The original Apple reseller is closing its doors

If you paid $1,698 for an Apple II with 16K of RAM back in 1977, there's a good chance you bought it from Team Electronics in Minneapolis. 

Now called FirstTech, the retailer has announced that it'll shut down at the end of the month after 73 years in business, laying off 75 employees in the process. It first encountered Apple at the historic 1977 West Coast Computer Faire and expressed strong interest in the pre-production Apple II. 

Since it was a chain at the time, future Apple CEO Mike Markkula personally flew to Minnesota with the fifth production model and signed it up as the first ever US dealer.

FirstTech stuck with Apple through better or worse for the next 37 years, but found it couldn't compete with aggressive vendors and Apple's own stores. Luckily, it seems to have kept a lot of crazy and valuable early items.

Source: Engadget