Vacuum department experiences?

[fan-of-fans]

What have been your favorite experiences in the vacuum department or vacuum shop?

Mine would probably be when I got to visit the vacuum shop as a kid.

My favorite department store to look at vacuums in now is Sears, they have the most selection, and it's fun to see what vacuums are on clearance. I also like to see which bagless ones have dust in them. But the funny thing is I never really see anyone demoing them, or in that department really. My favorite time there was when I was looking at the canisters and Owl City Fireflies was playing.

 

[n0oxy]

vacuum departments

Sears has some interesting models, of course they have the Kenmore along with a few other brands. I don't bother looking at the vacuums at Walmart or Target, all they have are uprights and I'm a canister person, and the brands they have are junk, Hoover, Bissell, etc. Hoover was very good at one time, but those days are gone. At the home improvement stores, it's interesting to check out their wet dry vacs.

 

[kenkart]

I Remember going to

The big Belk's store in downtown Charlotte with my Mother and Aunt in the 70s, I always went to the vacuum department, they carried darn near everything Hoover made, I remember all the Constellations and Dial a Matics, the salesman was nice to me, which was rare back then.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

As a child, I loved looking at all of the Hoovers

at "The Boston Store". They were all so clean and shiny. no scratches. THen, "The Globe Store" in Scranton had a great display, too. Once a month, they's have a "Warehouse sale"...showing all kinds of things at reduced prices.
THere was a great Hoover store in /wilkes-Barre, Gnall Jones, now deceased. He was great, and was very 'animated'. He had a Hoover bag cleaner. He'd pick up and deliver your machine. A great guy.

John.

 

[adam-aussie-vac]

Godfreys Vacuum Cleaners

my favorite vacuum cleaner memory was the lovey lady at the local vacuum shop giving me my now prized hoover celebrity
(as i used to help out there and make visits to see the trade-ins and show them my collection) them the woman said to me we would rather have old vacuums go to a vacuum collector than to the rubbish tip.

 

[human]

The only time I remember going to a vacuum shop that did repairs was in about 1995 when I lived in Greenville, N.C. and rescued a nice Eureka upright from beside the dumpster. It was missing the sole plate and the lady at the shop was very pleasant and offered to order me one for $27. I didn't buy it and ended up donating the vacuum cleaner, but remember it as a positive experience nonetheless.

Fast forward a few years to Sears at Hanes Mall in Winston-Salem, N.C., where the saleswoman did a superbly slick sales job on she who was then my fiancee and is now ex-wife. In about ten minutes' time, she had that woman totally convinced that her life just wouldn't be complete without a $375 Kenmore Progressive canister--and guess whose Sears MasterCard it went on. I guess I should be thankful a Kirby salesman never came to the door.

I wish I had never laid eyes on that turd of an over-priced cheapo plasticrap vacuum cleaner--or the woman I married, but that's another rant altogether. That sick joke of a machine started falling apart within eight months. Sears did fix it the first time, but then the one year warranty ran out and I had to buy the parts--from Sears, of course--to fix it the second time. Then I finally wised up and left her and that sorry vacuum cleaner before it broke the third time.

The ironic thing was we got that POS to replace her Electrolux Discovery II upright. It probably just needed a new brush roll but she wouldn't have even entertained the thought of looking into that. If there was a reasonably affordable solution and a ridiculously expensive solution, she'd go for the most costly one every time on the theory that it had to be superior by virtue of its larger price tag.

 

[compactc9guy]

My memories was a at least 10 years ago they had a old thrift shop filled whit old vacuum cleaner heaven to me . I must say haha .They had a electrolux e 2000 i unclog the hose put a new bag and it purrs back to life sold it to a old man needing a cheap cleaner .Id get trades in for free or small fee .Id go in spend my summer there fixing the vacuum or hang in out trying old vacs no one said a thing i told em i was a collector odd ball lat first but finally i had found a place to explore old vacuum cleaner .They were really nice to me .God i miss that place old vacuum the smell of old books filled the air aah a paradise for young me 16 or 17 at the time . Playing whit old vacs told jokes an even sold a few there to was really nice .i remember one time i had got my hands on this old ,hoover quick broom stick vac whit hose bag less work great after i unclog the unit .kept it fora few years until the bearing went out .Was a wonderfull time and place i miss it to this day

 

[tolivac]

