Area 51 PC moves to Coralwood Shopping Center in Cape Coral
It isn’t Roswell, New Mexico, but it has that feel, with spaceships and aliens adorning the corners and cabinets at the small, personal computer store and technical center at Coralwood Shopping Center.
It’s certainly an interesting introduction to Area 51 PC, a company which just moved here after almost a decade in Fort Myers, but get past the meet-and-greet and you will be introduced to a company that knows what it’s doing in regard to fixing and recovering the memory from troubled computers.
Area 51 opened on Metro Parkway in Fort Myers almost a decade ago, according to owner Shaun Book, and grew from there.
“We worked our way up to Palm Point next to Honey Baked Ham and made a bigger jump to Cape Coral,” Book said. “The Cape offered to me for the same money we were paying in Fort Myers a better opportunity, and the Cape seems more family oriented.”
Book also said that Cape Coral, with its bigger population and income, was another reason he decided to move.
“The Cape offers more exposure. The people here are very kind, as they were in Fort Myers,” Book said. “But we’ve gotten a nice response and it’s been nice to be in the Cape.”
That could be seen by the two people who came in, one asking about a wire that connects to the USB port that he believed was broken, and another who inquired about the cost of installing new RAM memory and a disc drive in his computer.
They both seemed interested in the Area 51-themed business, which was a goal of Book to have a nationally themed enterprise, and was born about the same time as the company.
The idea came after he and his wife went to Las Vegas.
… “We saw the flyers that advertised going to Area 51 in Roswell,” Book said. “We went out there and saw nothing but chained-link fences, but on the way home, we decided, ‘Why not call it Area 51 PC?”‘
Book got his props from online science fiction shops or through local shops, with a few items given to him by customers who thought of him while ogling some Roswell trinkets.
That’s why when people have computers that exhibit “paranormal activity” that you should get it resolved at Area 51 PC, Book said.
The company offers repairs on computers, as well as data recovery in case the computer dies and you don’t have backup.
His clients run the gamut.
They include hotels and condos on Fort Myers Beach with large scale wireless networks and servers, a franchise restaurant group, various physician groups, charities such as Red Cross, churches to which they have donated their efforts, on down to the customer with a computer virus.
They are a Microsoft Certified Partner and a ComcastXfinity authorized dealer.
Book said while it’s a mom-and-pop store now, he hopes he can grow the company in the coming years, using the same Area 51 theme as a hook the same way the Geek Squad used theirs with success.
“I want people to enjoy the concept. They don’t have to fear the technology,” Book said. “We have flat-rate pricing so there are no surprises.”
Area 51 can be reached 561-5191.
Coralwood Shopping Center is at 2301 Del Prado Blvd. S.