Mayberry gets an Apple Store

Well actually it's an authorized reseller, CyberGear, but this could be the start of a new trend.  Mount Airy, NC, otherwise known as the home of Andy Griffin and Mayberry, is not a huge place.  It is a wonderful small town, but it is probably one of the last places that I expected to see retail access to Apple's products.

In fact when I was using my Mac at our home place at 347 West Pine Street, I was pretty sure that there wasn't another Mac for miles.  I assumed that my great DSL speeds were a direct function of there being no other users on the line.  According to Mark Spencer, the owner on the left in the picture with Mt. Airy's Mayor and his CyberGear partner Jacob, there are plenty of Mac users in the surrounding area who have also been under the mistaken impression that they were the only ones in town.

Mark tells me that he runs a hometown computer store where systems aren't just passed out as unopened boxes.  He is proud of the fact that they can take the time to set up a customer's email and Internet access before handing the Macs over.

I asked Mark why he would attempt to sell Apple computers in a world more and more dominated by direct from the manufacturer purchases.  Mark told me a store with Apple computers has been a life long dream, mainly because he really believes in the products and thinks that Macs are something that his small town customers will respond to positively.  It turns out that his guess has been right so far. 

CyberGear, which is just now having their grand opening, has been selling computers for a while.  They made their minimum commitment with Apple the previous year so it looks like they have a great opportunity to continue supporting current Mac users and introduce new people to Macs.  CyberGear has an application in to be an authorized service center so I'm sure that will be a huge boost to the Mount Airy Mac community once they're approved.

Mount Airy is the type of town where Apple has to be successful to get beyond it's current user base.  It's not the high profile creative community of New York or San Francisco, but it is a place where people want to use computers without being hassled.  It's the Dell heartland.

I know when I worked with Apple in Canada in the late eighties, Apple products were tremendously successful in small towns.  Easy to use products flourish where there are no large IT departments.

I personally hope there are twenty CyberGear type stores opened for every real Apple Store that comes to a major metropolitan area.  In the long run, the Mark Spencers of the world can do a lot better job of converting Windows users than Apple which will never have enough sales people and might even have another agenda all together.

When you are zooming up or down Interstate 77 in North Carolina or Virginia on your way to points north or south, look for the signs to Mount Airy.  Mark's store is located right on Main Street.  He tells me that he's already had people come from as far away as West Virginia to buy iPods.

Mount Airy is a well worth the detour.  It will relax you for the rest of your journey.

While you are in town, enjoy the laid back life style that has attracted so many folks to Mount Airy.  You can stay in Sobotta Manor, our former home place, which is now a Bed & Breakfast with Mac users as owners.

You can take a trip back in time and have a big Moe at Odells, one of the great surviving drive-in restaurants that I profiled in my View from the Mountain post, "Saturday night at Odell's, everything is all right."  You can also visit a real drive-in theater with first run movies, and if you want fancier food and a beer, try Goobers, one of my favorite spots which I profiled in "Goobers, another backroads restaurant."  Then of course if you're waiting for your computer to be set up, you can always grab a pork chop sandwich at Snappy Lunch, just don't wait to late in the afternoon or you might have to try Leon's instead. Leon's is actually closer to Mark's store and the California Burger is well worth the trip.

I hope the 72,000 plus people in the Mount Airy metro area appreciate the efforts of Mark and his team to bring the Apple world to Surry County, North Carolina.  It just might be a model for a rural Apple Renaissance.

Comments

[Twig Gravely]

Thanks so much for the piece on Odell's. I came across it a little while back, and went searching again last night and today, and luckily stumbled across it while doing a Google search for Mount Airy drive-in (which led me to your piece on Bright Leaf). IT loks like a road trip may be in order.