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101 Main St.

Sterling, Co. 80751

970.522.6834

During Business Hours

Mon - Fri: 9AM - 5PM

SAT: 10AM -4P

"This flippin' computer is driving me CRAZY!"

OUR STORY

One Day in 1997 Terry was having some sort of problem with windows for workgroups. He called a local computer store to ask their advice, and they told him: “We don’t give advice over the phone, bring it in and we’ll fix it for you. It will be $79.00 to put it on the bench  and $45.00 an hour to fix it.” His comment to that was “That’s not right! I’m going to give you a run for your money!” That was probably the official start To Terry’s Computer Asylum.

Through the years computers have always intrigued Terry and so confident there wasn’t any problem he couldn’t figure out somehow,  he started Terry’s Computer Asylum. Nestled in his garage Terry began building his small computer repair business. His first computer was an old HP touchscreen all-in-one (the screen and everything was all built together). There was no Hard Drive, just 2x floppy drives and a bay in the top for a thermal printer. The thermal printer wasn’t included so Terry just kept the cords in there. He couldn’t do anything with the computer though because he had no disks for the machine and no clue where to get them.

At the time Terry was a truck driver and used to pick up loads from an HP warehouse and deliver them all over the country. One day he was near the HP corporate headquarters and decided if anyone could help him surely they could. Terry carried that old HP computer into the lobby and sat it down on a coffee table. The receptionist kindly asked if she could help him. He shifted his cowboy hat a little and said “Can’t get this darn thing to turn on”. Baffled, the receptionist replied “Sir, we’re not a tech support facility, we’re the Corporate Office.” Terry retorted “Surely there’s gotta be someone here that knows something about this!” The receptionist hesitated briefly before she responded “Hold on!” as she went to the back.

A little time later she returned with two nice gentlemen wearing very nice suits. They both had a little smirk on their faces when one of them stated “Can we help you sir?” Very simply Terry replied “Can’t get this darn thing to turn on!”

One of the gentlemen then opened the top of the machine where Terry had been storing the cords and began removing them, plugging them in one-by-one. Terry piped up in an ornery tone saying “What’s them for?” This of course made the gentlemen giggle a bit before one of them said “To plug it in!” While scratch’in his head Terry quipped “Plug it in? I thought it was all battery operated or somethin’!” Needless to say both of those gentlemen got a pretty good laugh out of that. About an hour later Terry walked out of the HP Headquarters with a box full of disks with all kinds of different programs.

Terry originally started his business as “Terry’s Computer.” Shortly after that he decided to change the name of the business to “Carousel Computer” in tribute to the Dowis family name. Terry’s family has been involved in the carnival business since the turn of the Century.

Then one day Terry had his head in his hands and was completely frustrated. His daughter happened to walk by and saw him like this and asked “Dad! What’s the matter?” Terry responded with “This flippin’ computer is driving me CRAZY!”

“Well!” His daughter said, “you should call it Terry’s Computer Asylum then!” and from that day forward the name stuck and Terry continued to build his business into what you know today.

On, August, 1, 2000 Terry took all of his customers from his garage business and opened his store front at 101 S. Division Ave. which was across from Lewis Grain at the time. Today this building is still there and is located across from Walgreens. Town Square realty is located there.

In 2003 Terry moved to his current location at 101 Main St., on the corner of Main and Front. Terry has maintained the same phone number of 970.522.6834 for over 23 years throughout numerous moves, switches and upgrades.

The TCA (Terry’s Computer Asylum) motto is “Your User-Friendly Computer Store!”

COVID-19

CORONA
VIRUS

2020
HOME PICKUP & DELIVERY

Until further notice Terry’s Computer Asylum will be offering a pickup and delivery service FREE OF CHARGE. This service will be available within 15 miles of TCA. We can pickup your machine from your porch or wherever you wish, bring it to our shop, repair it and bring it back to you. We’ll also disinfect your machine while we have it.We accept all major credit cards as a form of payment and you can pay over the phone or in person. CALL US TODAY at 970.522.6834! OR fill out the form.