Visionary gets upgrade (and Beats & watches)

LAKEVILLE — Visionary Computer has been visibly getting bigger and better. Last month, owner David Maffucci announced a major new improvement that might not be visible at first glance: Visionary is now the only independent retailer in the state that has earned Premier Partner status from Apple.

Maffucci started the company from his apartment in North Canaan when he was 23 years old, back in 1994. He later expanded his business to downtown Lakeville, using the Bissell Street office of The Lakeville Journal as a customer drop-off/pick-up location. His next step was to rent space in the building next door to The Journal; eventually, he bought his building.

Two years ago, he began plans to expand the space, adding on 1,800 feet to the original building so that Visionary now has 3,150 square feet of retail and office space — including special rooms for client consultations and for seminars on how to understand and use all that the new gear  that Apple offers.

“We want to show people how to get more out of the stuff they have,” Maffucci explained. 

The expansion helped Visionary to qualify for its new status as a Premier Partner. Happy customers of Visionary like to think that it’s also because of the high level of service that the staff provides to Mac users in the area who are looking for new products and for repairs to existing products. 

Premier Partner status allows Visionary to offer new products, too. 

“We can now sell Beats, the audio products line,” Maffucci said. “But more important than that, we can now sell the Apple watches.”

Anyone who wants to come and experience the expanded Visionary shop and learn about the new product lines should keep in mind that the entrance to the retail portion of the building is now on the longer side of the building; it’s not in the front, where it used to be. 

“We’ve got signs out directing people to the new entrance, but some of our clients still come in the old entrance out front,” Maffucci sighed.

Perhaps a new Apple watch with GPS can be helpful … 

Visionary is at 29 Bissell St. in Lakeville. The store is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The website is at www.visionarycomputer.net.