Anybody want to own a genuine TV repair shop?

[Bobby Brady]

I know of one for sale here in S.E. Fla. You buy it and I'll run it for you!
Hahaha... as if I could be so lucky. I am not foolish enough to think this could happen.
However, there is a company that has been here for 45 years and it is for sale!
If I had an extra $25,000 I would buy it sight unseen but as you might have guessed by now I do not have an extra $25,000 dollars at the moment.
I am going to check it out and let you fellas know about!

I don't read the paper as often as I want but today I found 2 surpises!
The other has not been confirmed but the ad reads: TV,record player & AM/FM radio in solid wood cabinet... as you can imagine I got my fingers crossed!
I'll write back about that too.

[Bobby Brady]

I had my hopes up. He said no to my first 3 guesses and I was trying to think fast and said Packard Bell... he said that sounds close but it's not that. That's when I started to get a disappointing feeling as I had already confirmed it has a rectangular screen. He said it was a popular brand that had a lifetime warranty and sure enough it was my next regretful guess... it's a Curtis Mathis. My thoughts went to that mammoth sized '79 model we all saw on ebay a short time ago. You could not pay me to take that.
He said a lady is supposed to come put it in her car but he thinks it wont fit so he may be calling me. He is a nice man that I hope is mistaking a roundie for a rectangularie. Stranger things have happened so I will check it out if he calls.

[Carmine]

I actually own a building in the Detroit area that would be an IDEAL tv-repair shop. I should think that with a UPS/Fed-Ex/etc. account, there would be enough business via the internet overhauling old sets/radios...

Rebuild my sets and I'll give you a below market lease!

[Bobby Brady]

Hi Carmine,
Sounds like a good possibility except that I have to live close to my relatives.
I definately want to visit your area sometime.
Saturday I am going to meet with the man selling the shop and I'll get pics to post. If I were to get into this business I would need financial backing so I may have a little difficulty in getting someone to invest in a TV shop! I have a few people to help me run the business but I expect it would be sometime before such a business would turn a profit but I will check it all out anyway.

I haven't heard from the Curtis Mathis owner so I guess the lady managed to get it. I wrote that you could not pay me to take the humongous '79 we saw on ebay awhile ago but if I had space I would. If it was a roundie I would make space. I really like the home entertainment centers even though I always feel like an idiot who is maybe a little weird whenever I go to lift one. I have a huge RCA that a friend and I almost dropped hard but softened the landing with my friends finger. Eventually the skin heeled and you can hardly tell it happened. I am moving to another apartment in Feb. so I may make some dolleys to roll it. It has casters but I worry about ruining them by pushing it across concrete. I wanted to go into another apartment but I would have had to remove a complex window system to get it in so I had to go to an apartment that cost $220. more a month to keep my great sounding oversized stereo!

[oldtvman]

been there, doen that, I owned and operated a large factory authorized service center in the south bend area for over 15 years, unfortunately, most shops have went out of business because of the increased reliability and the relatively low cost to replace most sets, although I do miss the good old days when Beta-Maxs cost over 1200 each

[oldtvman]

If you plan on making a living at repairing tv's these days you might want to have an alternative income source, because in the summer,most shops have very little to do, it is extremely hard to make a living in consumer electronic repair these days

[JCFitz]

Originally Posted by oldtvman

If you plan on making a living at repairing tv's these days you might want to have an alternative income source, because in the summer,most shops have very little to do, it is extremely hard to make a living in consumer electronic repair these days

I think that depends on where you live.Around here in lower Delaware and the Eastern Shore of MD is a resort area. In the summer there are thousands of vacationers and tourists and the motel rooms,condos and vacation homes have tvs that break due to sitting all winter, power surges and especially lightning.A lot of people are still trying to hold on to their older tvs until they have to replace them also.But you need to be able to repair tvs from the 90s to early 2000s and especially projection tvs as people are more likely to get them repaired and the new technolgy tvs. The new stuff(Plasma,DLP and LCD) are board level and lamp changes. You still have to understand what is going on and do some troubleshooting before you order boards. Ordering the wrong board and restocking fees can get pretty costly.And in home service of the large tvs is where the money is,not in carry in.We do some warranty work to keep work coming in during the slow times.I take all the projection tvs people don't want fixed and sell them. I don't take anymore portable tvs people want to give to me anymore. The used market for tvs under 36" is pretty much dead. Can't sell them.Unless you're dealing with people like on this forum. But for the general public forget it.Our shop is full of 27" tvs that are almost impossible to sell anymore.And there's an upright 27" console tv some people never picked up after the repair we can't give away. The last console like that sat in the shop for 3 years and we had to sell it dirt cheap.

