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Best Electronics Interview 

On Oct. 3. 2007 i visited Bradley Koda, the owner of  best Electronics, for an interview. Here you can read the full interview. Many thanks to Brad. 

To visit Best Electronics the great Atari Warehouse, click here: Best Electronics

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A = Andreas Bertelmann
B = Bradley Koda
======================================

Bradley Koda (Owner of Best Electronics) and Andreas Bertelmann (ABBUC webmaster) shaking hands in front of one of two Best Electronics warehouses

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3. Oct. 2007 - Best Electronics, Sunnyvale, Silicon Valley, California, USA

A: Hello Bradley, How are you?
B: Thank you, I'm fine.

A: I am very proud to be here and that you give me the time for an interview.
B: I am very glad too

A: I want to start with some personally questions

====== Personally
A: Best Electronics is well known in Germany as a very large supporter of Atari products. But the person behind Best Electronics is mainly unknown. How do you want to describe yourself? Have you a family? Are you married?
B: No, I am single.

A: Your hobby leaves not enough time?
B: My business is a fulltime job with all the travel in US and to Europe

A: How did your interests on Atari had started?
B: I will have to think about that. Well, many, many years ago, when I got out the college my first job here in Silicon Valley was with a plastic injection molding company called Wells Plastics. Their business supported Atari with plastic parts. We had 18 different injection molding machines running 5 days a week with three shifts. So I saw some of the many different parts that were made for Atari (we were only one of the 20 to 30 exclusive plastic molding companies that Atari used at that time). I asked one of the Wells Plastic Salesman to go to the Atari Company store in Sunnyvale .. buy me a 2600 for me. it was a new one for 225 dollars (Atari Employee cost at that time). I got the 2600 warranty card send it to Atari and I won a 400 Atari personal computer from Atari. That's what I started me with Atari. After this I saw they can not supply enough replacement parts so I started up buying a lot of surplus parts in Silicon Valley. Most of my first Atari Sales were at the Local Fleamarkets and user Computer Shows in Silicone Valley. One of these was called Computer Swap of America which I read that the Apple Guys Steve and Woz also sold or showed off their first Apple products at these shows.

A: When do you started your business?
B: It think it was 1982, in the early 80s.

A: Are you an Atari collector?
B: Yes

A: All parts of Atari or only Computer?
B: Yes All Atari consumer product they made. I also I collect all Atari full size Arcade machines. So far I have 55 or 56 Atari Arcade machines

A: How do you become as an Atari dealer? Comes it time by time and the business grows up or you said this is the point I started to be an Atari dealer?
B: Well, there was not an exact point in time where we to started as an atari dealer. I think it was when Best Electronics kept showing up at All of the US Atari shows they put on all over the US and we kept buying more and more Atari replacement parts from them.

A: What do you do in your free time?
B: (laughing) Which free time? I spend most of my time even weekends here at Best Electronics (it is something I enjoy doing even on my days off). - Sometimes I travel. Last weekend I was in Orange County, California, travel a lot to Las Vegas, I have some investment property in New Mexico and if I do have any extra free time, I spend it on repairing or rebuilding my Atari Arcade Machines. I have take some very old, well used and damaged Junker Atari Arcade Machines and restored then close to new condition. But with the new Airline security measures within the last 5 or 7 years it was impossible to do any more Atari trade shows in the US or Europe. When I did Atari Trade Shows all over the World my 3 to 4 suite cases (over the years went thru about 14 to 16 new suite cases, just wore them out or they got damaged by the Airlines) had 60 to 70 pounds full of Atari parts, items and many metal pieces, so you can imagine the problems I would now have with Airline Security checks if I was to start again going to Atari shows all over the World. I really enjoyed all of the Atari shows in Germany and the many friends I made at the Euro Atari trade shows. But the new Airline security rules are now so Strict I would never get thru all of the security checks and get thru customs without many problems. But I have always wanted to take several personal trips / Vacations back to Germany!


====== BEST Electronics
A: Is Best Electronics your main job or in addition?
B: When I first started I had a job for the first six or seven years I working in an military company in engineering. Now Best Electronics is my full time job.

A: How many employees do you have?
B: No, I am alone. The business is small, it can only support one person over the years.

A: Best Electronics is in Germany known as one of the last two known Atari dealers.
B: Yes I know. I get many Atari orders from Germany and UK

A: Many users ask the size of your warehouse. (part count, feet, qm, ...)
B: Basically this building is one of two Atari warehouses. It is approx. 2200-2300 square foot building but you can double that, since it has a second floor. Just like the Atari Warehouses in Sunnyvale, we have Atari products stacked right up the roof of the Warehouse. The other Atari warehouse has about 1000 square feet.

