TOWN OF ULSTER – Peter Fabiano, who got his start with Electrolux as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman said he’s been the butt of jokes.
But after 25 years with the company and a recent promotion to regional vice president, he admits “It’s turned out to be a great career.”
“Now they look at me a whole lot differently, with my success in the business, ” said Fabiano.
“It’s certainly not glamorous,” he said. “Back then I was stupid enough to listen and smart enough to follow.”
Fabiano joined Electrolux after answering a “blind ad” in the Freeman in June, 1980. It promised the opportunity to earn up to $180 per week, but didn’t say for what. An interview was scheduled for a Monday morning on Broadway in Kingston and when he drove by Friday night with his future wife, now Colleen Fabiano, he couldn’t find the storefront. “I see it as an omen,” he said. “If I had, I would have talked myself out of it by Monday.”
When he found the shop, Fabiano said he sat in his car for 20 minutes debating whether or not to go inside. “I thought maybe they had a stock job,” he said.
Electrolux came to American markets from Sweden, in 1924 and broke off in 1968, purchased by Sarah Lee. In recent years it’s been privately-owned and more than 500 stores have been converted into franchises. Fabiano said the company’s sales force peaked in the 1980s with close to 700 shops.
Fabiano owns four: one in Ulster County’s Kings Mall, others in Middletown, New Windsor and Poughkeepsie. He employs about 20 people between them.
Competitors include other direct-sell companies like Kirby and Rainbow, he said. But soon the name Electrolux will appear in retail stores, alongside models made by Hoover and others.
Rights to use the Electrolux name were sold to the Swedish manufacturer, and “Aerus,” was added to the American company’s name. “If you see it in Sears, or WalMart, it’s … not what your mother or grandmother had,” said Fabiano. The American company will drop “Electrolux” from its name by 2025.
Aerus Electrolux vacuums sell for between $799.00 and $1,999.00, with warranties up to 25 years. “You’ll pay a little bit more. But in the long-run, it’ll last longer, clean better and be easier to use,” said Fabiano, citing features from gear-drives to sealed hepa technology, that sound as much like a sales pitch as a credible argument for his machines’ superiority.
In his Kings Mall shop, Fabiano has installed a display of old Electrolux machines going back nearly to the beginning. “I’m looking for the 1924 model. The only one I don’t have, the model 5,” he said.
Aerus has introduced a line of air purifiers and will launch a water purification line too, along with services like heating ventilation and air-conditioning duct cleaning. Fabiano still offers pick up and delivery for warranty service and supplies at no extra charge, and Aerus also now services other makes of vacuums.
Today Fabiano’s gross revenue is about $1.6 million annually, all stores combined.
“I’m probably one of the highest achievers in the company.” he said.
From The Dailyfreeman