Hallmark TV service which has been in business in North Riverside, IL since 1954 and closed down last week. I got word from a co worker who lives in north riverside last week that they just got a dumpster in front of the store.

Ive only been to this place about 2 times. He claimed he had no parts for older sets so I stopped going in. Apparently that was a lie as the dumpster was being filled with tube caddys and boxes of NOS tubes and zenith parts (dura-modules, IF and AFC sub chassis, etc). Also got a tuner subber as well as an b+K 1077 analyst, a couple working simpson 260's amoung other good quality good condition test equipment. Trays full of organized 1/2 watt resistors, many good new electronic components. Hallmark was a zenith dealer and had many zenith signs throughout the interior. I asked the owner (scott) if he was going to keep any of it. Some yes some no. Pretty much anything that had the hallmark name on it was going to be saved which was understandable. That left the "non dealer" named zenith signs up for grabs. One of the most unique of all items were the curtians in the front window of the store (this building was 1950's two flat with the TV shop first floor, large front windows on front and corners).
I was fortunate to get the curtians which turned out to be about 13 feet in length, 7'6" in height. The curtians are made of what appears to be nylon and are pretty nice "quality" in themselves. I was able to get the the original 3/8 brass curtian rod with associated hardware as well. I would assume the original purpose of these curtians was a backdrop on a wall for console TV display as the they are only one sided. The owner, scott who was in his early 50's claimed the curtians were new in 1968 or 69. That seems about right from what I can tell. Zenith was using the "quality" line all over their 1969-70 brochures. The front of the store had the large "zenith chromacolor" sigh from around the same year. Im waiting on a call from the new owners if they are going to keep this sign or not.

Other signs were the plastic chrome zenith sign on the right of the curtians. BTW, in the pics, the curtians are now in my basement as a display item. On the left is the seq banner. There is not much left there as of now.

Im glad I was able to save some history here as it would have ended up in the dumpster with everything else. Only old set was a 1950's sentinel which was destroyed from other newer consoles being thrown on it. Many 1980's service manuals for RCA, emerson and panasonic. Many many VCR's and parts. Id say about 50% of the items being junked were VCR related.

Its sad. These places keep going under. Pretty soon shops like these will be all gone........Hopefully collectors like us can be around to pick up some of the peices so to speak.

That b&w picture of your basement looks like it's right out of a TV shop in the late 60s/ early 70s, it had me fooled for a few seconds there.

:tears:
It's sad to see so many shops going away.
I've seen a lot of statistics about this phenomenon, and it's shocking (no pun). The best I can put together is that when I started in business in 1985, there were about 45,000 TV/radio service businesses in the USA. The last survey I saw (from the Professional Service Association) says that there are only a little more than 7,000 of us left. It appears that the manufacturers are not too worried about the drain. The way they build stuff now days, you often can't fix it anyway, and even if you CAN fix it, sometimes they simply WON'T sell the parts needed to do it. That has been my experience with LCD sets. I have had several come in that I could fix if I had the parts, but the manufacturer won't sell them. (or doesn't have any)

It makes me wonder if there will be any of us left doing this in 5 years. :worried:

Maybe I should learn to speak Chinese

The way most things are going it won't too long before a Bluetooth interface will be standard on display/monitor/tv sets to link to your mobile phone. When problems occur with your set, you call a service number and voila! Service data is downloaded directly to the manufacturers service center (probably in Korea, Japan, India, or China) and the defective part is determined. Replacement user modules will be plug and play once the part arrives! Basically, you link to an RDM (remote display management) team for service.

If the consumer needs in home or counter service assistance then they may get lucky to have a retailer with "Geek Squad" type help. However, for less technically able retailers, it's reaslistic that help would come by unskilled, untrained, uneducated, poorly equipped help hired by larger retailers. Small independant business will disappear pretty much completely...the way mom and pop stores have disappeared over the past 20 years to the WalMart giants of the industry. Certainly not a pretty picture for independant small business owners in Amercia. Polish up your life skills and dust off your resume!

Tom

You're not making me feel any better.

But you're probably right.


