Apple specialist CityMac opens in The Forum

By Jenny Callison

Wilmington is about to get a local version of an Apple Store.

CityMac Apple Specialist has announced the opening of its store at The Forum Lifestyle Center Friday, with a ribbon cutting ceremony scheduled at 2 p.m. next Tuesday as part of its grand opening. The store will carry Apple products, including computers, iPads, iPods and accessories.

Like the corporate-run Apple Stores, CityMac will also offer iPad, iPhone and Mac classes as well as Apple-certified repair services, the release stated.

CityMac, owned by Jim and Neely Neu, serves as Apple’s licensee for the Carolinas -- meaning the firm has been approved by the California-based retailer to sell its products and repair various Apple products regardless of where a person originally purchased the equipment. Repairs can be done to products still under warranty or out of warranty, said CityMac COO Kevin Trivett.

“We have to go through a lot of certifications to become authorized,” he said. “All of my sales staff are Apple-certified; our repair tech is Apple-certified. There’s very little we can’t do in-house, except for the iPhone, which is Apple’s baby, and they tend to keep a tight rein on repairs to it.”

The Wilmington store, at 1121-A Military Cutoff Rd., will be CityMac’s fourth location in the Carolinas. The company currently operates two stores in Asheville and its flagship store in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Trivett said.

“CityMac is known as an apple specialist. We’ve been in business 28 years, and we’re how Apple got its start – through local distributors,” he explained. “Apple came to Jim [Neu] and his dad, who had a computer store, and said, ‘Do you think you can sell this little box?’ It was all PCs back then.

“Within a year, Jim and his dad decided they were just going to sell Macs. We’ve grown and become one of Apple’s premier specialists, and we think we’re going to do well in Wilmington.”

Trivett said that CityMac looks for smaller metro regions that Apple is unlikely to consider for an Apple Store.

“[Apple] has a population density standard because of  its business model. We prefer more of down-home relationship with our customers,” he said.

Trivett said that Rich Anderson is the general manager of CityMac’s Wilmington store.