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37 years later, world's first Apple reseller to close its doors

The company, FirstTech, says that there's simply no way to compete any more with big box stores and their low margins.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
Don Reisinger
Apple Store on Fifth Avenue
This is the state of the art in Apple sales nowadays -- the flagship Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Apple
Apple II ad from 1977
Flashback to the late 1970s, when Apple was but a pup and graphics were barely graphical. Apple

Although Apple has a group of stores all its own, the company has a chain of resellers that are also authorized to sell and fix its products. And now, its oldest reseller is shuttering its doors.

FirstTech, a company once known as Team Electronics, will close its doors next week, the company confirmed to TwinCities.com.

• See also: Selling the Apple II: Three true stories

After nearly 37 years selling Apple's products as an authorized reseller, the company has decided that it can't keep profits high enough to justify keeping its doors open. The main culprit, the company said, has been major box stores that are selling products below cost -- something the small FirstTech can't do.

The news that the world's oldest Apple authorized reseller is closing its doors surely says something about the state of the retail environment for electronics -- those big box stores aren't exactly having it easy these days, either, what with the easy appeal of online sales. It seems quite possible, then, that more resellers might close their doors as time goes on.

(Via 9to5Mac)