Writing for the Richmond Times-Dispatch , McGregor McCance noted that the Richmond, Va. Mac retail market is becoming increasingly competitive. McCance’s comments come in a new article entitled Mac scene heats up.
Capitol Mac is a long-time Mac retailer that ran into financial trouble in mid-March, causing the company to turn over to new owners — Uptime Computer Services. Meanwhile Mediacom Inc. is moving into town as well. The company, which primarily focuses on corporate accounts, is opening a retail store in the West End next month. To add insult to Capitol Mac’s injury, several key managers apparently left Capitol Mac to work for Mediacom, McCance reported.
McCance said that the circumstances regarding Capitol Mac’s turnover to new owners, management exodus, and Mediacom’s plans have caused a whirlwind of rumors and innuendo to be circulated amongst the Richmond Mac illuminati.
Capitol Mac’s former owner blamed his own business woes on an inability to get Apple’s flat-panel iMac system. Many retailers found availability of the new systems constrained following the revamped iMac’s debut in January, and Butler said that after the new iMac was introduced, customers weren’t interested in buying anything else.
Mediacom’s new store is called MacPro, and the company said it’ll focus its attention on non-Mac buyers, according to McCance. In fact, the company’s CEO said they’re not interested in targeting Capitol Mac’s customers — primarily Mac loyalists.