:cry:

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25 YEARS EXPERIENCE IN THE OBSOLETE SKILL OF CONSUMER ELECTRONICS REPAIR

That b&w picture of your basement looks like it's right out of a TV shop in the late 60s/ early 70s, it had me fooled for a few seconds there.

ME TOO, until I noticed the Priority Mail box on the bench :banana:

That place brings memories of when I was in elementary school and would go and be a pest at all the local TV shops!

Charles

Tom

You're not making me feel any better.

But you're probably right.


:cry:

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25 YEARS EXPERIENCE IN THE OBSOLETE SKILL OF CONSUMER ELECTRONICS REPAIR

I quit TV repair about 5 years ago, spent a couple years in the test lab at a local electronics manufacturer, hated the confinement and repetition although the pay was OK. I am now working at a large ranch with a horse hospital, citrus and avocado orchards, and all the machinery that goes with it as mechanical tech. Much happier, no rude Iranian customers with stop-payment checks, no laughter from parts suppliers when I try to order something for a 5-year-old TV, no headaches from trying to read an RCA schematic spread out over 3,000 pages when it should have been printed on one, no California Enviro-Gestapo telling me I am going to prison if I possess solder or tuner cleaner or if I dare throw a TV in the trash, no driving 30 miles to a housecall only to find that the customer forgot me and went to the beach, no more being climbed on by undisciplined toddlers while the parents blow tobacco smoke in my face, no more pounding on my door at 6:00 Superbowl Sunday morning with an "emergency repair for a friend in need", I could overload the server with more.

With that said, I did enjoy the TV repair business in earlier times. But since the big business boom at the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, which was the last gasp for profitability in the TV repair business here, it was all down hill.

Horse exercise equipment basic electrical problems, Diesel tractors, irrigation pumps, and riding a quad runner through the avocado orchard all day looking for leaky hoses is much more fun and diverse! I'm happy now :thmbsp:

Charles

Geoff have you tried other specialties? We are doing well in jukebox, phonograph, electronic organ, and antique radio repair. We are not earning a full time living from it and have other income sources but many people are still interested in getting these types of items repaired and very few technicians do it. Other shops are still going with home theatre installations and car stereo service.

I live in a small town some 35 miles east of Cleveland. There is one TV repair shop about five miles from here, which has been around since 1947. If that place ever closes its doors, I'm afraid us folks out here in the middle of nowhere are going to be up the creek if our TVs, stereos, etc. need repairs (unless we take our sets to a shop some 10 miles away, which is still in business and likely will be for some time--even in this age of HD, LCD/plasma TV, and so on). There was also a TV sales/service place which for years was within walking distance of my former home, but it moved some 10 miles or so east some time ago; I have no idea whether it's still there or not.

I guess that's the way things are going for the TV repair business these days. Smaller shops are closing down left and right, like the one in Doug's area. However, I am surprised that at least two TV repair shops in suburbs of a major city such as Chicago are shutting down this way. With all those TVs in the metro area, not to mention the city of Chicago itself, I would think the shops would have enough business to keep them in the black for quite some time.

BTW, Geoff Bourquin's remarks as to the HDTV changeover deadline are right on the mark, except for one thing. All televisions, regardless of screen size, will have to be equipped with ATSC tuners by next year; however, it is true that all sets with screens 32 inches and up must have the capability now (this went into effect not too long ago). I believe this is the FCC's first step towards phasing out NTSC 4:3 television, with the rest of it spread out over the following two years. But, given the sheer number of analog TVs still in use in this country, some of which, as I have stated before here, are either brand new, very new or new enough that they are nowhere near ready for the landfill, there will still be folks using these sets with digital cable and DVD players for some time to come when ATSC replaces NTSC. I also know people who do not seem to care about the deadline; they will worry about replacing their analog sets, or doing whatever they have to do to get TV reception after NTSC signals go off the air for good, when the time comes. There are many people in this country who simply do not worry about these things. Given the garbage (for the most part) that passes for entertainment on the Big Three networks these days, I can't say I blame them. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of people wind up going without television, or watching DVDs exclusively and having only basic cable for news and sports, after everything goes digital. I must admit I have been considering the latter very seriously; in fact, even now most of my viewing is of old classic TV shows and documentaries, etc. on DVD. The idea seems more and more appealing to me the closer we get to HD-or-Nothing Day.

