computer store

Return of the Computer Store Photo Dump: Egghead Software, CompUSA, Computer City, and other random bits

~ mpklamerus ~ Leave a comment

I’m running out of time before Cohost completely shuts down, so here’s another big batch of pictures from the CompStoreVisuals. I guess I do have the archive of the account so they aren’t gone gone even after the site shuts down, but it’s still a good excuse to repost them to somewhere more permanent.

These aren’t really sorted in any order and I’d like to resume posting photos of computer stores at some point, I just have to make time to find more. Some of it is nostalgia but I’m also just fascinated by forms of retail that don’t exist anymore. I walked through a mall last weekend and while it was very busy (there’s another nearby that’s struggling), it was still weird to walk through Macy’s and think about how department stores like that and Sears were just things people went to all the time for everything instead of online. The unfortunate thing about being into a thing that barely exists is that it just gets harder to find stuff, especially with search engines getting worse. The big reason why I’m doing these reposts is because a lot of it just doesn’t seem to exist on the web anymore outside of the account, or it does and I just can’t find it.

two people looking at an area that's taped off and says "Windows 98 available here after midnight"
a group of people huddled around a desktop computer in CompUSA
Cashier training at CompUSA
3 desktop computers sitting in a big hallway

Photo of a Compaq Works store in Houston from the book Retail and Restaurant Spaces: An International Portfolio of 41 Designers (1999). I believe I got this one from checking out a book on the Internet Archive. Even if you aren’t into this extremely specific subject, it’s fascinating to look at old books covering retail and restaurants in general and seeing the trends in design.

a man is very excited about Windows Vista and has a fist in the air
Windows Vista launch party at a CompUSA store on January 29, 2007 in Houston, Texas
people walking through the doors of a compusa and a guy smiling at the camera

CompUSA
Honolulu, Hawaii
2006

Forgot where I found this but I believe it was from a Black Friday sale

The front of a Computer City store
ad for Egghead Software showing products like MS-DOS 6, floppy disks, and MS Office
the front of a gateway country store that says the store name and has a box with a cow pattern
The front of a Gateway Country store, created by the Gateway computer company, and were around from the mid 90s to the mid 00s.
cover of catalog of Egghead Software guy dressed as santa and pushing a floppy disk down a chimney
Egghead Software guy dressed as Santa in his sleigh and advertising their stores
Ad for productivity software like an address book and recipe book
Catalog advertising games by Cinemaware and also a Who Framed Roger Rabbit game

1988 Egghead Software Catalog.

Originally posted by Foone on Twitter
https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1010067430096269314

newspaper ad showing deals at compusa on black friday and saying it's closed on Thanksgiving

Another Random Computer Store Photo Dump

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Here’s more photos from the CompStoreVisuals account on Cohost before the site goes down for good.

a statue that looks like Andy Garcia outside of a store called Mac Daddy Repairs

Mac Daddy Repairs
Sebastopol, California
Photo credit: @/dumb_billie on Twitter

http://macdaddyrepairs.com

photo by Russell Yip of a little girl in an Egghead Software looking up at a parent who is holding Prince of Persia

Photo of an Egghead Software by Russell Yip. The parent is holding Prince of Persia

a man pointing at a kiosk in a compusa store

In 2004 CompUSA was experimenting with SoftwareToGo kiosks, where customers would choose what software they wanted, place an order, and then pick it up at the front desk. You can read more about it here: https://www.deseret.com/2004/4/12/19822350/new-in-store-device-dispenses-software

girl sitting at a computer in front of software boxes
girl and dad sitting at a computer in a store

Smart Kids Software
Houston, Texas
1992

Looks like they still exist as an online store and you can buy 90s big box educational PC games from them https://www.smartkidssoftware.com/home3.htm

a very generic building that says Computer Nation in plain letters

Sign for a closed store called Computer Nation
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Photo credit: Hypnocoin on Twitter (which got deleted and a crypto thing took over)

a purple building that says Funky Monkey - Computers, Home Theaters, Sound & Lighting, Gifts & Decor

Funky Monkey
Tomah, Wisconsin
http://funkymonkeytomah.com
Photo credit: aamitii on Twitter

people lined up behind a counter

CompUSA technical services team
Rockville
1996

Random Computer Store Images Dump

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The dumping of images I originally posted on the CompStoreVisuals accounts on Twitter and Cohost continues. I’ve been looking through both accounts since the Cohost one is shutting down soon and it looks like even the Twitter account is starting to get screwy, probably from the site decaying. All of these are also on the Mastodon account but I would feel better having them somewhere else too.

