WALLINGFORD “” In more than 40 years, not all that much has really changed for a business that changes everyday.
Technology has trickled down to the vacuum cleaner business with new and improved models coming out all the time, making it a daily learning experience for Ed Magda, but customer service and providing a small-town-type shop has helped him avoid getting sucked up by bigger, more commercial stores.
Magda purchased Wallingford Sew and Vac 18 years ago. Even then it was a business that had survived two decades.
The long, narrow shop is full of vacuum cleaners and sewing machines”” modern flashy ones and older ones, classics, uprights, Singer sewing machines from the 1920s, belts, hoses, a variety of parts and everything else sew and vac.
“It doesn’t look it, but we’re very organized,” Magda said of his “low-tech” business. “We know what we’re doing; you don’t have to be high-tech to be organized.”
Many of the vacuums are tagged, either waiting to be picked up or waiting to be serviced, and of course in the corner is the “get-to” pile of machines that were donated because they are beyond repair or were retired by their owners. Eventually Magda will get to them.
“I pile them in the corner and when I start getting ticked off at some point, I start heaving them out. As long as I can walk I don’t care.”
In the back of the store, the organized clutter of tools and parts is all part of the process of fixing. Needle-nosed pliers, wrenches and a radio are close by, while other parts are piled up or hanging on the walls.
Magda got into the business after getting tired of selling vacuum cleaners door to door.
“I figured it was easier for people to come to me than me finding them,” Magda said. So about 20 years ago he purchased the shop when it was on Hall Avenue and later moved to the Quinnipiac Street location that he works from now.
“They do a good job,” Gloria Caballero said. She has lived in Wallingford for 20 years and was picking up a repaired sewing machine Thursday. Caballero said she comes to the shop for all of her vacuum supplies as well. “And they’re very nice; this is the place I always come to.”
Magda said his shop provides a service that customers don’t find at other places. The display case has piles of stuff on top of it, obstructing the view of what may be in there, but that doesn’t matter because he knows exactly what’s in the case, and has been since he moved from Hall Avenue.
“The nice thing about this business is, you walk in and say, “˜Do you have?’ And I go find it for you, you don’t have to look around for 45 minutes,” Magda said. “That’s the nice thing about an owner-operated store.”
Many small repair shops have had difficulty surviving, partly because of the nature of parts and products, according to Robin Wilson, president of the Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce.
“The philosophy nowadays is buy new,” Wilson said. “There are repair places out there but they’re larger. Some of the smaller mom and pop places have gone by the wayside; I’m not sure that’s a good thing, but it is a reality.”
Wilson said vacuum cleaners are one of the few things that people hold on to, and the fact that many parts are built overseas has made it difficult for smaller places to get them.
“It’s always nice to have the small places where you know the people,” she said.
As far as the machines go, it’s partly true that they don’t make ’em like they used to. Magda said the technology has made the vacuums perform better, though they require more maintenance and upkeep. New machines are made to last a certain amount of time so people will replace them with new machines, and for many, that’s just what they do.
“That holds true with everything, though, cameras, computers, cars,” he said. “Everything is made to throw away. Vacuums are cheap enough now, that people don’t want to fix them.”
The good ones are still out there, however, depending on how much money people spend and what models they decide on, which is another service Magda said his business provides “” helping people select the right machine for their cleaning needs.
“It’s not a high-volume business. You don’t need a place like this unless your machine breaks. It’s not like a pizza place,” Magda said. “It’s a dying trade, it’s not the type of business you can get rich on. It’s a service for people, but I enjoy it. I like to repair things. That’s basically it. If it’s worth fixing, we can repair it.”
>From record-jouranl.com by Christopher Symington