What’s Become of the Sinclair-Timex Retail Network

The retailing network for Sinclair-Timex products in Boston is in a shambles. For months now users have been asking the user group about where to buy Timex products and what Timex is doing about the situation. I’ve known for a while about the problem, but didn’t realized how bad it was until I looked into it.

In the Boston area, there seem to be only a couple of places that are carrying the Timex line: Manufacturer’s Marketplace in West Roxbury and Shermans on Bromfield Street in the downtown. Reportedly, the products are still available at some Sears and Service Merchandise stores. I’ve not been able to confirm this.

What Seems to Be the Problem Here?

Working from a list obtained through the Timex toll-free support number, I started calling stores to find out if they had the stuff, and if not, why. The Timex list, by the way, only contained one of the places that I found actually selling the products. It did contain the name of Star Market. Star Market is a supermarket chain. According to a person I contacted at the main office, Star Market “does not now, nor ever has sold any Timex products.” However, Timex did say that the list “wasn’t up to date.”

Timex seems to have given up on finding retail stores to sell the printer paper. The first thing they did when I asked about the printer was to refer me to a mail-order address. Pardon the commentary, but I thought Timex got into this thing so we wouldn’t have to deal with mail order any more!

Following is what I learned from the stores I contacted. Except where noted, I spoke to the sales people. The views are theirs and not necessarily those of their employer.

The Video Connection, which used to be one of the best sources of Sinclair-Timex products and information, has only a little software left. They are trying to sell out what’s left. According to the salesman, “we are discontinuing…, there’s not a hell of a lot of market in ’em. No one’s interested.”

A clerk at Bradlees told me that they were only temporarily out, and that “we expect to be getting more.” But a different clerk said that “everything’s been sent back to (Timex’) warehouse.”

Tech HiFi said they decided to discontinue because the computers “have become a price football. You can pick them up everywhere for below our cost, so it’s no sense for us to try to sell them.”

Medi Mart reported that they had a few left, but “we’re not too happy with it. We’ve had lots of returns. It didn’t do what people wanted it to.” This was a common response. Medi Mart said many customers were hopelessly discouraged by the save/load and RAM-pack wobble problems and return their computers thinking they were broken.

At Zayres, a local discount department store, the story was: “We sent them back about a month and a half ago. They weren’t selling. The VIC-20 is cheaper and better.”

Markline cited “price competition” as their reason for discontinuing the line.

All was not negative. The Harvard Coop said they had sent back the T/S 1000s in anticipation of the arrival of the “new Sinclair computer, soon.”

One Retailer’s Analysis

Karen Levitt of The Bit Bucket, a computer store in Newton, seems to have given this all a lot of thought. “When it (the T/S 1000) first came out it was very viable, with the VIC-20 at $200. But now the retailer has zero margin.” The cost of after-sale support, she explained, is usually built into the profit margin of a product. But when retailers are only making a couple of dollars profit on a product, they can’t afford to spend time answering a lot of questions.

“We want to support our customers,” Ms. Levitt continued, “but, with the Timex computer, we couldn’t afford to. So we discontinued.” She said that the buyer of a Sinclair-Timex computer now is “flushing $40 down the toilet because there’s no support for the machine. To make matters worse, this computer requires the most support of any on the market. The buyers must realize that they’re on their own.”

I asked Ms. Levitt if The Bit Bucket heard any complaint from Timex or the distributor when they discontinued the product line? “Nope, not a word. And, as for us, we felt a sense of relief. We didn’t have to turn away questioners anymore.” She volunteered, “Your user group is the best thing going for the computer. It’s the only place they (the consumer) can get the support they need.”

Ms. Levitt said that The Bit Bucket didn’t expect to carry the T/S 2000 Series computers when they come out. She felt there was “almost no hope” for a revival of the Timex computer as a widely distributed product line.

More in Sadness Than in Anger

I don’t think there is “no hope,” but I do think that things must change soon. The competition is fierce and the stakes are high. I believe in the Sinclair-Timex computer design and philosophy. It has a legitimate and valuable place in the personal computing community. But, if people can’t buy them or get supplies for them, they will go elsewhere. I hope that the user community will not let this happen. Speak to your local retailer and encourage them to carry the product. They may not realize how popular it is, nor that many of the initial problems have been dealt with. One user in Oklahoma City has done just that with some success. Also, contact Timex and let them know that you love their computers but hate their marketing and they’d better get it in gear soon.

Not everyone is as cynical as I am about the situation. Seth McEvoy of the Compuserve Sinclair-Timex special interest group says, “I’m not so sure that the real situation is bleak. At least not for those who are willing to take a chance. I think that the computer field right now is in a panic over Atari’s and TI’s losses.” He continued, “I don’t think that Timex is dead when we have Sync, Timex/Sinclair User, and Syntax–three very lively magazines. After all there are what–two million Timex’ in the world? Maybe three…. It is up to the programmers to write good programs. I believe if good ones are written someone will find a way to get them into enough hands. I am confident about the future of Timex.”

Maybe in the final analysis a computer system must be supported not only by its manufacturer, but by its users. If we want, we can make a big contribution to the future of Sinclair-Timex computing in the U.S., but we’ve got to get involved.