This one was found somewhere on Flickr

image of a decaying building that just says "Computers"

These were submitted by Martijn of DOS Game Club

photo from across the street of a white building that says "Gooil@nd Computers"
photo but closer from across the street of a white building that says "Gooil@nd Computers"

This is Software Dschungel (Software Jungle) in Vienna, Austria.

Photo found by @/Kloennes on Twitter who said “Great store that sadly closed down about 10 years ago.”

front of a computer store that says Software Dschungel but has a monkey holding the logo and a cd-rom for the O

Computer Store Photo Dump: The Computer Store in Alabama

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Still going through Twitter and Cohost posts for my CompStoreVisuals account and reposting them here since that’s more permanent. I saw that the site for The Computer Store in Mobile, Alabama is down (tcs360.com) and there hasn’t been a facebook post in a few years, so I’m assuming the store is gone now. So I suppose enjoy these pictures of the dog and as a record of a place that’s no longer around.

outside of the store with a basic sign saying The Computer Store and a dog peeking through the door
some older macs in boxes and on a table and a dog laying on a pillow
a sign saying "Ask about our custom built PC Desktops!!! starting at $399.95 only at the computer store" and a picture of a desktop computer
photo of a desk with a mac on it and shelves with computer parts. There's a poster saying "Why Mac?" and bullet points on it

Random CompUSA Link Dump

~ mpklamerus ~ 1 Comment

The process of copying over all my posts from Cohost before the shutdown continues, here’s some more things you might like to look at. You can find more of these posts here.

This blog contains a few photos of a CompUSA store.

Here is a short YouTube video of people buying Windows 95 on launch day at CompUSA and Egghead Software.

And here is a random photo of the kids section at a CompUSA. I think I just grabbed this from a google image search

the kids section of CompUSA that has a sign saying Comp Kids and looks like a short and planet

Computer Store Photo Dump: Scrubbin’ Bubbles

~ mpklamerus ~ Leave a comment

Since Cohost has now been confirmed to be winding down and will be read only until the end of the year before shutting down, I will start posting here (hopefully almost daily) with all the stuff that I posted on the CompStoreVisuals account there. I think most, if not all, of this should already be on the Mastodon account but I wanted to have something more permanent for the photos and videos I’m posting. Apologies for what will feel like computer store spam for a while. The “Thoughts on Cohost” post will arrive eventually (TLDR: Not a perfect site but I’m sad) but until then, enjoy?

This photo is one I actually took a long time ago on my phone. The place is now gone.

Sign for Scrubbin Bubbles
Westland, Michigan, United States

a sign saying Scrubbing Bubbles Coin Laundry Tanning & Computer Cafe

I’m the Computer Man

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Sometimes credited as a commercial for Macs, this was a video created by the Mac IT department at Good Humor’s advertising agency. The video itself is a parody of a parody. Scatman was a hit song in the 90s, leading to a commercial parody by the Good Humor ice cream company, leading to the video I’m posting about today.

From Reddit:
“The original Scat Man song came out in 1994. Then Good Humor used in their famous commercial in 1996. Then the Mac IT department at Good Humor’s advertising agency (McCann-Erickson) created this parody video in 1997 for their company party. The ‘Computer Man’ was their head of McCann-Erickson’s Mac IT department, hence the digs at Windows 95. It wasn’t a real commercial that was aired on TV which is why there is no company contact information at the end of the commercial.

The reason the IT department at McCann-Erickson made this parody video is because the Good Humor commercial was very successful for their the company, so it was the kind of thing they’d joke around about at the company party. And of course they already had access to all of the music assets and talent they needed to record the parody song.”