After a nearly 10-year run — the last six in Sequim — Glenn and Kecia Gilliam are looking for a new operating system for MacTraders.
With the couple both pursing other business and career interests, the Sequim business at 334 W. Washington St. is up for sale, Glenn Gilliam said last week.
“We would love to find new owners who love helping people,” he said.
The husband and wife team expanded their successful used computer refurbish, resale and repair business near Salt Lake City, Utah, established in 2010, to local Apple aficionados in 2014.
Now Glenn Gilliam said he’s focusing on Smile Productions, his new video and audio production venture that helps individuals and families record their stories, while his wife is into a new human resources job on the peninsula.
In addition, the couple has two school-aged children at home to look after.
“I’m largely taking the parent (role), at least during the day,” Glenn Gilliam said. “It’s just too much for us. The time is right.”
And while the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t cause the Gilliams to consider selling the business, Glenn said it certainly sped up the process. With the tax year coming to a close, he said the timing was right.
MacTraders closed to any new repairs on Nov. 13. At this point the Gilliams will be wrapping up any outstanding projects, though they will honor any warranties customers have when the Gilliams step away from MacTraders.
“Were not going anywhere.”
Glenn Gilliam got into Mac products in 2008 to record music while Kecia said in a 2014 interview that she grew up in a “techie family where we’d sit around and compare our computers.”
The Gilliams saw a market need for buying and selling used Macs in Utah, so they bought an existing business and watched it blossom.
“I believe Apple products are the most stable and simplest to use and are of top quality,” Glenn said in that 2014 interview.
“I believe they’re right for people who want their stuff to work.”
Glenn was familiar with the Olympic Peninsula: his father and stepmother are long-term residents, and he earned an associate degree from Peninsula College in the 1990s.
The Gilliams saw a market need on the peninsula several years ago and jumped at the chance.
Since then, they’ve had the chance to connect with a client base from youths up to age 100.
“MacTraders has been a tremendous blessing to us,” Glenn said.
“Everybody can learn. The greatest joy I’ve had is to help people with the technology challenges they’ve had.”
Along with refurbishing computers themselves and selling Apple products from iPads to iPhones and various accessories, the Gilliams sought to educate users with the basics of Apple Macs and iPads via group classes at the store or in one-on-one sessions.
One of his favorite memories with a client was helping an elderly couple connect via an iPad, with one at home and the other in the hospital.
Not every job is smooth sailing, Glenn noted.
“There are people who lose their cool with technology,” he said. “I’ve always liked that people leave our (business) helped but also feeling that they’ve been treated with respect.”
Gilliam said he’d love to see someone else take the reigns at MacTraders. The situation is good with a solid customer base, point-of-sale equipment and good reputation.
“People need computers more than ever,” he said.
“I know there’s a need for it. I think there’s always going to be a need or a local source for help with technology.”
For more information about MacTraders, see www.mactraders.net.
For more about Smile Productions, see www.smileproductions.com.
