Computer Plus

Computer Plus advertisement from the February 1982 issue of 80 Microcomputing
Anyone who subscribed to TRS-80 magazines such as 80 Micro or The Rainbow will probably remember the advertisements for Computer Plus of Littleton, Massachusetts. They ran advertisements (usually full-page) for almost the entire life of the TRS-80 line. What they sold were Radio Shack computers and other hardware at prices lower than Radio Shack sold them itself.
For example, in 1984, Radio Shack sold a TRS-80 Model 4 with two floppy drives for $1,999.00. Computer Plus sold it for $1,699.00. A 16K Color Computer 2 that cost $159.95 at Radio Shack, cost $135.00 at Computer Plus. A 24K Model 100 cost $999.00 at Radio Shack and $835.00 at Computer Plus. Not only that, but only purchasers who lived in Massachusetts had to pay the state sales tax.
So how did Computer Plus do it? Stephen B. Gray talked about this in his “TRS-80 Strings” column in the July 1982 issue of Creative Computing, referring to companies “offering TRS-80 computers at considerably less than the prices listed in the Radio Shack catalogs”:
No they’re not Radio Shack stores, these places in small towns in Massachusetts, Michigan, Georgia and elsewhere that advertise these cut-rate prices. That is, they are not owned by the Fort Worth-based company. They are franchised dealers in towns that Radio Shack considers too small to support a regular Radio Shack store. There seems to be about two “dealer and franchise locations in the USA” for every three USA-company stores.
Unlike some companies that bought computers from Radio Shack and then modified them heavily (such as those computers called “Muscle Micros”), Computer Plus was an actual franchised Radio Shack dealer. This meant that any computer bought from Computer Plus was brand new with a full warranty from Radio Shack. But as a franchisee with lower overhead than company stores, Computer Plus could set their own prices for products:
A Radio Shack company-owned store isn’t supposed to sell you a TRS-80 at less than catalog price, or the manager is in trouble, as I understand it. But a franchised Radio Shack dealer, sometimes called a “Radio Shack authorized dealer,” can sell a TRS-80 for any price he chooses, even for less than it costs him.

Computer Plus advertisement from the January 1992 issue of The Rainbow
Why did Radio Shack allow franchise stores like Computer Plus to undercut them on prices though mail order? Stephen Gray also talked about this:
Note that Radio Shack makes the same profit whether, for example, a PC-2 is sold by a dealer for $240 or by a company owned store for $280. Also, it’s easier for Radio Shack to ship twenty TRS-80 computers to a dealer than two or three to a company-owned Radio Shack store…
Although the products featured in the Computer Plus advertisements changed over the years, the style of their advertisements remained about the same. They outlasted all of the glossy TRS-80 magazines and remained as a Radio Shack franchise for many years.