:tears:
It's sad to see so many shops going away.
I've seen a lot of statistics about this phenomenon, and it's shocking (no pun). The best I can put together is that when I started in business in 1985, there were about 45,000 TV/radio service businesses in the USA. The last survey I saw (from the Professional Service Association) says that there are only a little more than 7,000 of us left. It appears that the manufacturers are not too worried about the drain. The way they build stuff now days, you often can't fix it anyway...

I had a 20 year old Mitsubishi VCR that was good quality (when it did work). Lately the tuning circuits failed (specifically a 35V supply used to run circuits that run the varactor diodes. Almost got that fixed, and then I accidently send 27V into a digital PLL chip that expects at most 5V. That, coupled with a few other minor issues, was the death nell. Forget about trying to get a replacement PLL chip, and even if I could, the other issues would make it not worth the money and effort. So it got taken apart to get the circuit boards to toss in my junk box (still lots of non ASIC standard parts I could salvage), also salvaged the metric machine screws out of the mechanical part of the tape machine. Rest of it get placed in the comingled recycling bucket along with the empty beer cans and beer bottles. :-) Well, it is metal and plastic.

A few years ago in the next town over from here, we lost a local TV repair shop. Zenith sign. They did jukeboxes too. Building it was in was wood frame construction, a plumber installing some copper pipe with a blow torch set some wood smoldering and later that night the place burned down. Nobody was in there thankfully. A replacement building is almost done, but somehow I doubt that the TV repair shop will return....

I opened up in 1981, and closed the shop in 2003. Nobody was picking their stuff up anymore when they'd given the OK to fix them! Sold stuff for awhile. Now, folks just junk them.

I will always work on tube stuff. Made lots on VCR's... lots more of them came thru the shop than TV's ever did. I still have my old neon sign that said "FREE ESTIMATES"

A few years ago in the next town over from here, we lost a local TV repair shop. Zenith sign. They did jukeboxes too. Building it was in was wood frame construction, a plumber installing some copper pipe with a blow torch set some wood smoldering and later that night the place burned down. Nobody was in there thankfully. A replacement building is almost done, but somehow I doubt that the TV repair shop will return....

That's sad... Hopefully there weren't any vintage sets in there. In the early 90s, a TV shop burned down in Sylmar, CA (near me here in the Los Angeles area). It was in business since the 70s. I went over there the next day, and I could see plenty of roundies and lots of salvagable stuff in there. The roof was caved in, and there was a fence put up. Otherwise, I might have taken a Sunday tour and saved some of it. That shop, even then, decided to take the insurance and run. (It wasn't arson; it was a dry cleaners that had something start the accidental fire in the same building during the night)

Charles

I live in a small town some 35 miles east of Cleveland. There is one TV repair shop about five miles from here, which has been around since 1947. If that place ever closes its doors, I'm afraid us folks out here in the middle of nowhere are going to be up the creek if our TVs, stereos, etc. need repairs (unless we take our sets to a shop some 10 miles away, which is still in business and likely will be for some time--even in this age of HD, LCD/plasma TV, and so on). There was also a TV sales/service place which for years was within walking distance of my former home, but it moved some 10 miles or so east some time ago; I have no idea whether it's still there or not.

I guess that's the way things are going for the TV repair business these days. Smaller shops are closing down left and right, like the one in Doug's area. However, I am surprised that at least two TV repair shops in suburbs of a major city such as Chicago are shutting down this way. With all those TVs in the metro area, not to mention the city of Chicago itself, I would think the shops would have enough business to keep them in the black for quite some time.

