Beloved Apple Repair Shop Tekserve Closes Its Doors, Places Rare and Unusual Items up for Auction

Before everyone flocked to the Apple Store and the Genius Bar for repairs on their Apple products, they went to Tekserve – at least, residents in NYC did. Founded in 1987, the Manhattan store and repair shop was the go-to destination for Mac and Apple users in New York.

Founders David Lerner and Dick Demenus formed Current Design Corporation, an electronic engineering and industrial design business, in the late 1970’s. However, their mutual love for, and ability to repair, Macintosh computers, led them to form Tekserve almost a decade later.

“Along the way, we started using this thing called a personal computer. And we fell in love with Mac instantly,” Demenus said in a recent interview with Chelsea Now. “The ease of use, the graphics, and the overall user interface was compatible with what we wanted to do.” The duo’s expertise and customer service drew customers from all over New York. Brooklyn resident David Cohen told Chelsea Now that Tekserve was “the only place to go to in New York City” for Mac service in the 1990’s.

“The service was phenomenal. This is where I learned to swap out RAM, because if you needed them to do a five-minute job like that, they would just do it for free.” Tekserve eventually became a sort of Mecca for Mac users, and has even been featured in television series like Law & Order and Sex and the City.

Besides their reputation for Mac service and repair, Tekserve’s flagship storefront in Chelsea was known for its fun and quirky ambiance, complete with an incredible collection of vintage electronics. Antique radios, microphones, typewriters, cameras, electrical meters, and more lined the walls of the shop, and a vintage 1950’s Coca Cola machine served up bottles of Coke for a dime each. And, of course, what would a Mac Mecca be without a “Mac Museum”? Customers could walk into the back of the Tekserve storefront and peruse every model of Mac computer ever made, including a melted Macintosh that (kind of) survived a fire, and a “hacked” two-headed iMac that one of the owners had put together.

Unfortunately, however, all good things must come to an end. And the end for the Tekserve retail store came yesterday, when the shop closed its doors for a final time. Retail competition from the numerous Apple Stores that popped up in the same area, as well as rising rent costs forced Tekserve to close the doors of the legendary shop. “In today’s world, no one is stunned that a small, local retailer is having a hard time,” Tekserve’s Chief Executive Jerry Gepner told Chelsea Now. Although the company will still provide corporate sales and IT consulting, the retail and repair store is no more.

The good news is, however, the Mac Museum and other quirky artifacts will live on, as Tekserve will auction off memorabilia and electronics from the store on August 23^rd. A 1970’s-era Soviet high altitude helmet with oxygen hose and communication cables will start bidding at $100, a Blade Runner poster signed by Ridley Scott, Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and others will start bidding at $100, and the classic Coca Cola vending machine will start bidding at $250. Of course, collectors of Apple memorabilia will also be able to purchase tons of Apple artifacts, such as a poster of Miles Davis from Apple’s “Think Different”, the aforementioned melted Mac, and the impressive “Macintosh Collection”, which includes a first-generation Macintosh computer signed by Steve Wozniak.

Demenus told Chelsea Now that he wanted the pieces from the store to go to customers who can appreciate the value of each item. When I look at some of these things, I see the genius that went into it. You can see what people were working with at the time and how one thing builds on another. I would rather it go to other people who find it interesting than have it sit in storage.”

For more information on the auction, read the press release from Roland Antiques here. You can also check out the Macintosh Collection here.

What item would you bid on? Let us know in the comments below.