Road trip to 3 Sinclair Plaza in Nashua, NH USA

[bwinkel67]

When I was a kid, I would send my money there and got cool Sinclair stuff like my US ZX81, RAM pack, and eventually the ZX Printer. About 8 years later I bought my QL from a US re-seller in Mechanicsville, VA (Sharps), but the NH space was tied to Sinclair Research, Ltd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hkhuc6PEnM

I'm not sure if they used that space to sell any QLs, but they did introduce them into the US at the Boston Computer Society in May of 1984 at MIT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xss0bsf9N7c

I've pieced together a bit more of the history. Unfortunately I didn't have time to put it in the video as I had to get out for this AM and didn't think about the road trip until too late. I have read that the space may have been initially (1981/82) used as a warehouse and they perhaps subcontracted with a distributor.

Also, in the MIT video, Nigel Searle talks about the Boston offices, but I can't find an address. I did read that Nigel lived in the US so perhaps he had a permanent office for himself in Boston and Sinclair used the Nashua, NH space for storage and shipping. Timex stopped the TS1000 in sometime in 1983 from my recollection. I wonder when Sinclair shut down their NH space.

Edit: Btw, I find this video odd. Says it's recorded in October 1983 at the Park Plaza in Boston. Didn't Timex get out of the computer business earlier that year, or did they literally have this event and pull the plug a week or so later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBsxK2yLyGo

[vanpeebles]

Interesting watch, its nice to be able to see the actual location.

[Sparrowhawk]

I never knew that they had an office in the US, I just assumed Timex handled everything. Thanks for the video, very interesting

[bwinkel67]

So on a Mac forum people were contemplating contacting a Japanese company to ask about their failing early 90s LCD screens. Some were discouraged that the language barrier would be an issue. It was pointed out by several, including me, that likely the language barrier was the least of their concerns since no one left at the company likely was involved with that panel's design (and even if someone were, to talk about failure 30+ years later is a bit much).

It got me thinking though of Sinclair's QL location in my area considering Nashua, NH was their home when they first started their mail order business here. I came across this on timexsinclair.com which pointed me to archive.org. Looks like the Boston address for Sinclair in the mid-80s was:

Looking up the phone number, the new owner is a restaurant in Quincy Market in Boston:

https://faneuilhallmarketplace.com/go/jen-lai

I kinda want to call that number and ask about QL repairs

P.S. Mr. Charlie Day is immortalized on the internet archive for his interest in the QL back in 84.