Computer Center of South Bend
1978-1981
Founded in Nov 1978, when the personal computer was unknown to the general
public, I formed the Computer Center of South Bend Indiana with the assistance
and urging of my father. He loaned me the money and the office space to
get started in the computing field. The 1st customers were hobbyists but
it was clear the market was the business person who could cost justify the
computer to automate tasks and keep down personnel costs. I used the
Commodore line, better know for the Commodore 64 introduced in 1982, to
introduce low cost microcomputer based word and database computing to the
greater Michiana area
In addition to local marketing, I began to sell computers mail order.
The market was ready for national selling as the supply was spotty given the
infancy of the industry. To take advantage of that, I began selling the
low cost entry level OSI Challenger 1P thru computer magazines. It gave me
the volume I needed to get quantity discounts that further increased my margins.
I sold computer equipment throughout the US as well as Europe and South America
during my 2 years of mail order marketing. It gave me a great taste for
expanded marketing which helped my formulate my plans for Random Access
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Computer Center Ad in South Bend Tribune June 1979 |
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Computer Center Atari announcement |
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Computer Center Ohio Scientific ad for mail order |
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Computer Center Ohio Scientific Mail Order Ad |
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Computer Center Ad for my own developed product line |
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Early Customers of the Computer Center |
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Early Customers of the Computer Center |
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Early Customers of the Computer Center |
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Business Card from Computer Center |
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Computer Center Commodore Line Ad |
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