A: How looks a typical work day?
B: Well, I am work late at night. I start 1:30 pm and work about 10 hours a day. The first 3 to 4 hours are for answering emails and phone Calls

A: Who is your mainly costumer? (collectors, companies, repair shops....?)
B: A little of everything. Incoming calls of users with problems, I get dealer orders, inquiries, questions, technical support like "My 2600 is not working, what's going wrong?"

A: Is the 2600 system what the users ask mainly for?
B: No, but the 2600 is a portion of the sales. I would say around 15 to 20% of my business is for the 2600.

A: Which country was the farthest country away with an order?
B: I have shipped to Singapore, Taiwan, Egypt, Netherlands, Australia, South Africa, Canada. Where ever an Atari guy is, they find me.

A: Which is or was the rarest item that you offer?
B: I had to really thank about that one Andreas. The rarest Atari item we offer differs with the different Atari People / Collectors all over the World. Some that was common in the US Atari Market but never released in the rest of the world might be considered rare by a German or Euro Atari Collector Andreas. To an Atari 8 Bit Collector it might be one of the Never officially released Atari Products like the SX Express Atari Modem program by Keith Ledbetter or it could be one of the Atari 8 bit Collector Prototype Products pictured in the Best Rev. 10 Catalog (which is not for sale, but in my own Personal Atari Collection). I can give you examples for each of the different Atari product groups they made over the years, 400, 2600, 5200, 7800, ST Computer, Lynx and Jaguar product lines but that would take to long. So Each different Atari person has opinion of what he considers rare in the Atari World we still Sell Andreas.

In my 24+ year personal collection of Atari Goods and items, I do have a couple of Atari items that came out of the Atari Corporate Building (when we paid for the rights to buy out all of the Atari items in the Sales, Legal, Engineering, Proto Lab departments) that I consider the be the Crown Jewel of my Atari Collection. To a hard core Atari collector it would be the ultimate item(s) to have in their Atari collection, which are unique and one of kind in the world. I would tell you what they are Andreas, but then I would spend the next 5 to 10 years turning down many many offers from World Wide Atari Collectors, which I would rather not do at this time Andreas.

A: How many orders do you get per day and per year?
B: It has varied over the last 23+ years in the Atari Business Andreas. In the early years it was as low as 700 orders per year, at the height of sales it was over 1,200+ sales per year. This does not count all of the Atari Sales at the over 200+ Atari shows we have been to all over the US and Euro Atari Shows we have attended Andreas.

A: Do you have all replacement parts for Atari 8 bit computer on stock?
B: Sure. Just about Everything for all Atari 8 bit and ST Computer systems.

A: Will there be a digital version of your catalog available in the future?
B: Probably not.

A: Do you planned to throw items because of too high warehouse expenses?
B: No. Over the years I bought over 8000+ palettes out of the local Sunnyvale Atari warehouses here. The only time we do shrink down our Atari inventory is when we move into a new location / Warehouse. For example we may have 12 pallets (4 feet by 4 feet by 8 foot tall) of new in the box Atari XD121 Daisy Wheel printers, but can only sell about 3 to 7 pallets of them in the next 10 to 15 years.

A: Have you planned to build new hardware extensions (or replacement parts)?
B: It really depends on the demand. If it is like the Atari 5200 Joystick parts we ran out of several years go. We did go thru the high cost of having new injection Molds ($,$$$) made to make the Best Gold Series of Lifetime replacement Atari 5200 Joysticks parts made, because of the high demand for these parts. But certain Atari parts once they sell out they will pass into Atari history!

A: Which are today the most problems, trends and changes science the golden Atari-era?
B: Not really problems. Sometimes users did not find Best on internet. But we find we are getting more and more Atari Customers from people who have been burned on E-Bay and are looking for a the same working Atari item or need a replacement Atari part to get they bad E-Bay Atari product going again.

A: What do you think about the science of the retro-business? (related to consumers)
B: I see in last 10 to 15 years all the Atari people who grew up the Atari products are now adults and are getting back into Atari products. They want there new families to enjoy the Atari products that they used when they were growing up. But a lot of the Newer generation of up to 15 years old kids does not know Atari. They know Atari only for software. But their gaming machines today are Nintendo and Sony's. So in 20 to 25 years from now, they may also be into the retro movement and introduce there families to these generation of machines.

