| VAM
Computers was started February 2nd of 1996 by three people.
Kyle "Viper" Fegan, Alexander "Axel" Giger and Dave "Marauder"
Kratky. The name "VAM" was a combination of the first letter
of our internet/BBS aliases. It was the best we could
come up with at the time and everything else cool was already taken.
Our
reasoning for starting the company was simple. There was only
one computer store in the Dufferin County area at the time.
We figured it was time for some variety and were all computer
hobyists and so with $200.00 in cash we started our new
business. We ran the business out of Alex's basement for our
first year or so. An opportunity came up to get a store front
in Shelburne for a reasonable amount in 1997 so we took it. At this
time Kyle left the company as he had no time for the business what
with College and other commitments. The store puttered along
in Shelburne for a year and a half. Bryan Momm was a great help to us in keeping things running.
After this time we re-evaluated
the whole business and decided it was time for another move
to a larger population center with better demographics. May
1/1998 we opened at our current location in Orangeville, sharing
our opening day with Steve Henry and the folks over at the
Hurontario.net internet provider. We were re-selling for Steve
when he was with Headwaters as well, then followed him over to his new company.
In July 2000 we hosted a large LAN Party (Local Area Network) computer gaming event at the Orangeville Curling Club that was attended by 70 people from all over the GTA area.
In
2001 we started selling used systems along with our new products,
started doing more web design and hosting and picked up more
product lines. Hurontario went under in 2001 and so we switched
to supporting Execulink for dialup and high speed internet
services. The second FRAGtopia.com LAN party was held at the curling club in July.
In 2002 we expanded our used line to include more monitors
and complete systems, as well as parts and software. Al "Skeezix" Herman
joined the team in the tech and sales department.
2003 was a big year for us. We ceased to sell most software
as it isn't cost effective to do it unless you do it big time.
(ex. EB Games) We again expanded our product line with Thermal
Take performance cases and cooling solutions and Sunbeam
lighting kits and acrylic cases. We completely renovated the
store, new paint, cabinets, shelving, carpeting, lighting
and ceilings. In late 2003 Dave bought Alexander's part of
the business from him. Alex simply didn't have time to be
at the store much anymore as he was too busy with family and
other commitments.
2004 was our best year ever, thanks to all of our customers!
We really appreciate your business. Al moved away from the
area in September (we'll miss you man!) and Matt "Protocal"
Soligo started with us. We once again expanded our tech area
to keep up with the demand from our clients. With demand for
onsite technical services expanding our onsite guy, Darren
Maunu has been getting busier and busier.
In
2005 we picked up the Artic Cooling line of products. We also
started reselling for Linkdata, a wireless internet company.
As well we expanded our staff to include Tim Coburn, an extremely
experianced tech with PCs and all forms of Windows and Linux.
Tim also handles the technical side of our web business. Our
onsite technical support has been quite busy as well, with
Darren Maunu handling most of that for us. We dropped Linkdata
later in 2005 as they failed to meet our expectations for
the quality service we expect for our clients.
We celebrated our 10th aniversary Feb 2, 2006. Thanks to everyone
who's supported us and trusted us to keep them up and running
over the years. In 2006 we also started carrying the MSI line
of quality notebook computers.
In
2007, with more and more people dropping their old PCs and
monitors off with us for disposal, we hooked up with the folks
at Electo-Shred to properly dispose of our customer's old
unwanted gear. Tim got a job with another firm in town that
allows him to use more of his high end technical skills but
will continue to run the web servers for us.
Feb
2nd, 2008. Hard to believe we've been in business for 12 years.
Thanks to everyone who's supported us all this time, you guys
are great and we really appreciate your business.
2008 - After four years with VAM, Matt Soligo left in August
and is on his way to the University of Toronto to study law.. Thanks for everything Matt, its been great to work
with you. Due to the increasing demand for our various services Brett Hill came onboard to help with onsite services and
Ian Coburn is our new web designer. This year we also achieved
gold reseller status with Startech (one of our major suppliers)
and we also recieved the Banner Reader's Choice Award for
best computer repair store in Dufferin County. Thanks for
voting for us.
2009
- Justin Somerville joined our team in spring on a part time
basis and we recieved The Banner Reader's Choice Award for
best computer repair store in Dufferin for the second year.
Thanks to everyone who voted for us. We also picked up the Renew line of remanufactured inkjet cartridges. Quite a bit cheaper than new cartridges with comparable print quality and they're also good for the environment. A win win all around.
2010 - As our web hosting, registartion and design business has continued to expand we've moved our hosting servers to a larger provider to allow for many more hosting features for our customers. |
