Did the TI help kill Dhein's?

[Omega-TI]

Over the years, people have been buying NOS TI hardware off of Ebay from a couple of guys that bought the stock from the shuttered Dhein's True Value hardware store, sometimes at grossly exaggerated prices.  My question is, was the mans huge investment in TI stock one of the reasons for the company going out of business when TI abandoned everyone and the prices crashed to the point the man could not sell his stock and recoup his investment?

 

[Airshack]

Certainly an interesting question. I would like to track down the family to find the answer. Maybe Zach, that fellow who purchased the store lot knows?

[Airshack]

My big question is how did all of that hardware end up in such a remote location as Waterloo, Iowa? 
 

Dhines was some regional distribution center apparently. How? 
 

Why didn’t the original owner liquidate it to then file for losses on his taxes? 
 

It’s an amazing haul for Zach. Good for him! People get in a huff over his prices but he’s simply selling items at what he can get.

I paid $49 for a NOS E/A package which was Unobtanium elsewhere. They’re down to $39 now. Was kind of fun to open a pristine 1980s sealed package.

 

He probably sold the NOS PEBs for less than he could have. 

[+Ksarul]

I used to buy stuff from Dhein's when they were still a going concern. He was active in the market until 1986 or so--and then he shut everything down when he retired. He owned the building where the store/warehouse was located, so he just locked the door one day and put a closed sign on the door. When he passed away, his heirs opened the place up and put everything in there up for auction. Zach and at least two others (one of whom is related to him), apparently pooled their funds and bought up the entire stock of old computer stuff. I've bought items from three different sellers (including Zach) with items from that haul. Prices were a bit lower at the beginning of the sales run (actually pretty close to market), but increased slowly over time. He eventually went too high, so the prices are starting to move back down again. I'm just glad that these things were saved and sold back into the community and not landfilled. . .

[Andrewmacattack]

Had a PM from Zach a few weeks back, asking if I or someone I knew would be interested in buying large order or all of his inventory. 

I was honest and told him that the amount Zach has would be very difficult to sell, asked for inventory list and pictures, declined. How could I possibly consider his offer without knowing what stock he has to offer. 

I spoke to a friend of mine which buys warehouse stock, would he consider it, not unless he knows exactly what's on offer. 

Since those messages Zach only replied to one of my messages. 

I can see in the near future most of his stock either gathering a lot of dust, or landfill. 

[+OLD CS1]

Back when he was selling stuff hot and heavy he and I conversed about me picking up some of his inventory, as well.  I was interested in some of it but communications stopped.  I invited him here and to the Faire several times.  Like you, I am concerned a lot of his stock is going to languish and he might have paid too much for it given the prices he is asking and the lack of sold items.

[+Ksarul]

The real issue there is that he has an over-inflated opinion on the general value of things TI. Our community is small--and that keeps demand relatively low. Low demand won't support high prices, especially since most of the people who really want the items and are willing to pay his prices already have them now. The market is saturated. Anything he has left is worth a low-end wholesale buy in the range of prices towards the end of a store going-out-of-business sale, not top dollar prices--and this becomes even more the case when there is no inventory listing to base a buy on.

[Airshack]

3 hours ago, Ksarul said:

... especially since most of the people who really want the items and are willing to pay his prices already have them now... 

   Back in early 1997 Zach told me he had "so much TI stuff I don't even know what's in there." He added, "I wish I had someone knowledgable on TI to come visit Waterloo to help me figure out what all I have." He never offered payment for such a trip so I ignored his statement. My take away from that conversation was that he had very little idea of what it was he was selling. He asked me what an Assembler/Editor was for, etc. The final thing he said that made me want to go up there and snoop around was, "After a few years of selling I've only sold maybe 5% of everything TI related in the lot." Wow. Safe to say there's a lot of NOS remaining.

[Omega-TI]

My motto is, "make an offer", if they really want to deal, they'll settle for a reasonable price... that is if they really want to get rid of stuff.  If not, they can hold on to it forever.  He's right, the community is relatively small, the majority of us already have most things we want and many people have already died off, so the nostalgia is not so strong for this computer with younger people.  Many of us are not dedicated collectors, and much of the stuff is freely downloadable for the non-collector types.   

[+dhe]

Another way to do this would be find out how many folks would be willing to pitch in towards the haul - maybe from 250 - a couple of thousand.

Then all the stuff could be listed and they could put their invested $$$ towards purchase?

[+Vorticon]

1 hour ago, dhe said:

Another way to do this would be find out how many folks would be willing to pitch in towards the haul - maybe from 250 - a couple of thousand.

Then all the stuff could be listed and they could put their invested $$$ towards purchase?

This actually gives me an idea: let's create a purchasing group, pool equal share funds and purchase the whole lot then divide it equally amongst all. If the inventory is relatively large and we have say 20 or 30 shareholders, the personal financial outlay could be fairly minimal. Now to find someone to organize it all, and that would likely be a full time job!

[+OLD CS1]

IF you can get an inventory from him in the first place.

[Omega-TI]

6 hours ago, Vorticon said:

This actually gives me an idea: let's create a purchasing group, pool equal share funds and purchase the whole lot then divide it equally amongst all. If the inventory is relatively large and we have say 20 or 30 shareholders, the personal financial outlay could be fairly minimal. Now to find someone to organize it all, and that would likely be a full time job!

