From Bites to Bytes
by February 7, 2000 12:00 am 63 views
The former home of Corky’s Ribs & BBQ at 637 E. Joyce Blvd. in Fay-etteville will soon house a Gateway Country store.
Gateway Inc., the computer company founded in 1985, started opening retail stores in 1996 because research showed that 25 percent of shoppers wouldn’t buy a computer without first trying it out, says Greg Lund, a spokesman for Gateway Country.
The Fayetteville store is scheduled to open in March, along with stores in Fort Smith and Hot Springs. Each Gateway Country store is about 8,000 SF in size.
The stores don’t have inventory for sale.
“We don’t build a system until a person orders it,” Lund says. “Then we build it to their specifications and it’s shipped to their home or office.”
Lund says customers receive their computers within seven days after ordering them.
The computer systems on display at the stores are connected to the Internet and come with a variety of software to sample.
“The key difference with us is you can take these systems for a test drive,” Lund says.
Lund says the stores also offer a service center and software training classes.
Corky’s recently moved to The Bakery Building on Fayetteville’s Dickson Street.