Color Tile¹ was a chain of small retail stores that was based in Fort Worth TX. In 1995 it had over six hundred stores. The IT Department, which already owned AS/400’s, contacted Doug Pease² about using AdDept for its advertising department, which was quite small compared to the ones for department stores. Doug and I flew to DFW, rented a car, and drove to Fort Worth to demonstrate the AdDept system and to talk with the employees in the advertising department.

The presentation went very well. I sent them a proposal and a contract. They signed and sent TSI a deposit. Shortly thereafter I flew back to Texas and installed the system on an AS/400 in the company’s data center.

I could find no notes from the time that I spent at Color Tile. I only found the photo at the left when I was looking through my Tandy photos.

Throughout the installation I only worked with a couple of people in Color Tile’s advertising department, and I don’t remember their names. The guy insisted on taking me to lunch at a real Mexican restaurant. He said that he wanted to prove that eating Mexican food need not require spending excess time in the men’s room an hour later. Mexican food never affected me that way, but I definitely enjoyed the meal with him.

The woman was very excited about the progress that had been made in just a few months. However, the company declared bankruptcy in January of 1996 and was liquidated a little more than a year later. Later she was hired by RadioShack (described here) and worked with the AdDept system for several years.

Fortunately, Color Tile owed TSI very little when they entered bankruptcy. In the end the company left all of its vendors high and dry.

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1. The retailer Color Tile, Inc. should not be confused with Colortile, a brand of floor covering that was still in existence in 2023. The confusion is enhanced by the fact that Colortile’s signage often splits its name into two words.

2. Much more can be read about Doug here and in most of the entries for AdDept clients.