Atari Computer Demonstration Center! (Store Kiosk)

[Clark Otodus]

Hello Everyone, Clark here, back again with another amazing piece of Atari display history!
For almost a year I have been waiting patiently to be able to share with you all my latest and greatest pickup; the Atari Computer Demonstration Center!

 

Strap in, cause I've got a lot to say!

As a lot of you might already know, I love Atari! I also love vintage computers, and have amassed a sizable collection over many years, most of which I have accumulated from going to recycling centers, Facebook, garage sales, and saving systems of all kinds. Eventually I wanted to share some of my more interesting finds with the world, so around 6 years ago I attended my first convention ever; VCFMW. I decided to go all out, despite having never seen or experienced a convention before, and became an exhibitor on my first time even though I didn't know what to do. Luckily things went smoothly, and while there I joined a local Atari computer group (the Suburban Chicago Atarians) as I already was such a huge Atari fanboy and bit of an Atari collector. From then on I would exhibit my personal Atari computer and display items alongside selling all my extra vintage computer and video game related items.

 

As my collection grew, so did my exhibits. In 2023 I was fortunate enough to exhibit my fully restored Atari 2600 kiosk at VCF, which was badly damaged from sitting in an abandoned home in a flooded basement. (See my other post about that!) Just a few months after the convention, something I have been searching for (even before I first attended VCF) popped up randomly in a few Facebook groups. The full size Atari Computer kiosk, dirty but covered in factory wrap. For me, this is the perfect kiosk as it is what I collect most, and it is what both my only hobbies revolve around most (Video game displays, and vintage computers). Not knowing if it was for sale, I contacted the owner and gave my offer. After a few weeks and a lot of back and forth/difficulties, we finally secured a deal. I almost immediately booked a flight with my stepdad and we flew out to North Carolina, rented a one way truck, and drove this beautiful beast (after meeting the seller and seeing his awesome collection) back home to Chicago!

 

This display has been an extraordinarily expensive purchase for me personally, in terms of both cost and effort to find/retrieve. Though, in the end I think it was worth it, as I now get to finally show it off and exhibit it at VCFMW this year in 2024! I still had to do a handful of extensive repairs, including rewiring the entire kiosk to replace the lights, ballasts, artwork, and a handful of other missing pieces. I have also put a lot into cleaning this display up, slowly removing the most difficult adhesive with industrial chemicals and repainting all the scratched off paint. I am a bit of a perfectionist, and I think I have done well! All I need now is the original artwork I am missing on either side of the TV as the photos I have been kindly given aren't quality enough for my restoration standards, so if anyone happens to have really good scans of the original artwork for this kiosk then please let me know!

 

Originally this kiosk was meant to be displayed in a Woolworth, although the store owner never ended up installing it, and instead it sat in his garage, like new with the wrap still on the sides, and must have been used as a workbench and storage cabinet. The owner also had an Atari 2600 kiosk, which was used in the store for x amount of years. This kiosk was made for the Atari 400 and 800 computers, and could be seen in a handful of different stores in the early 80's.

 

Again, I am so thankful to finally own this beautiful display, and thank you to everyone in the community for the support in my endeavors! Hopefully there will be many more cool items to share again in the future, but for now here is my latest grail added to the collection! (Check out my other posts to see my other displays!)

A final note is that if you have any Atari (or other) store display or promotional items you wish to sell, please think of me first! I don't have a ton of money (ESPECIALLY after this purchase) but I'm always looking for fun and interesting bits of video game and vintage Computing history to both collect for myself and exhibit/share with others!

[+Allan]

Very nice.

[djglish]

Clark

 

It was great being able to see it in person this past weekend.  You can tell that it was a labor of love.

 

Do you have any plans to bring it up to my neck of the woods for the Midwest Gaming Classic this spring?

 

Dave

AKA "Atari Guy"

[Clark Otodus]

35 minutes ago, djglish said:

Clark

 

It was great being able to see it in person this past weekend.  You can tell that it was a labor of love.

 

Do you have any plans to bring it up to my neck of the woods for the Midwest Gaming Classic this spring?

