Them Apples

The Blunden family runs one of the largest computer stores in Florida that deals only with Apple products, a unique 20-year-old business that defies the traditional model of retail product diversity.

The Apple-only approach has led to a growth surge, even while computer stores and sales nationwide suffered in the recession. The company, Sarasota-based Computer Advantage, reported $8.6 million in 2010 revenues, up 52.5% from 2009, when it had $5.64 million in sales. (The Observer Group, parent of the Business Review, has a contract with Computer Advantage to service computers.)

But now the Blundens are braced for what could be their biggest competitive threat yet: more apples.

Strangely enough, these apples will likely come straight from the corporate entity, Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple Inc., which supplies Computer Advantage with its products. That's because rumors have percolated for years that the corporate Apple will open one of its big-draw Apple Stores in a mall in the Sarasota-Bradenton market, possibly by 2012.

“Apple makes a product people want,” says Spencer Blunden, son of the company's founder, Ron Blunden, and a sales manager at the store. “That's the difference a Mac makes.”

On the Gulf Coast, Apple already has stores in Tampa, at the International Plaza mall; in Brandon, at the Brandon Town Center; and in Estero, at Coconut Point. And while Apple computers are sold in Best Buys, Computer Advantage has had a distinct local edge for two decades because of its exclusive Apple focus.

If an official Apple Store opens nearby, though, that edge could certainly soften.

“Apple coming to town will be different than anything before,” says Blunden. “But if you're a good store offering good service, you can still survive and thrive with an Apple store nearby.”

Computer Advantage is an authorized independent Apple dealer, one of about 250 such stores in the country. It's not an Apple corporate retail store, of which there are more than 300 nationwide.

Corporate Apple Stores cater to a large swath of computer buyers, from techies to novices. Some stores open after $3 million build-outs.

Computer Advantage and corporate Apple Stores have similar service components, says Blunden. That includes one-on-one training and a repair shop.

Ron Blunden founded Computer Advantage in 1991, long before Apple Stores were even a seed. Blunden wasn't a computer geek or techie, but in the early 1980s his brother suggested he check out a Mac, a new kind of computer.

Blunden liked the machine so much, he took a sales job at a computer store on Tamiami Trail in north Sarasota County, not far from the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. That store closed in January 1991. A month later, Blunden opened Computer Advantage in the same spot.

Growth came quickly, mostly because the store was literally one-of-a-kind. There were no Apple Stores, and the Internet wasn't around to promote the brand. The corporate office instead relied on stores like Computer Advantage to reach customers.

Blunden grew geographically in 2008. He bought two independent Apple stores in Georgia, one in Savannah and another south of Atlanta. Those stores have done well, Spencer Blunden says, and could provide a buffer against any lost business if and when an Apple Store opens in Sarasota.

The Blundens have made other moves to carry on, too. The Sarasota store, for example, will undergo an extensive renovation. The goal is to look sleeker and sharper.

Still, Spencer Blunden concedes business might slip the first six months Computer Advantage operates in the shadow of an Apple Store. But the hope is Apple's presence will ultimately translate to more Apple buyers. Blunden has seen that happen in other markets with a similar situation.

“We've found that when Apple comes to town, they bring another pie,” says Blunden. “They don't take our piece.”