MacSuperstore

It's a given: keeping pace over constantly changing computer technologies is sure to induce jittery nights and extra nail biting especially if those latest systems of knowledge are crucial to running a successful business.

Yet if resorting to hours of frustration on the phone with technicians who live across the ocean is not an option, where can a smart-but-not-always-computer-literate person go to for help?

Those lucky enough to live in San Luis Obispo County with Apple computers and/or its components may already know the MacSuperstore, centrally located and adjacent to the center of SLO is here for even the most novice users.

Appreciative Mac consumers also know that the store has been around for nearly a decade and that the business has also always been locally hands-on owned and managed by the same person.

Those are comforting thoughts to loyal clients and ones that owner Shane Williams appreciates. We've always done everything we can to meet our customers' needs, says Williams. It's a point of pride that I'm personally involved in most product selection and that we guarantee that what we sell works. Williams' can-do course of action was evident early on.

Born in Indianapolis, Williams and his family moved to the Central Coast when he was three. At 10, he had a paper route and kept it for seven years. And there were always other ways to make money from mowing lawns to throwing papers to growing green beans there was always a new idea. It all helped me to develop responsibility and an entrepreneur spirit. Life was not always about work, though: Williams also enjoyed surfing, skateboarding and playing baseball.

Williams graduated from Cal Poly in 1990 with a business degree that concentrated on finance. Although he was also paying his way through school working as a Mac consultant (another job begun in high school), Williams had decided to become a stock broker or corporate finance guy. But then I realized that the jobs out there for my degree weren't as glamorous as they sounded.

I sat down with a broker friend of my dad's. He told me I would likely have to move to 'the city' and it would take years to make it back to SLO, continues Williams. He also mentioned health issues relating to stress that he had experienced over the years.

That heartfelt talk, says Williams, convinced him to stay on the Central Coast and keep on working with Mac products. While moving forward with his consulting business,
Williams opened his first Mac store in l998 1200 square feet right in the middle of the store's current space.

It was a good time to open, says Williams. Apple had brought Steve Jobs
back into power and he rolled out his vision of the first iMac a total redesign of the personal computer. Customers had requested a way to just come and buy stuff and do things themselves, so a retail store just made a lot of sense.

The Superstore is especially committed to continuing its focus on local businesses that use or are looking to try out Mac products.

Williams points out that these clients need much more than a place to purchase goods: they also require pre-sales consulting, special delivery and configurations unique to their businesses all services that the Apple giant
will not provide. Williams does. In addition, Williams says that he will continue to sell all Apple products at the same prices as the new store and will also offer a much larger selection of third-party products such as software, cables and printers. Customers with older equipment also benefit from Williams' store because he provides out-of-warranty service at prices much lower than the Apple corporate store.

We work with several non-profits on a regular basis, he says. (Included is the San Luis Obispo Symphony, Vocal Arts Ensemble and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of SLO County.) Overall, we donate about 10 percent of our net profits back to local charities. And from print ads to phone service to banking we keep it all local.

[Article originally published in SLO Country Journal by Hilary Grant]