Ahhh. remember when......

[eureka1998]

Huskyvacs

How true this is. You can't even go into a store now without mistaking everything else for Shark or Dyson. And even then, the Hoovers, Bissells, and ESPECIALLY Eurekas have sort of went down? There wasn't many Hoovers the last time I went to Target. Vacuum stores and thrift stores are sadly the only places that serve as a sort of time capsule of what once was. Don't get me wrong, Shark sometimes comes out with a cool vacuum that peaks my interest, but at the same time it feels like our choices in new products is being limited, and most don't care.

 

[eureka1998]

For instance....

The Maytag Hoover era was filled with quirks and flaws but the innovation was still there and genuine. No 2 products from the brand were the same. Windtunnels, Elites, Fold Aways, Twin Chambers, V2s. Bissell had Powerforce, PowerPartner, Healthy Home, Velocity etc. What does Shark have? Powered lift Rotator and Navigator, or non powered Rotator or Navigator. The literal only difference being an electric hose and the shape of the bin. It's sad.

 

[superocd]

"modern" vacs didn't catch my eye that much

When I was a kid. Even before, I knew that the kinds of vacuums sold in stores like Walmart or Target weren't as good as my all-time favorite, the Sanitaire commercial upright that the custodian used in my grade school and in most hotels at the time. I never heard of a Royal until I started collecting and Kirby, to me, was a Mercedes-Benz of vacuums—nice, quality, but expensive.

In fact, a lot of other appliances didn't really catch my eye. I had a good idea that they weren't as good as they were before I came along. My grandma had a Kenmore direct drive washer and dryer set from the late 80s, from what I was told, right up until she passed in 2011, with no problems or repairs. Meanwhile, my 2015 LG-built Kenmore front load, which I bought new, died a couple months ago and had to be replaced due to a leaking bearing seal which could not be repaired due to the outer tub being plastiwelded together.

In the summer retreat my family went to, the Hobart-built KitchenAid in the kitchen just felt better built, sounded better built than what Lowes or Home Depot offered ca. mid-late 2000s. Our much newer Maytag DW from a big-box store back home couldn't compare to the build quality of the KA.

 

[eurekaprince]

Sears was such a great store in which you could always see a huge selection of cleaners - even from Kenmore’s competitors! I remember visiting a Sears in suburban Detroit in 1990 or 1991 and they had a great display of lots of Eurekas! They really allowed you to “test drive״ as much as you wanted, and I was ecstatic to finally play with an Express power nozzle connected to a beautiful Aero canister. It really DID “sweep you off your feet”!!!

 

[dysonman1]

When vacuum departments looked like this.

 

[durango159]

That wasn't the absolute best vacuum market but I'd gladly revert back to the era of the first 3 photos over what we have now!! I'd love to have Sears back too!

 

[eureka1998]

Durango159

Agreed that it wasn't the best, but there is no doubt all those in the 3 photos were built and probably worked somewhat better despite filter issues. Nothing at the time beat any of those Windtunnel platforms airflow wise.

 

[mark40511]

In my hometown in NC there were two dept stores called "Roses" and "Sky City" that I vaguely remember having good selections. There was a very small "Sears" store but if you wanted to go to a real Sears or K-Mart store you had to go to Asheville and Asheville Mall... which we did pretty frequently.. I remember one of the Asheville K-Marts had a huge Indian statue on the side of a hill you would drive up to get to the K-Mart parking lot that used to freak me and my brother out because of it's sheer size... it wasn't associated with K-Mart but with a nearby car dealership next to K-Mart (but we always associated it with K-Mart). I had to look it up and a not surprised me sees that it's been removed because of being "offensive" to some
"

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article212441919.html

 

[human]

I worked for Tuesday Morning (now out of business) from 2009-2015, and we used to sell overstock Bissell and Hoover plasticrap vacs like that. We'd unbox one for demos and to vacuum the entry rugs at the end of the day. Sometimes, we'd have one that came with a turbo brush, and I'd use it to vacuum myself off after working in the rugs section, to get rid of those irritating fibers. Others started following my lead on that. I'm sure it was an amusing sight for the customers, but nobody ever told us not to do it.

Rose's is still around in N.C., but it's a shadow of its former self. They overextended themselves in the early '90s, went bankrupt and closed up most of their stores in the middle of the decade. They were eventually purchased by the parent company of Maxway and G.C. Murphy, which brought the brand back in the early 2000s as a lower-tier discount retailer, more along the lines of Dollar General.

I love the photo in reply #23. Is it just me, or does the guy on the left, with the bow tie, look just like Pee-Wee Herman?

 

[lokisdads]

Ah remember when..

@mark40511

Hello fellow Asheville native. I enjoyed your post. The huge Indian statue you mentioned was Chief Pontiac at Harry's Caddillac-Pontiac (now a Buick dealership same family). It was actually up on the hill behind a Sky City store. I was the advertising coordinator for Sky City stores in the mid-80's, and was able to get to get a couple of new vacuums that were advertising samples. One was the orange Hoover floating celebrity style and the other was a Celebrity QS with power nozzle(sorry don't recall model numbers). I remember going to(and later buying) many vacuums from the Asheville Mall Sears. Another fond memory I have is sitting on my mom's Compact C-2 , and her pulling me around on it. That was the beginning of my fascination with vacuums.