 

Dave

AKA "Atari Guy"

Hello Dave, thank you for reaching out and even more so being able to appreciate this kiosk in person! I would love to bring it to more events, although it really is the biggest of hassles to move around! It is extremely heavy and has been difficult even on my young back. I have just finished moving it back into the basement, which took about two hours to do too, haha. I also don't have a truck or trailer big enough for this display, so I have to rent. It honestly may be a few years until I bring this particular display to another event.

 

Just because I don't want to bring this one doesn't mean I don't have other display stuff to show off! MGC is quite expensive for me personally, but I would love to exhibit there sometime. I will say that I have plans of exhibiting another (smaller) Atari display which I have at VGA in October! I plan to have a very similar setup as I did at Illinois Game Con back in June.

 

I am actively searching for more original Atari kiosks, signs, and store displays to exhibit at future conventions, as well add to my personal collection and restore/preserve. For any of the displays I currently have I am glad to share any information I can if people need it, I do no gatekeeping! So if anyone has any Atari display items they would like to sell me (ideally for an affordably cheap price, haha), then definitely let me know!

 

Some more specific items I'm looking for include:

- Small (Sears?) Atari Computer Demonstration Center kiosk

- Atari Computer and/or Game Systems countertop displays

- Atari Lynx kiosk

- Atari Hotz

- Atari Music

- Atari Falcon/TT/Mega STE/Stacy systems (too expensive)

- Parker Brothers/iMagic Atari 2600 kiosk

- ANY Atari XE/XEGS display stuff??

- Similar era displays (ex: Vectrex Kiosk, Commodore 64/VIC-20 Kiosk, etc)

- Atari Service Center Banner

 

[+Stephen]

Excellent work on that kiosk - I got several photos of it.  I do not envy you having to transport and set that thing up!

[+Stephen]

14 hours ago, djglish said:

Clark

 

It was great being able to see it in person this past weekend.  You can tell that it was a labor of love.

 

Do you have any plans to bring it up to my neck of the woods for the Midwest Gaming Classic this spring?

 

Dave

AKA "Atari Guy"

Nice meeting you this past weekend - almost a shame the show has grown so large, I barely had time for the 2 days to walk away from my table.

[djglish]

I had the same problem.  I'm loosely associated with the Wisconsin Computer Club group so they were able to give me a few breaks and one of the guys from my local group came up on Saturday and gave me a break.  By then I was getting overwhelmed with it all.  My brain doesn't believe my body when tries to remind it that I'm 68 years old now.

[Tillek]

1 hour ago, djglish said:

I had the same problem.  I'm loosely associated with the Wisconsin Computer Club group so they were able to give me a few breaks and one of the guys from my local group came up on Saturday and gave me a break.  By then I was getting overwhelmed with it all.  My brain doesn't believe my body when tries to remind it that I'm 68 years old now.

Maybe we can request to be neighbors next year... While we might not be able to cover sales, we can at least take contact info (like a cell #) and text the person when you get back (or work something else out).

 

I kinda felt stuck at the table myself... but a lot of that was more about it being hard on my legs to watch so much... the guys did a great job of covering for me when I did feel the need to wander out.

 

Next year I intend to spend more $$$$... this year I was a (mostly) good boy.

 

[+Stephen]

I didn't spend a penny on anything except food.  I guess it's because I took SO much with me to show, there was not an extra inch of room in the rental SUV, so I couldn't take anything home with me.

[Tillek]

1 hour ago, Stephen said:

I didn't spend a penny on anything except food.  I guess it's because I took SO much with me to show, there was not an extra inch of room in the rental SUV, so I couldn't take anything home with me.

Well, there were two things I did buy.... one was a SupraModem that I wish I had found on Friday and put on the table all weekend.... Found a place to sneak that in.... but yeah, I get it... the Cherokee was pretty stuffed this year.

 

And an accelerator for my Falcon... couldn't play the "no space in the car" card for something that got fitted internally to my Falcon.  Bought it from Power Of Vintage and he was great about letting me put it in the Falcon to make sure it worked first before doing the deal... can't beat that.

 

Going to post some pics of my "nekkid" Falcon and her new "augmentation".

 

[Forrest]

The Atari Kiosk looks great! Thanks for your efforts and sharing your story and the pictures.