Best Electronics offers a unique and startlingly extensive range of genuine Atari parts, the result of proprietor Bradley Koda's canny purchases of warehouses full of then-worthless gear during the company's decline and demise. But for the enthusiastic buyer, Vice reports, he is a "temperamental dragon" guarding a hoard, happy to have it all and in no rush whatsoever to part with it: Don't Piss Off Bradley, the Parts Seller Keeping Atari Machines Alive.
Among Atari fans, Best is almost as famous for ignoring and blacklisting badly behaved customers as it is for selling Atari parts. A first attempt to buy from Best Electronics is a sink-or-swim proposition: learn the rules, or accept your fate. Every purchase from Best Electronics requires personal interaction with Koda [who] complains bitterly when made to write up more than two invoices for a single buyer. … Koda will not handle large orders [but] will not accept PayPal orders under $50. Failure to find a happy medium quickly enough can scuttle a sale.
But if you do enter the dragon's favor, it will be delivered in a box with genuine vintage Atari packing tape. How's that for service, decades after the fact!
