Wednesday, April 25, 2007
By Bill Wilson, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.

Ribbit Computers Branches Out

People need their computers repaired the same way they need their cars fixed: in a hurry. It's an idea that's been a master stroke for Alex Harb, who is opening Ribbit Computers' third Wichita store later this spring at 3433 N. Rock Road. Harb, who graduated from Wichita State University with a computer science degree in 2004, has a simple business model -- eliminate the lag time for made-to-order computers and computer repair by blanketing Wichita with his express service, much like an auto repair shop.

Simple, but effective. Ribbit did $70,000 in sales in the first six months after its December 2004 opening. It has done $1.7 million in the first four months of 2007.

"I thought this town needed a store that could repair a computer and get it back that day," Harb said.

Today, he sells new and used desktops and laptops and has a staff of 27 technicians to turn around repairs and special builds. Ribbit stocks more than a half-million dollars in computer parts.

Express service is where the industry has been headed for years, said Matt Whitfield, owner of Nexus Digital Solutions in Wichita, another computer repair-and-build service.

"Occasionally, you can run into a customer who can wait a week or so, but most of our clients need their computers back (the) same day," he said.

"We've been moving this way for years, but I'd say the customer demand for quick turnaround has increased tenfold over the last five years."

Harb's new east store will employ between six and eight people, offering the same express repair and sales services.

And there are more stores in the works in Derby and at 21st and Maize Road, he said, if the financials work.

Harb, a native of Lebanon, didn't take business classes at Wichita State. He didn't have to, since he grew up around his father's wholesale grocery business in Beirut.

"My mother's goal was for me to have weekends off, to have a regular life, but I'm more like my father," he said. "24/7. You find your passion and work at it."

That's a quality that entrepreneurship instructors try to teach at WSU, said Tim Pett, director of the college's Center for Entrepreneurship.

"We do a feasibility class that's exactly that," he said. "Match what you love to do with what the market demands."

And then never be satisfied, Harb said.

"I never thought this would happen," he said. "I can sit back and be proud. But you can't be satisfied because this business is a day-to-day thing."