They Don't Stew, They Fix

By Kenneth Li, New York Daily News, August 3, 1997

Stepping inside Tekserve - David Lerner and Dick Demenus' bustling Macintosh repair haven in Chelsea - is like wandering down a hazy techno memory lane.

After being greeted by the familiar Macintosh startup chime upon entering, you're encouraged to pop a dime into what's got to be the city's last 10-cent-a-bottle Coke dispenser and kick back on their Norman Rockwell wood swing while you wait for your ailing Mac to be operated on.

But Lerner sees it a little differently.

"It's like 'ER,' " he said as he surveyed heaps of ailing Macs. Lerner, 43, presides over his techie minions like the chief surgeon in this part-graveyard, part-factory of gutted laptops and green circuit boards.

Lerner and Demenus, 53, have built their lives on Apple, a company that has hit decidedly hard times but one that may yet be on its way back.

But as they beam their boyish grins to all the frantic students, frazzled businessmen, rock stars and myriad celebrities who come to be rescued, it's obvious that the company's troubles have done nothing to diminish their steely resolve to administer to sick Macs.

"It's upsetting to us," Lerner said of the company's myriad ups and downs. "Because the products are so good... To me, it's just a lot of bad press."

Starting together in an electronic gadget design firm in 1979, the two electronic engineers first began fixing their own Macs out of necessity. "Our Macs started failing and it was too expensive to fix them, so we thought we could do it ourselves," Lerner said.

Their realization that they were handy in fixing Macs led them to start Tekserve in 1987. Since then, their business of carry-in hardware rescue has remained brisk and grown beyond their expectations. There are few other repair services specializing in Macs in the city, but Tekserve is the leader in Apple triage services.

Over the years, they kept expanding, moving first from a friend's loft to roomier digs, then to their current 6,000-square-foot home at 155 W. 23rd St.

The original intent to keep their own computers in working order has now swelled to a 25-person staff tinkering six days a week with over 100 of everyone else's beloved computers. They now also sell hardware and accessories.

But if more and more Macs are breaking down, wouldn't that be grist for the doomsday rumor mill?

"No!" boomed Lerner. "That just means there are more of them out there."

"And unlike PCs (where a 286 is completely worthless) many people are still using older Macs and who will fix them rather than buy a new one. Mac has a longer useful life than PCs."

And if they have any say in the matter, even the oldest models will last forever.

Despite appearances, Tekserve isn't a rest home for retired Macs. It's just a quick truck stop on their road to being reborn.

Copyright © 1997 New York Daily News. All rights reserved.