NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tekserve, New York’s largest independent Apple retailer and consultancy, today celebrates the company’s 25th anniversary. To commemorate this achievement, Tekserve has created an exhibit of a quarter century of company and Apple milestones, which is currently on display at the flagship Tekserve store. Additional anniversary activities at the store include guided tours, displays of historic Apple products, a timeline of the company’s growth, including its best “pop culture” moments, and a view of technicians behind the scenes, all focusing on the company’s progression as its technological and service offerings have grown and changed to suit the public’s evolving needs.
Since its start in a Chelsea living room by David Lerner and Dick Demenus in 1987, the pioneering Apple reseller has grown to deliver full IT support and consultancy services to meet Apple user demands. In the past 25 years, Tekserve has become a mainstay on Manhattan’s 23rd Street, transitioning from its original apartment home in 1993 and continuously expanding in both size and scope to its renowned flagship site at 119 West 23rd Street. As New York City’s first Apple-centric services and retail store, Tekserve remains New York’s longest-serving expert resource, and a local cultural icon.
Building on their Apple experience, Tekserve quickly recognized opportunities for expansion beyond repairs. In 1998, the company began full-fledged sales of Macs and accessories and also launched the first Mac FAQ, a collection of answers and troubleshooting tips from the Tekserve team to answer the most common user-fixable problems that were brought into the store. Since this first edition in 1998, Mac FAQ has grown into a bound pocket book, currently in its eleventh edition.
“Tekserve started with a need to fix our first Macintosh 128K in 1984, after we were faced with staggering repair costs from our local repair center,” said Dick Demenus, founder, Tekserve. “We quickly realized that we could fix the machine ourselves at a lower price. News soon got out, and we had a business growing from word of mouth. To this day, most of our customers come from referrals."
The company has grown by leaps and bounds since the original Chelsea apartment, currently completing more than 30,000 repairs and selling more than 400,000 individual products each year, including Macs, iPads, iPhones, iPods and a wide assortment of related accessories. With more than half a million people visiting Tekserve each year, the store has also become a pop culture figure, including appearances on “Sex and the City” and “Law & Order” and a mention in Eric Darton’s book “Divided We Stand: A Biography of New York’s World Trade Center.”
“Reaching our 25th anniversary is a credit to the creativity and dedication of our customers, as they are constantly pushing the boundaries of how we view, service and support technology,” said David Lerner, founder, Tekserve. “What began as a mission to bring specialized support to our local community has matured into a quarter century legacy of evolving with the industry and our customer’s needs. While we will never abandon our core offerings, we will continue to distinguish ourselves by the elevated caliber of expertise and services synonymous with the Tekserve name.”
To meet the distinctive needs of enterprises, Tekserve launched a consolidated Business Solutions practice in 2011, delivering strategic solutions for growing enterprises. Tekserve Business Solutions serves organizations from the small business to the Fortune 1000, helping to define business challenges, identify the proper technology solutions and implement a proven, structured solution to integrating Apple products across IT environments. The company is also a resource for audio and video professionals, providing Pro A/V rich media production and storage services.
Guided tours of the “25 Years of Tekserve on 23rd Street” exhibit are taking place at Tekserve through early November. Please contact Ashleigh Egan Churchward at 212-255-0080, ext. 12 for more information.
About Tekserve
Tekserve Business Solutions helps CIOs and technology decision-makers best integrate solutions into the complex heterogeneous IT environment in the enterprise and includes Tekserve’s renowned Pro solutions, rich media production, storage and advisory services. The solutions practice is complemented by the Tekserve retail store, built specifically for consumers who want the best possible experience buying and using Apple products.