Favorite Mail Order Retailers

[BydoEmpire]

One of the fun things about reading computer magazines from the 80s is browsing through the ads. It's cool to see the array of games, the prices, all the bundles... it's always a little surprising to see how many different brands of printers and monitors were available.

 

I ordered a LOT of stuff from Software Discounters of America - that was probably my favorite place. I used to have a sticker from them on my Amiga monitor. I also remember liking ComputAbility and Lyco. I don't recall the name, but there was a retailer that always had two-page full spreads in yellow with black text in Compute!'s Gazette.

 

I don't recall my family getting much hardware via mail order, maybe an Okimate 10, but I sure drooled over the ads!

[Omega-TI]

Back in the 80's there was a store called Merrymac (sp?) that was a great one for buying TRS-80 computers and related accessories UNDER normal Radio Shack prices. As a franchise (non company) store they could sell them for whatever they wanted, which irritated the heck out of the suits in Fort Worth.

 

If I remember right they were even selling a modified green screen model at the time that got a lot of interest.

[snume]

I vividly recall poring over the Triton catalogs but we never ended buying very much for our TI after the first year. Just didn't have the disposable income back then. Still have must of them though and enjoy leafing through them now and then.

[atarian63]

Electronic One in Columbus Ohio back in the mid 80's

[jhd]

I had a Coco growing up, and mail-order was (almost) the only way to obtain software. Unfortunately, being a young teenager without a regular income (or a credit card), and having to pay in American dollars meant that purchases were very few and far between. I was envious of other, more mainstream systems (especially the C-64) that had an actual retail presence -- the limited selection at Radio Shack notwithstanding.

[+save2600]

Turbo Zone Direct!

 

Oh… from the 80's, well let's see: Grapevine Group. Safe Harbor. Computability. Tenex. Triton. And there's a whole lot more. The 80's rocked for this sort of thing. Umm… for most things. Such great times.

 

Anyway, totally agree about the level of selection back then. Business was better. Government was out of your face (which is why business was better) and the general variety and selection was much, much, much better than today. Never ending supply of coolness, which greatly differs from today. Today, you want this or this? Both are crap. So which piece of crap do you want?