MacDepot to call it quits on July 31

MacDepot, the authorized Apple re-seller that was founded in Kettering in 1999, will close its doors permanently on July 31, store co-founder Greg Herting said this morning.

“We cannot compete with an Apple retail store,” Herting said, referring to the corporate-owned Apple store that will host its grand opening at The Greene this Saturday, July 19. MacDepot is less than two miles away from the corporate-owned Apple store.

The other authorized Apple re-seller in the Dayton area, MacTown, shut down its last remaining store in Miami Twp. near the Dayton Mall at the end of May. MacTown had operated a second store at The Greene, but closed that store in March after its owners learned of Apple’s plans.

Herting said MacDepot’s closing will affect six employees.

The store will liquidate its inventory over the next two weeks, Herting said. It had already been cutting back on inventory in recent months.

The MacDepot owner said it had become difficult in recent years to essentially compete against Apple and its online sales.

“I really enjoyed the first 10 years,” Herting said. “But in the last five years, Apple has really turned up the heat in terms of competing with us.”

Herting said he believes Apple withheld products from his store and other authorized re-sellers at key times of the year, including the holidays and during the back-to-school season, in order to sell its products directly to consumers through its own stores and its corporate-owned stores.

The company’s actions, Herting said, alienated many of its authorized-reseller business partners..

Apple will be giving away t-shirts to the first 1,000 customers on Saturday, and five of its first six free workshops scheduled for its first week of business have already filled up to capacity before the store’s opening.

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