Not the first Texas vacuum shop to be “anti-collector”.
I’ve run into 3 old established dealerships in other parts of Texas and the owners just aren’t interested in selling machines from their graveyard. An owner of a Kirby dealership flat out told me that he’s seen what Scott and Fetzer Sanitation Systems go for on eBay and I should think seriously about my offer before he lets me into his back warehouse. I told I was interested in the off brands that were traded in for Kirbys over the years and that didn’t impress him either. He told me there was “too much liability” with allowing customers in the warehouse.
I work in Oil/Gas and travel a great deal, so I’m always finding vacuum shops where I least expect them. I’ve noticed that every town where I was turned away just happened to be old oil boom towns that dried up and left the brick and mortar retailers behind.