A: The shipping costs to Europe are very high. Which tips do you have to minimize the shipping costs?
B: The first thing is the different between the euro and the dollar. The second is to keep packages small and light. Long Items, like Keyboards requires a bigger box and more packaging materials, which means a heaver package, which means more shipping costs. Unlike other Mail order companies Best only charges what it costs us to ship your Atari order to you. We do not make any profit on the shipping charges. Surprisingly the most of our Atari orders to Germany the users want US Express Mail shipping. They pay more but its more secure and they get it faster.

A: On your website are some tips. What can we do to improve the communication, or what can the ABBUC do to help or improve? (Website: Subject Keywords etc.)
B: Primary use pure Text mail only. In your Subject Matter put the word "Atari" so our E-Mail Spam filter will not delete your E-mail to Best. Do not use any spam related ISP (Interviewer note: web.de, hotmail, gmx are known as spamming ISP) The second is, please do not add active content to your mails. (Interviewer note: web.de, hotmail, gmx appends active content to mails like GIF, javascript)
Additionally take a look at the BE website for Subject-hints for orders. Please check your own E-Mail Spam filter deleted file section (for E-Mails from Best). We do 100% respond to Every Atari E-Mail we get within one day or less. (Suggestion: Every question can be written in simply English sentence). Even if you have to use a German to English translation program that is OK with us. We have been receiving International Atari orders from all over the world for some 18+ years now and can respond to just around any Atari E-Mail, even if the English Translation is poor. We have run into some German ISP's who do not like (block E-Mails) our Best Electronics ISP because of volumes of SPAM E-Mails they receive from that company. If do not hear back from us within a couple of Working days, please try sending another E-Mail to us via a different ISP on your end.

======== Atari
A: Are you in former times an employee?
B: No. I have took only some tours to the assembly production line for the 2600 and many of Atari Warehouse and Corp. offices.

A: How did you experience the rise and fall of Atari?
B: It is hard to explain. For Best we have always found it an even flow. If the sales in the US are down, the International Atari Sales are usually up. So over the last 23 years in the Atari business have been steady for us.

A: Which three persons from the atari-era do you admire and why?
B: Nolan Bushnell is the number one and only so he had founded Atari and the gaming industry.

A: What do you think about the Tramiels?
B: They kept the Atari name going. But they did a lot of negative things to the industry too. They did build a lot of new Atari products and kept the Atari Brand name going all over the world (maybe more than the Original Atari did!). But like the original Atari, type did not support Their Atari Dealers and end users with replacement Atari parts they needed. So Best Electronics found it niche in the Atari Business all of these years.

A: What do you mean. Is the Atari of today the same Atari as in former times?
B: No. They use the name "Atari" but the company is completely different. The New Atari has been living off the reputation of the old Atari. They have made very little new Hardware, but have made money licensing the Atari name to different products. Why spend 100 Million dollars developing a new State of the Art Gaming or Computer system and go head to head with the big boys (Sony, Microsoft....), only to loose money on each an every one they sell and try to make a profit on the software and software licensing deals. When you can produce a CD game (cost U$D .50 cents) put the Atari name on it and sell it for $35 to $40. Which has the better profit margin and none of the headaches of a State of the art Gaming system?

A: Which changes do you whish to see at Atari today?
B: Very little. Customers try to contact the New Atari for problems with their old Atari hardware they end up referring them to Best.The New Atari does little support for their new Customers. We end up getting a lot of calls on their new software products problems and we can not even find a place on the Internet to refer them too.

A: Should Atari go back to the old times and produce consoles?
B: No. It is too expensive.

A: Which was the most important milestones for you in your life?
B: One was to start Shipping International Atari orders. Another was to Start to do International Atari trade shows and travel to Europe and the whole world.

A: Which are the most important targets for you in private and in your job?
B: For me and my business to make sure my customers are 100% happy. Atari Support and after the sale support is more important than sale. It is one of the many reasons why we have lasted in the Atari Business so long, is good Atari Support to our Atari Customers.

A: Which three things do you take to an lonely island?
B: (laughing) I think a laptop is important so I can read email and give our Atari support. Because I like to answering all of the different Atari questions we get.

A: Ok. But this is only one thing. What do you takes for your fun to the lonely island? (Of course you have a power plant on the island)
B: (laughing again) An interesting question. Probably my Atari collection, my Atari Arcade machines. I did not have any simple hobbies. Atari is my hobby and I am living my hobby.

A: Brad, thank you for the interview. I have really enjoyed it. I hope we see us again.

Andreas Bertelmann
(ABBUC Webmaster, www.abbuc.de)

 
A look into the Best Electronics warehouse

 
Another look into the Best Electronics warehouse

To visit Best electronics click here: Best Electronics

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