Sounds good at first thought, but then I started figuring, how much stuff is there really?  I certainly have no room to store a few hundred duplicates of different TI items I do not need.  I cannot imagine paying to freight all that stuff to a local storage facility where I would have to pay to hold the stuff for years, dumping even more money down a rabbit hole to hold on to it.  I agree with Ksarul, blow it out at discount prices and be done with it, limit any tax liability that may exist, save on storage expenses, etc.

[Rachel Bradford Wershow]

Mr. Dhein is not dead, and the "heirs" are currently sitting around on Facebook laughing at the misinformation.

[+OLD CS1]

8 hours ago, Rachel Bradford Wershow said:

Mr. Dhein is not dead, and the "heirs" are currently sitting around on Facebook laughing at the misinformation.

Nice first post.  Was your point to refute information presented in this thread, or just shit-post?

[Omega-TI]

7 hours ago, Rachel Bradford Wershow said:

Mr. Dhein is not dead, and the "heirs" are currently sitting around on Facebook laughing at the misinformation.

I have no reason to doubt the poster as he's pretty much one of the resident experts here, and with no evidence to the contrary to ever to suggest otherwise...

 

Now, if Mr. Dhein is truly still alive, and one 'assumes' a retirement age of say, 62 years, from 1986, adding 34 years to that would put the gentleman at the ripe old age of 96 years, which would be a good run indeed!  

 

Are they really 'currently laughing' at a three month old post?  If true, and they are 'currently laughing', why now, what precipitated this 'current' situation to an old post?

 

The TI community has always had good feelings towards that hardware store, as it's part of TI history and many of us own stuff that once resided there.  I'm sure most of us here would welcome someone from the family chiming in to correct any so-called misinformation.

 

No offense intended, but honestly, one snarky post from an unknown new user on their first post does not really carry much weight.  I'm sure you understand.  

[retiredqwest]

On 3/4/2020 at 10:05 AM, Rachel Bradford Wershow said:

Mr. Dhein is not dead.....

she's right..... Darrly David Dhein is 83 and probably still alive. Don't know about his health.

 

He opened the store in 1974 per an article in the local newspaper. Dec 2013 there are 2 ads for Corn Belt Auctions for the entire store. The TI stuff looked to be a drop in a bucket in the listing.

 

And 'A Ace Computer' is/was also a Dhein business in Waterloo.

[+OLD CS1]

Any links to this information?  Would be nice to have them for perpetuity.

[+sixersfan105]

1 hour ago, retiredqwest said:

Darrly David Dhein is 83 and probably still alive.

Indeed:  https://www.fastpeoplesearch.com/name/darrly-david-dhein_waterloo-ia

 

Looks like his parents might have spelled his name wrong on the birth certificate, as he goes by Darryl. Looks like there's a phone number on there, too, if anyone wants to chat with him!

 

 

I looked further into the Corn Belt Auctions lead that @retiredqwest mentioned and came across a mention of an auction ad in the February 16, 2014 edition of The Courier (a local Waterloo, IA newspaper). The ad appeared on page E10 of the paper. I'm not about to pay for access, but I was able to get "text only" for free, and the ad was as follows (TI mentions in bold):

 

Dhein’s Hardware Monday Feb. 18, 2014 - 3:00 p.m. 3520 Lafayette Rd. Evansdale, IA 319.233.9258 www.CornbeltAuctions.com CORNBELT AUCTIONS Dheins New Old Stock : WICO Joystick command controls; TI games; Monarch Marking #1623 Dial-a-Pricer; 6 volt Battery Fencer-Model # TT-68; Deadbolts, Door Lock Sets; Mailboxes; & more. Coins : 1877 Seated Dime; Proof Sets inc. Royal Canadian Proofs; 1872 3 cent nickel; 1854 ½ cent; 1879-S, 1879-O ,1880 Morgan Dollars; 1935, 1935-S, 1926, 1922 Peace Dollars; 1990 Ike; 1950’s Roosevelt dimes; 1935, 1941, 1942 Walking Liberty’s; 1992 Columbus Coin; Type Coins; 1852 Large Cent; 1874 Indian head penny & more. Collectibles : Large selection of cameras, projectors; Beer Lights; Crystal Dolphin, Eggs & more; Large Eagle Sculptures, Black Bear Sculptures; Elephant Sculpture; Wood carved Water Buffalo etc.; Jewelry ; Watches; Medallions inc. John Deere 90th. Anniv.; #3 Redwing Crock; #5 Western Crock; Beehive Jug; Bronze Sculpture inc. Frederic Remington “Bronco Buster” w/COA; Pewtergures; Furniture : Chest Drawers; Drop front Desk; Curio; Rocker; Drop leaf table & chairs; Cedar Chest; Hall tree; China hutch; Singer treadle Sewing Machine; Emerson HDTV TV w/remote & more; Tools & Misc . Garden Groom Pro Hedge trimmer; Remington cordless Power M-WER 60V Mower; Yard tool caddy; Yard Machine 5HP 21” snow blower & more.; Special Mention : Jazzy Select 14XL Power Chair; Smith & Wesson & Harrington & Richardson .38 revolver.