Dawghaus Computers serves local PC needs

From a corner alcove in Rathdrum’s Super 1 Foods, Dave and Susann Draper’s business embodies the spirit of a small town mom-and-pop shop.

However, surrounded by hard drives, flat-panel monitors and disassembled towers, the couple, owners and operators of Dawghaus Computers, break that business mold as the kind of folks who can upgrade a PC while their customers shop around the corner.

“We’re a mom-and-pop business,” said Susann Draper, who along with her husband, Dave, and two other partners opened the PC service five years ago. “They can get a memory upgrade while they shop for groceries, and that’s handy for people.”

Over the last few years, the couple have repaired, refurbished and built many computers in their tucked-away shop, while also having saved hundreds of precious data documents for many grateful customers. The computer store’s services includes everything from tune-ups, which cost about $50, and repairs for laptops and desktops, to custom-ordered machines and recycled older models that come with a two-year warranty. They also are a distributor for the high-speed point-to-point Internet access provided by J & R Electronics in town.

Since taking up residence in the grocer’s former storage area in 2003, Dawghaus Computers has built a client base of more than 2,000 through business practices that bring to mind similar small-town, locally owned shops. One computer repair, overhaul or new purchase at a time, Dawghaus has kept a steady business beat through the years, while a handful of other computer shops have come and gone.

The Drapers, who moved from California to North Idaho to work for the local school district before their entrepreneurial turn toward electronics, set out from the start to distinguish their PC-only store at a time when the North Prairie area lacked anything comparable. “You couldn’t get parts here, so we said ‘You know, there needs to be a computer store,’ ” Susann Draper recalled.

Through fair prices, a willingness to work with the customers on payment options and one-on-one contact instead of technical support from someone based half-way around the world, the two-person team at Dawghaus, which occasionally expands with a college intern, provides nearly all the same services as its big-box counterparts. However, as the owners with no higher-ups to consult, the Drapers can more easily adapt to meet the needs of the local market.

“Honestly, it’s a lower economy base here, so our prices reflect that,” Susann Draper said. “We bend to meet their budget.”

Added her husband: “The most important thing is customer service; you’ve got to take care of the customer … You work with people, such as with free tech support, which I don’t mind. As long as it’s just time, and I don’t have to put money in for parts, I don’t mind.”

In that regard, Dawghaus Computers provides free upgrades to several local churches and tries to recycle as many computers as possible, piecing together once-broken and derelict machines for customers in order to reduce electronic waste.

For Dawghaus its loyal customers, the shop has as much in common with a coffee house as it does an electronics store. It’s not uncommon to catch people chatting up the owners on everything from operating systems to current events.

That openness is what first attracted John Zeazeas to Dawghaus Computers almost five years ago. As a retired Coeur d’Alene resident, Zeazeas combed the area for a reliable computer repair shop before he found the Drapers. Their personal approach was a refreshing blast from a bygone era, when the local economy depended more on a nexus of neighbors and neighborhoods rather than today’s world-wide marketplace.

“It’s extremely rare,” Zeazeas explained about the Draper’s commitment to their customers. “They are honest and forthright with me. I haven’t had a single bad experience. (Dave) does what he says he’s going to do at the price he said he’d do it.”

Zeazeas added that he doesn’t mind a farther commute to Rathdrum to solve the various hardware and software issues he’s encountered through the years. “I’m willing to do that, because basically it boils down to integrity. It’s a simple word, but it has a lot of meaning … It’s comforting to know somebody that I can take things to and trust.”