The shop that took Apple's first order.
Byte was the world's first computer retail store, opened by Paul Terrell in Mountain View, California in 1975. A year later, two young engineers walked in with a wooden-cased prototype. He ordered 50. They were called Apple.
"I promised myself that one day I would bring this fabled brand back to the British high street, and create the best store and products in the world."
— The Owner, on revisiting the Byte Solihull Superstore from his childhood.A timeline you can actually verify.
Paul Terrell opens The Byte Shop on El Camino Real, Mountain View. It's the first time anyone has tried selling computers off a shop floor like books or records. Hobbyists drive in from across the Bay Area.
The Byte Shop, El Camino Real, Mountain View — 1975. The world's first computer retail store.Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak demo a wooden-cased prototype in the back of the shop. Terrell places a 50-unit order — the very first sale, the very first stockist, the order that funds Apple's launch.
The Apple 1 board. Wooden-cased prototype Jobs & Wozniak demoed at the back of the shop.The Byte name crosses the Atlantic. Sir Peter Rigby's Specialist Computer Holdings builds out a UK retail estate. Sir Terence Conran is brought in to redesign the logo and stores.
Sir Peter Rigby (left) and Sir Terence Conran (right) — the duo who brought Byte to Britain.A young boy visits the Byte Solihull Superstore with his dad. He spends the afternoon in the Byte Kids section — first computers, first games, first time on the internet. He never forgets it.
The Byte Kids section — the bit a small boy in Solihull, 1993, never forgot.Stores nationwide. The Solihull superstore is one of the flagships. Byte is on the high street the way HMV is — a name everyone recognises.
Byte storefront, 1996 — when Byte was Britain's largest computer retailer.One of the first British tech retailers online. People still mostly buy in store, but the seed of e-commerce is planted on the same domain you're reading this on.
byte.co.uk in 1997 — one of the first British tech retail sites.Stores are rebranded. The Byte name goes dormant for over two decades — but the Solihull boy remembers.
1998 — PC World buys Byte. The signs come down. The name goes quiet.That same boy — now grown, and an entrepreneur — buys the brand back. The promise made in 1993 is kept. The mission: bring Byte back to the British high street and build the best store and products in the world.
Byte today — the brand is back on the Solihull high street where it left off.Byte today is a single independent store at 353 Warwick Road, Dovehouse Parade, Solihull — five minutes from where that 1993 superstore stood. Refurbished iPhones, MacBooks, iPads, iMacs, repairs, Byte Originals, and Byte Kids. Still loving Apple. Still since 1975.
The cast of the Byte story.
Opened the world's first computer retail store on El Camino Real, Mountain View. Placed the order for 50 Apple 1 computers that paid for the parts and effectively launched Apple Computer.
Brought the Byte name to Britain through Specialist Computer Holdings. Built the UK retail estate that put Byte on high streets nationwide through the late 80s and 90s.
The legendary British designer behind Habitat. Redesigned the Byte logo and the look of the UK stores — including the Solihull superstore that left a permanent impression on a certain young customer.
Sir Peter Rigby and Sir Terence Conran — the people who put Byte on the British high street in the 1980s and 90s.
The smallest useful chunk of a computer.
In 1975 the word "byte" was hobbyist jargon — the unit you measured chips in, the title of the magazine you read on the train. Paul Terrell picked it because it sounded like the future, but felt human.
Fifty years later, we still like that. Byte is the small, honest unit. Not the megabyte, not the gigabyte. Just enough computer to be useful.
Best store. Best products. British high street.
That was the commitment in 2025, on the day Byte came back. It's still the brief today. One Apple-specialist shop in Solihull, doing the small things — refurb, repair, advice, coffee — uncommonly well.
Five minutes from the original Byte Solihull.
You can stand at our counter and be roughly where a small boy stood in 1993, learning what a computer was. We think that matters. Pull up a chair, we'll put the kettle on.