Tim Malone, MCSE (818) 257-0513 tim@3tcm.net
Retail Store Manager Mar 80 to Jun 81
ComputerMart
of California, a Micro Computer retail store in
Retail Store Manager for one of the first
Apple dealerships in
I had purchased my first computer system from Dave Glawson, the owner of this retail microcomputer store, one
of the first in
In
those early days of microcomputers there was not much pre-packaged software and
very little of it was business software.
Microcomputers were not yet considered business machines and were
marketed more towards hobbyists, enthusiasts and gamers. Software came on cassette tape and was sold
in baggies. If someone wanted software
to run their business, they had to write it themselves or contract someone else
to do it. At one time I had nearly a half-dozen
contracts going but could only work on one or two of them at a time so I
sub-contracted the others out.
I
enjoyed my work in the store and enjoyed helping customers learn what the Apple
II+ computer could offer them. I was
somewhat of an expert on the machine since I spent so much of my time figuring
out what it could do and programming it.
I was already a BASIC programmer and understood business programming
since I had written mainframe and mini-computer business applications at the
City of
I did a lot of outside consulting with customers that I met
through the store. I delivered dozens of
systems, set them up, installed software and configured the software the way
the customer wanted. I was able to work
with the latest technology, including daisy-wheel printers (laser printers
weren’t out yet), large capacity 8” floppy disk drives and
As the store manager I was in charge of seeing that the
store was staffed and that orders for equipment and supplies were filled in a
timely manner. When the Epson MX-80
dot-matrix printer came out, we would sell dozens each week. I spent many an hour waiting at the will-call
dock of Micro-D, the exclusive dealer for Epson printers at that time. With Dave’s encouragement, I started one of
the first Apple computer clubs in
In the picture above right, Dave stands in front of the store in the Diamond Bar K-Mart shopping center. That’s my car in front. I think we had just received a shipment of computers and had just finished putting them away. We were preparing for a Computer Club meeting that evening where we had a full house. In the picture below Dave, Cynthia (our Apple rep) and one of our best customers and member of the club set up an Apple for display at the local home and garden show. We did a lot of shows in those days and most of them brought in a lot of new customers.
Because
I was enjoying my work so much, I was hesitant to leave a year later when I was
contacted by a search agency but the financial deal was too attractive to pass
up. Delphi Systems
was looking for someone with my background and it was a good career move to
move into a more professional environment.
The Apple III had just been announced but Apple still wasn’t quite
making inroads into the business world like they had hoped. The ‘real’ systems in those days ran CP/M on
the S-100 bus. The top-of-the-line Apple
systems we sold were under $5,000. The
multi-user Altos systems we sold at
I enjoyed my year at ComputerMart and kept a working business relationship with Dave since I still had some contracts that I was finishing up for our mutual customers. Even after two years Dave continued to try to get me to come back to work for him, wanting me to take over the store completely. He eventually sold the store and went to work for Apple Computer for 16 years. He started ClubNet in 1995, an ISP in Diamond Bar, and sold it just last year. ComputerMart still thrives today as MicroAge of DiamondBar. I went back there after nearly 20 years to get my MCSE training.
This
online resume can be reached at http://3tcm.net
or https://3tcm.com