MacHaus – The Alaska “Apple Store”
MacHaus is currently celebrating their “Grand Opening” event for their new store recently opened in Anchorage, Alaska. MacHaus is a locally owned and operated Apple sales and authorized service center with three locations around the State. I recently met with the owner, Ben Schaafsma to get the scoop on MacHaus and learn a little more about what they’re all about.
I’ll save you the history lesson and give the short version: MacHaus started in the Valley (Wasilla, Alaska) about five years ago and two years ago set up shop in Fairbanks, Alaska. Ben is expanding now into Anchorage with a nice looking shop located just off Northern Lights across the street from REI, next to Plato’s Closet in the old Sunshine Plaza building.
Having visited the other options for buying a Mac in Alaska, I can say that the MacHaus environment, vibe and apparent knowledge of Apple products is vastly superior to the big box solutions or the “other” Apple shop in town. Alaska’s always struggled to be on par with L48 options, but MacHaus really raises the bar. Kudos.
MacHaus has six Apple Certified technicians statewide and provides superb support and service beyond the sale. While not an exact replica of the official Apple Store, MacHaus has a nice layout and similar feel to the “real thing”. They appear to have a great inventory of everything from the Macbook to the MacPro and all the accessories you might need.
The only missing element from the unofficial Apple Store for Alaska, is the obviously absent iPhone. AT&T and Apple are very controlling and tight on the iPhone, so even authorized Apple shops can’t get their hands on them! You’ll also notice that MacHaus does not repair iPods on location, but can ship them out to Apple for factory service or warranty repairs.
Right now they’re giving away a Macbook Air, so stop by MacHaus in Anchorage to enter to win!
1231 West Northern Lights Blvd.
Anchorage, Alaska
Web: http://www.machaus.net/
Phone: (907) 522-4622
July 9th, 2008 at 12:02 am
Sweet! I’m excited to go into the new store; I actually have not been inside any of them.
In many ways, I am glad we don’t have an Apple store; I love supporting the locals. Even with my love for the local shops, it was always unnerving to go into the the Alaska Mac Store and avoided doing so on numerous occasions. I have high hopes for Mac Haus!
January 8th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
The people at the alaska mac store are not good. I think they browsed through my personal data, and then made uncomfortable comments to me about things I’d written in personal letters saved in my documents folder. I’m hoping the people in the Mac Haus know how to respectfully treat their customers with the professionalism one would expect from a top tier computer dealership.
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Boy, are we glad you’re opening. Those other guys…well….don’t wanna be rude (like they are) or make comments (like they do) but we want to be above such things, right? Hat’s off to you guys. We’ll definitely be stopping by. And I’m speaking from experience. Would you make a 47 year old lady cry in your store when asking for some help, or smirk under your breath and imply that you..”better go take some classes somewhere, maybe you’ll learn something” : )
January 23rd, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Great comments. Yes, MacHaus has been awesome! It’s really nice to have an Apple computer specialist close to home. I have a great story about how the guys at Machaus in Anchorage totally saved the day on a new Macbook that shipped new w/ some problems. I’ll save that for a new blog post.