First Computer Store

Fred Cisin cisin at xenosoft.com
Fri Jul 24 14:32:06 CDT 2015


>> A momentus event happened 40 years ago around this time, July 1975,
>> the world's first computer store opened in West Los Angeles, called
>> Arrow Head Computer Store, tag-lined, 'The Computer Store'. It was
>> opened by Dick Heiser. How time has flown by!

On Fri, 24 Jul 2015, Stefan Skoglund wrote:
> Doesn't IBM's showroom in New York City counts ?
> I think it was possible to walk in there and strike a deal for an 360 !
> The salesmen force and Thomas Watson was upstairs.

Yes, as usual, all such claims are meaningless without term definitions.
What Murray was referring to was arguably the first PERSONAL computer 
store, and run as a retail storefront.
IBM did do some retail sales, although they might not have called it 
"retail", out of their building.

Even "first" and "store" could use some restrictive definition:
Do sales out of a living room count?
    garage?
    corner of another kind of store?
(there already seems to be an exclusion of mail-order)
If a grocery store clears space in an aisle does that count?
Did Ed Roberts have a front counter, and handle walk-in?
Assembled working systems?  or do kits count?
Signing lease?
Acquiring retail inventory?
Opening of doors to the public?
First retail sale?
    First Order?  or
    First Delivery?



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