Graphics Zone Plans 12 Showrooms in U.S.

The Graphix Zone, a desktop publishing and computer graphics sales and service center, said Wednesday that it has moved its headquarters showroom here and that it has plans for 12 showroom-stores across the country.

The company shut its prototype showroom within the Computer City Supercenter store in Garden Grove and moved to the new location to be closer to its corporate clientele, said Angela Aber, vice president of marketing at the firm.

Graphix Zone, co-owned by former AST Research Inc. managers Aber and Chuck Cortright, provides services in desktop publishing, presentation graphics, computer-aided design and multimedia computer services.

Aber said the company expects to open three or four stores on the West Coast in 1991 and an additional eight stores nationwide by the middle of 1993. She said the Garden Grove test location was successful, generating a first-year gross margin of three times the industry average.

The flagship Irvine store will be at 38 Corporate Park, close to the intersection of Jamboree Boulevard and the San Diego (I-405) Freeway.

The showroom will feature a demonstration area, like those at trade shows, in which customers can try out software products from dozens of manufacturers or rent computer time. The showroom will also feature a large service bureau and a theaterlike seminar area for corporate presentations.

“In just one year, Graphix Zone has proven that a reseller focused on high-end graphics--with a value-added mind-set and an emphasis on graphics training and services--can achieve growth rates considerably higher than those of typical storefront dealers,” said Rick Inatome, chairman and president of Inacomp Computer Centers Inc. in Troy, Mich.

Inacomp, a co-investor with Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corp. in the Stanton-based Computer City Supercenters chain, will provide products and equipment to the Graphix Zone showroom stores, Aber said.

Mike Rusert, executive vice president of Computer City Supercenters, said his chain still expects to open 20 to 25 superstores within three to five years. However, he said the stores will not include the Graphix Zone as a tenant, mainly because of the Graphix Zone’s high-end corporate clientele.