

[@stoneneils]

You can, big cities are still full of indie computer store, you guys need to get out more.

[@ARCNSPUDS]

Thanks for having your dad share his story. This was really cool!

[@clabretro]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@wintermute740]

You sent me here from the TRS-80 repair video, and than you so much for doing so. I worked at the Lancaster, Ohio, Computer Renaissance from just after Win95 came out through February 2000. Because of the race to the bottom in price, with eMachines and other junk brands flooding the market, I knew the store's days were numbered by the time I left. They stayed in business for several years after that, and then dropped the franchising and re-branded until the owners retired. For most of the time there, I was the only full-time tech and worked way too many hours, sometimes putting even more labor into that store than the owners did. lol. I loved working there, and if it paid anywhere near what I make these days, I'd still be doing PC repairs for a living.

[@clabretro]

glad you liked it! Dad did something similar towards the end, dropping the franchise on the last one or two while he spun things down. some of my fondest memories of being a kid were hanging around (aka annoying the crap out of) the techs in the stores and watching what they were doing.

[@encieno1]

Very cool discussion with your dad, I enjoy hearing the history from some of the older generation like that. He mentioned the BBSs, I miss those days! Times were so much simpler with BBS door games, message boards, FidoNet mail delivery, etc.. haha...

[@rizzodefrank]

My first computer 386sx was built by a mom and pop. Added a cdrom and thought it was just crazy cool. I went into a micro center a couple years ago and that was the first time I saw anything similar in forever. Fry’s closed years ago

[@J.Wick.]

Super interesting. I was 12 in 95, and remember getting into PCs with my dad about that time. Such a neat time.

[@itismezed]

Hell yeah; was waiting for this one!!

[@BryanKean]

Between your stores, INFOTECH (also in Federal Way) and several other stores in and around the Tacoma area, I self taught myself everything i know about computers. I am now an IT manager for Pierce County WA. Great times and SOOOO much fun learning for all those years. Great video.

[@wesley00042]

I worked at our local computer store in the early 90s in high school assembling and fixing computers. He paid me $40 per computer and split the $80/hr hourly repair rate with me. Sure beat the hell out of the $4.25/hr minimum wage and I got to pick parts out of trade-ins for my own use.

[@EbenCalhoun]

I used to buy my computer hardware and software from Cherryputer in Federal Way, WA around this time. That store was operated by Alan Cherry, I believe a former Boeing employee. I don't remember ever seeing Computer Renaissance. A different part of town, perhaps? I still have my 14" Qume SVGA monitor from CherryPuter in the attic. Worked fine last time I tried it!

[@clabretro]

Dad says he remembers that store and actually met Alan once upon a time at a Boeing Employees Computer Club!

[@Mike80528]

I worked for a small mom-and pop computer store in the very early 90's, after having worked at Egghead Software in the late 80's for a couple of years. It was a special era...

[@PhilipEvang]

I was in the retail computer industry from 1977 to 2013. Those first years were really the most fun ( 1977 - 1987 ish) as everyone was a first time learner. Great times...

[@DarrenMossAU]

Good stuff, so great to involve your Dad and hear his story. Love it.

[@clabretro]

thanks!

[@Mainbusfail]

I wish I took the time to do something like this with my father before he passed away a couple of years ago. My dad was a generation right before your father in the computer industry (6502 , WANG etc). I am glad that you took the time to do this with your father because it is an investment that pays the highest dividends in the market. may your fathers days be many and blanketed in blessings and health.

[@truckerallikatuk]

I used to run a small PC store here in the UK in that era. I quit when I walked out of a big box store with a full machine, on credit, with OS, for less than I could have got the parts for from our wholesalers. Though we did have some successes, like the dual P2 machine we built for a science lab that was still kicking ass when the lab bought in P3 machines. That was a beast for the day.

[@clabretro]

You pretty much summed up the price drop problem. Thank you for watching!

[@mattelder1971]

I briefly worked for a Computer Renaissance store in 2000. It was a fun place, but unfortunately the owners decided to close it only a month or two after I started working there.

[@FoundPonds]

I worked as a computer technician in retail from 96 until March 2000 at a local computer store chain where I live in Canada. The business expanded too quickly over the last couple of years of operation and went bankrupt 3 weeks before I was closing on my house! Luckily I had a contact at a business support company and I have been working there ever since!

[@kght222]

in 98 i was helping a cousin get a computer set up. tldr i was asked to take an a+ practice test and immediately hired when was 15. it was the start of summer and while i went further over the years until i was eventually the manager of the retail side but that first job was just a quiet internship. i got trained on so many thungs that it was insane, but i think i could still troubleshoot a call while ringing up a product and signalling another employee to not let a haggle get higher or lower. yeah, it was fun.

[@clabretro]

very cool!

[@djstacktrace]

Where I lived we didn't have CR, but we had stores like it, and I loved going there as a kid to check out the equipment. Eventually my Dad bought a 386 there and that was part of the reason I pursued a career in IT. I hope to pass on to my kids the sense of wonder and intrigue I felt when I walked into those stores. Great times back then!

[@BrandonNedwek]

Really enjoyed this, so great of your dad to share his stories! (And the Linksys tower is looking impressive)

[@kodessa]

Thank you Brad for the awesome retrospective into the computer stores you ran, and life advice.