Brooklyn's Mac Support Store to close after 17 years, auction forthcoming

AppleInsider

A long-running Apple reseller and support store in Brooklyn is shutting down, and is marking its closure with an online auction.

The flag will be coming down on Brooklyn's famous Mac Support Store (source: Apple Maps)

The Mac Support Store officially opened in the mid-2000s -- the company itself variously cites 2006 and 2007 -- and is now based at 168 7th Street, Brooklyn. Since its inception, the company has been both an Apple reseller, and an authorized repair center.

"We want to thank our customers for their unwavering support throughout these 17 years," wrote CEO Jeff Graber, in an email sent to AppleInsider.. "It's been an honor serving the Brooklyn community and providing Apple enthusiasts with quality products and services."

The Mac Support Store's online site has already closed all but a single page, which it is now using to promote a final auction. That will run online from 9am ET on June 15, 2023, to 11:59pm ET on June 18, 2023.

Mac Support Store says that the auction will include a wide range of Apple products and accessories, from the latest MacBooks to vintage Apple collectibles." To participate, interested parties must register in advance.

CEO Graber has not specified why the store is closing, but notes that it resembles the 2016 closure of New York City's Tekserve.

It also comes almost exactly one year after the collapse of the Apple retailer Simply Mac.

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sternapples53

But Mikey's hook up has been doing Apple Sales and service since 2001 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. So now its just Mikey's ?

zoetmb

JP234 said:

I'm surprised they held out this long. I worked for an authorized Apple reseller, service and training facility. Apple Inc. gradually started squeezing our margins when Steve Jobs returned. As a B-level seller, we sold Macs at 10% margin. Soon after the iMac G4 was introduced, 10% shrank to 7% except on the Mac Pro and the MacBook Pro. Then the margin went to 7% on the Mac Pro. When the iPod and iPhone were introduced, our margin was 4% on those products. When teh 3.5% transaction charge for credit card transactions was subtracted, we were left with nothing, unless we could upsell accessories. Then Apple started soldering RAM on their logic boards, and using proprietary SSDs, pretty much eliminating about 75% of our service business. Then they started charging us the same amount for a fixed-price mail-in epair that they charged endusers, taking away another 15% of our service business. Taking training in-house at the Apple Stores was next. That was the end for MacSpecialist.

That's American capitalism, and I'm not complaining, just detailing what happened. I had been buying Apple stock since Jobs' return, and was able to get a good job at Apple, in purchasing (for 3rd party products in their stores). Using Apple's employee stock purchase plan, I kept up buying more and more shares. So Apple didn't cost me my job, they gave me a career, paid off our mortgage, and bought us a new BMW 325i. And we still have 1,653 dividend-paying shares.

We're all sorry to see independent, family-owned companies fail, but bottom line, Apple was way better than us (or any of the other resellers) at giving users an awesome experience from end to end.

At those margins, I’m surprised any third party dealer bothers to sell Apple.   It’s not like they get to sell packaged software anymore either.