07/29/2022
After 22 years in business, The Box Shop has permanently closed as of the end of July 2022. It has been a very good run.
It started out as a part-time hustle from James’ spare bedroom and garage. Slowly and over time, he built relationships with the largest corporations in Minnesota, buying large lots of their PCs that were deemed “end-of-life”. These were corporate quality computers from tier 1 manufacturers – Dell, Compaq, and IBM/Lenovo -- built to last, but corporate America deemed them “obsolete” at 3 years of age, even when in perfect working condition. In those early days James rented Ryder trucks to move equipment from corporate headquarters back to his residential garage in St. Paul.
At first, he sold these 1 by 1 out of his home, advertising via the want ads in printed newspapers (the Star Tribune, the Pioneer Press, and the Computer User magazine) and flyers left on windshields. Along the way, he sold at computer shows at the Hamfest (a swap meet for ham radio users) and the State Fairgrounds, selling 100s of PCs and 100s of monitors in a 3-day weekend at shows held every few months.
James left his full-time sales job at Equus Computers in 2001 to open his first location of The Box Shop off of University and Fairview in St. Paul. At that time, dealers in the computer industry referred to that part of the desktop computer -- not including the monitor, keyboard or mouse -- as “the box”. Accordingly, James thought “The Box Shop” would be a catchy name.
The photo above is from 2001, when James expanded his advertisements in the Computer User magazine by purchasing full or half page ads. He developed the “Dirt Cheap Computers!” schtick and used that slogan and imagery to market his store and stand out against a sea of retailers selling PCs in the Twin Cities. The wheelbarrow and hardhats were frequently included as props to promote pricing that beat his competition, hands-down.
From the original store in St. Paul, he expanded to additional stores in New Hope, Columbia Heights, and Bloomington – 4 locations in total.
In 2002, James wrote, co-directed and starred in a commercial for cable TV. The commercial featured James in a hardhat pushing around a wheelbarrow full of computer equipment while proclaiming “At The Box Shop, we specialize in QUALITY COMPUTERS at DIRT CHEAP PRICES – with a WARRANTY on EVERYTHING!” This commercial aired on late night TV in the Twin Cities for several years on both cable channels and WCCO. It wasn’t uncommon for complete strangers to recognize James in passing.
Over all of these 22 years, computers evolved from desktops to towers to all-in-ones to minis to laptops to smaller laptops and finally to tablets and cell phones. Operating systems evolved from DOS to Windows 95 to Windows 98 and 2000 to XP to Vista to 7 then 8 then 10. In 2001, most people did not have access to the Internet, and those who did dialed in with a modem over the telephone line . These days, we automatically connect cell phones and TVs and video cameras and Echo devices to the internet without even thinking about it. Each step of the way, The Box Shop evolved.
Over all of these 22 years, The Box Shop has offered a unique and original concept with high appeal to computer hobbyists. We are proud to have been a prominent member of the community in every location -- especially Bloomington -- and honored to have served thousands of customers: so many students, families, immigrants, small businesses, and political campaigns. We are proud to have provided a superior alternative to recycling by restoring end-of-life equipment to high-quality condition suitable for redeployment. And we are especially proud to have employed so many individuals who have gained the hands on-experience here to develop their skills and enable them to qualify for bigger and better employment opportunities.
Over all of these 22 years, The Box Shop has stood behind its warranty. We did it with optimism and enthusiasm on our first day of business -- and we have done so with pride on our last day of business.
Thank you for allowing us to serve you. It has been a very good run indeed.