[pioneer54]

t v repair is like shoe repair shops.... nobody fixes them, they throw them out and buy new ones.

[Chad Hauris]

I would definitely recommend you have enough money from alternate income sources that you don't depend on a repair shop to make that much money. We have plenty of business in the jukebox, antique radio, guitar amp, organ, etc. field but we just about break even...our business operates to support our mission of working on this equipment because we enjoy it. You could not make a living at it alone.

[Geoff Bourquin]

JCfitz hit it right on the head. I can't even give away working 27 or 20 inch sets any more. People look at used console TV's like they'e the cause of the bad smell in the referigerator.

If you're established in this business you might have a chance. A new guy has almost no hope. I think the main reasons I'm still making a living in this business (knock on wood!) are that I don't have any monthly rent, I've been in business almost 22 years, and I'm the only guy still doing this in my town. When It's time for me to retire, I dont have any hopes of selling the business. I'll simply disappear into history along with the rest of the TV repair people.

I just hope that won't be too soon.

[Bill R]

Alternate sources of income are a good idea, and I think in-home service on projection sets, and vintage gear repair are a good idea. I serviced gear for the local music stores. Warranty work never paid well.

I got a letter earlier this month from Loud Technologies ( Mackie, Tapco, EAW, Crate, and Ampeg ) stating that they are eliminating their warranty repair centers. They are going to exchange only for warranty work. All non warranty parts orders now have to be prepaid since they are closing all the accounts.

Wonder how long I will even be able to get parts.

Bill R.

[oldtvman]

back in the mid-80's Mashushita predicted that they would reduce the number on service centers needed nation-wide by 20,000. In retrospect that was probably a pretty fair number.

Besides that if you are an authorized service center, they make you pay for the training and subscibe to service yearly. that gets to be pretty espensive.

[Bobby Brady]

It's Sheldon's TV. Owned by a great guy named Bob Rinker and located on Federal Highway(Broadway) in Riviera Beach, Fla. An authorized RCA and Zenith Dealer since early 60's and recently Zenith dropped him claiming he had too few claims. Apparently his business is steady and good with long time customers. Surprisingly to me there was very little there older than the '90's as far as parts or TV's. The shop is small so I can imagine tons of valuable stuff was tossed over the years. He recently tossed a bunch of stuff. I did not press for details even though I wondered about my just missing the boat again. I was a little disappointed by the neighborhood. However, the building is secure and I believe the neighborhood will get better and better(remember "RCA is making television better and better."?). It is located near Singer Island which is a special place and he services that area. There is a new huge condo complex very close. Bob has a bum knee and needs time away or I think he'd stay longer.

[bgadow]

Bobby, I'm glad you have taken the interest in his business. Here is something simple that I have done: for every TV shop/repairman I have come across I wrote a short biography including any facts I could find out: what year did they start, who were they a dealer for, a description of their shop, etc. I keep all the biographies in alphabetical order on the computer and add new ones as I find out about them.

If we don't do it, who will?

[Bobby Brady]

Based on the lack of response to this thread and other stuff I have found here I think those who use this site are here just to get info, parts, TV's and whatever else they like but the history behind the sets and anything about the many TV men seem to be uninteresting to them. I am very surprised to not find more written that would indicate much concern for anything outside the products and their values.
I believe I like this electronic stuff for all the same basic reasons most here do but I mainly like having something to present to other people to start conversations. In other words The stuff I take from here is to help me interact with other people for entertainment and to learn how to be a better person. I expect some of you reading this agree that I need help in that area.