Re: For the fun of it

[et472@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Michael Black)]

Tony Cianfaglione (ab616@chebucto.ns.ca) writes:
> Incidentally, this line should have read my first home computer 'exposure'
> was an Atari 400 which they were selling for $400. (for just the computer 
> and nothing else) at a kiosk.  I didn't buy it (good thing) as I didn't
> have the money for it but it piqued my interest in the small home
> computer.
> 
> 
That "kiosk" reminds me of the fall of 1977 (I think it had to be then),
when suddenly there were ads on the radio for a place called "Compucentre".
They were having a grand opening, so I rushed right down there, right then.
It turned out to be mostly calculators, with a few game consoles, and
maybe something like the Apple II or Atari.  It sure wasn't the computer
store I was reading about in the magazines, it was a disappointment.

I always assumed they had picked the name because it would be useful
in the future, but at the moment calculators were things people were
buying, so they focused on those.

Eventually, of course, they did get computers, until eventually they
only had computers (or if they still had calculators, they were well
hidden).  And of course, it was a chain that got quite big.  But
thinking about it now, I'm not sure they still exist, the stores
I remember aren't there anymore, so it's in the past decade that
they disappeared.

I think it was that first outlet here in Montreal that once
had a really good deal on an Apple II.  The downtown mall it
was in had some promotion where the stores would offer items
at a discount, a bigger discount the next day, and a really
great discount the third day.  The Compucenter had one Apple II
for that deal (they must have still been a kiosk, rather than
an actual store), and I remember thinking maybe I could scrape
up enough money if I could get it on that final day.  But I
suspect it was irrelevant, I'm sure someone snapped it up earlier.

But back to the grand opening.  I don't remember it being the same
fall, but it had to be based on other factors, I'm reading one of
the student papers, and there's a small ad for a computer store.
I rushed down there too.  Once I got passed the typo for the street
address, I found it, and that was the real computer store like they
had elsewhere and like they were talking about in the computer magazines.
But there, the computers were SWTP and I can't remember what else, all
computers that were beyond my means at the time.  The store opened
with virtually no fanfare, not trying to take advantage of the newness
of the concept to get a feature article in the paper.  And for what
seemed like a long time, every time I went in there it was empty. 
But I'd go in to look over the computer magazines and buy the ones
I wanted (plus the books), and it was amusing to buy an issue of
Kilobaud that had a short article of mine in it.

Eventually, the kids found the store, and it seemed like every time
I went in, all the computers had a small group of kids playing at
each one.

But that store actually lasted a long time, moving a few doors down
to a bigger location, and if I recall they eventually had a second
store somewhere.

But eventually it disappeared, though I can't recall exactly when.  Late
eighties or early nineties, significantly on in the small computer
time line.  

None of the early stores here still exist.

  Michael