Our founder, Michael Ohren, and president, Julie Ohren, incorporated MacMan in late December 1993 and opened for business on January 3, 1994, after careful planning in their basement. The first office was small, about 12' by 20' off of West Clairemont in Eau Claire, WI. Prior to this, Mike was a certified Apple tech working at ComputerLand in Eau Claire, WI.​ "I traveled from La Crosse to Hayward and from Wausau to Hudson. I remember having a pager so clients could get ahold of me. ​I remember it well, taking out a small business loan against my truck. I never thought it would grow into what it is today, I was just going to be a Mac consultant." - Mike 

In the beginning, the business was focused primarily on supporting the printing and newspaper industries. Macs were the tools of choice for the graphic industry. During that first year, Mike was on the road a lot. Traveling from La Crosse to Hayward and from Wausau to Hudson fixing Macs, printers, and supporting Mac users. "It seemed like I was never in my office, so I moved the office into my home."

 

1995 - Mike had hair and Tianna started to learn computers.

Grand opening at the Hillcrest location. Over time, the business grew and Mike was doing more repairs and support for businesses and consumers. "I didn't have a storefront, so customers would drop off their computers on my doorstep. My living room was full of computers to service. Many of these customers are still customers today." - Mike

In 1996 while 2-year-old Tianna, Mike and Julie's daughter, was learning how to operate a Mac, Mike and Julie had a son Nicholas and Mike lost his office to his son! "I built an office and workshop in the basement to do repairs and support calls. I spent most of my time onsite working with customers, so my office hours were mainly at night." - Mike. This was also the timeframe when Apple authorized MacMan to sell Apple peripherals. Shortly thereafter MacMan became an Apple Authorized Value Added Reseller. With the increasing number of service needs, Mike reached out to Ken for help. Ken was a great help in the early days. 

It was about 1997 when the business moved into a small office suite at Heritage Plaza in Eau Claire. This allowed for Mike to hire employees, and it allowed for more room to service more Macs. It was in the Heritage office where MacMan became an Apple Specialist. After an expansion at this location, MacMan gained a small showroom to display Macintosh computers. "The iMac was a big hit!" - Mike

After six years at the plaza, MacMan moved to Altoona and opened an office on Hillcrest. This is where MacMan was able to have a larger service area and a small showroom. After six years this location was not enough, they needed more space. Later in 2009, MacMan moved to the Shoppes at Oakwood which is their current location.

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It was in 2008 when MacMan first started providing Digital Signage solutions. "The move in 2009 gave us a platform and the space to display multiple signage solutions." Mike spent 6 years serving on the Digital Signage Advisory Counsel for the world's largest distributor, Ingram Micro. 

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In 2017, Mike formed a business relationship with Jeff Van Duyn of Atmosphere North America and became the exclusive distributor of atmosphere-Healthcare and atmosphere-Hospitality for North America.

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In 2020, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, MacMan was there to support Apple users and did not shut down. Several customers from Minnesota traveled to Eau Claire to have their Apple devices serviced. ​

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Stay tuned for our next big change...

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"Our business grows through you, if you had a positive experience please tell your friends, if not, please tell me." - Mike Ohren