Human-what vac place was that you went to-The Vacuum Cleaner Hospital?Was a GREAT place-the owner Bill died of Leukemia and the woman may have been Mitch his wife.She is a wonderful person and see her now and then.She donated many things to me from the Former Vacuum Cleaner Hospital.They were a Royal,Riccar dealer.I helpted Bill clean out his shop for the last time before he went to the hospital.Now I visit the Greenville Sew&Vac place and like Mike the onwer very much.He saves machines for me he gets on trade.He has what he calls the "Rex" pile There is a Pfaff sewing machine in the pile I am going to buy.Vintage condition-1222 model beleive it is-like new and sews well.The orig owner didn't want it repaired.Had to replace the stitch cam.Was a JOB!helpted Mike on that.I am getting it for the cost of the parts.Was traded in to a Jukie machine.For awhile there was Mikes place and Bills place-visited each one on days off-got most machines in my collection from those places.Remember Bills "shop" cat named Kirby-customers loved him as well.Bill found him as a kitten outside his place one day and Kirby stayed with him!Both died at about the same time.

 

[delaneymeegan]

1980-81 Sears store

 


 


 


I was like 12 and I saw the Kenmore vacuum I wanted in a weekly sales ad from the news paper.  It was 2nd or 3rd from TOL.  My parents agreed to buy it for  me if I paid them back over time.  


 


When we got to Sears, they didn't have any of the model I showed the sales clerk, but he agreed to sell us a TOL for the same price, which I believe was $299.  I really had my heart set on the one in the ad, but I settled for the TOL.


 


A year later, we would be back to buy a smaller canister for $97+/-, without a power nozzle, after selling the TOL to our neighbor.


 


The pictures show a Sears Vac dept. in late 1982 as they are changing over stock.  So you see some of the older stock which is what one would have seen in 80 to 81.  The second picture shows a similar model to what I wanted.  The only difference is there was no wood grain on top, it was just almond with white bumper.



http://https//youtu.be/FTRCFKmQKiE

 

[reliablevacuum]

I never set foot in a vacuum store until I got into the cleaning business. Then I was in one about once a month. For a few years I worked part time at Sears in the vacuum department while my cleaning business was getting up and running.

Now, 7 years later, I started a vacuum store!! I love the business and the opportunity to do things the big box stores cannot do.

 

[fan-of-fans]

Wow, that canister in the picture with the big Sale sign on it looks just like the one my mother had. She bought it in 1982 or 83, and it was still going in 1999 when she replaced it with one of the last flat-body Whispertone canisters.

Before that one she had an avocado green one from the 70s, but I don't have any memories of it other than we still had the attachments for it.

We don't have a Target here, but I don't look much at the vacuums at Walmart either, although the one here does have a few Eureka canisters now. Kmart's selection is surprisingly not bad, but it's mostly just a scaled down assortment of what Sears has.

I never knew Belk used to sell vacuums!

 

[floor-a-matic]

Was that Sears store from the Southwyck Mall in Toledo OH? Brings me childhood memories

My favorite Sears was Findlay Village Mall in Findlay OH or Montgomery Wards at NorthTowne Square Mall in Toledo OH

But when I was a kid my parents wouldnt buy a new vac or let me play with the vacs at either Sears or MW. Until they bought a new Electrolux hose at Sweeper World when I got to try out a Rainbow D3

 

[delaneymeegan]

 


Those pics could be nearly any mall based Sears back then.


 


I got my vacs at Brookfield Square in Brookfield, WI.  I returned in late 1983 to buy the TOL model which had the power switch on the wand.


 


 


Southwyke was demolished in 2008.  Along with hundreds of other malls around the country, it was abandoned superfluous retail space that's expensive to maintain.  And there will be many more to see such a demise.


 


 



http://https//youtu.be/bYRzzEzSvE0

 

[floor-a-matic]

southwyck gone

So did NorthTowne Square Mall & Woodville Mall; all three Toledo-area malls were dilapidated

Woodland Mall in Bowling Green OH was damaged by a EF4 tornado back in 2011; they have since rebuilt

Also damaged by that tornado were the Cooper Tire plant, Poggemeyer Design Group headquarters, Bowling Green Jr/Sr High School (also damaged by a tornado in 1983)

@reliablevacuum, welcome 2 VacuumLand![this post was last edited: 5/16/2016-03:32]