BTW, Geoff Bourquin's remarks as to the HDTV changeover deadline are right on the mark, except for one thing. All televisions, regardless of screen size, will have to be equipped with ATSC tuners by next year; however, it is true that all sets with screens 32 inches and up must have the capability now (this went into effect not too long ago). I believe this is the FCC's first step towards phasing out NTSC 4:3 television, with the rest of it spread out over the following two years. But, given the sheer number of analog TVs still in use in this country, some of which, as I have stated before here, are either brand new, very new or new enough that they are nowhere near ready for the landfill, there will still be folks using these sets with digital cable and DVD players for some time to come when ATSC replaces NTSC. I also know people who do not seem to care about the deadline; they will worry about replacing their analog sets, or doing whatever they have to do to get TV reception after NTSC signals go off the air for good, when the time comes. There are many people in this country who simply do not worry about these things. Given the garbage (for the most part) that passes for entertainment on the Big Three networks these days, I can't say I blame them. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of people wind up going without television, or watching DVDs exclusively and having only basic cable for news and sports, after everything goes digital. I must admit I have been considering the latter very seriously; in fact, even now most of my viewing is of old classic TV shows and documentaries, etc. on DVD. The idea seems more and more appealing to me the closer we get to HD-or-Nothing Day.

Hmmm, good points on the HDTV or nothing thing. I could hear the cries of millions out there saying, "I can't get crap on my TV anymore? What happened to the stations?" I know if my grandmother on Mom's side was still alive and if she would be in 2009, unless the date was pushed back or the TV stations tell the FCC to stuff it, there would be a hue and cry, which would put Howard Dean to shame, from her that I could hear from 10 miles away, "I can't get my stories on my TV (a 1962 RCA B&W) anymore!" There are many TV's out there that refuse to die, which is good, myself, we have a 24 year old Zenith console from 1982. She shows her age a little from time to time but we've been using it since early 1983.

TV shops, we have one that we know of near us in the Pittsburgh area which still would solder new parts into PC cards if need be.

It brought a tear to my eye when Marties TV service in So Minneapolis decided to close down in the mid-90s. In the early to mid 70s it was known as Kens Radio & TV service and I think around 78 or 79 Ken passed away suddenly and his neighbor Marty bought the business and kept it going just as strong. Now as a kid on his new bike I stumbled upon the shop when I was 10 years old and quickly found out we had "family ties" as Marty had worked with my uncle at Spot TV years before and before I knew it I was spending my entire summer vacation at Marties fetching tubes, cleaning the tubes and learning the sets. By the time I was 12 I had learned the RCA CTC series sets like my hands while my friends were getting into trouble. I was so into the sets that my parents decided not to send me to summer camp (prison sentance to keep me away from the trouble makers) and the 82/83 school year came to fast. By the time 7th grade was getting into christmas break I had memorized the entire RCA tube handbook along with many of the Sams photofacts of the era. During the winters when I wasnt on the bike I was playing stockboy/golpher and watchful eye at Audio Innovations a high-end audio store, was also spending my newspaper earnings at that store and was there when the new super-duper Compact Disc player was introduced. I still have my Technics SL-P8 from 1983 today.
I worked for Marty again for a short period in 1993 and he wanted to sell the business to me. Being my last year in college it wasnt in my deck so he closed the business a few years later. What did catch my eye was the door "Open/Closed" sign I had made back in 5th grade was still hanging on the door up until the last day of business. The open side was NTSC color bars with OPEN in opposing colors over the field and closed was a horizontal tear with CLOSED following the angle of the 4 tears to the right along with the business hours in the sync area. Hey what else did I have to do at that age?
The other shop I hung around and eventually worked at was Jensen TV service also in So minneapolis and was a super short walk across the alley from my grandparents home. Jensen also had the advantage of kids my age so when we got tired of imploding pix tubes in the dumpster we had our bikes close by for those fast afternoon troublemaking moments.
Jensens had a couple of large wooden boxes to throw the old chassis into after Kathy smashed down the cabinets of the unwanted sets. I would go back there and raid the boxes for good chassis and other toys and soon had put together my own 22" new vista color complete with a new from the box 22JP22 tube and flyback. I was the envy of the entire 'hood in jr high.
As time and fate would have it Jensens moved into a new location in one of the roughest parts of town complete with a pimp on the corner of the shop in 1991. I worked there for a period of time until the economics forced me back to school and during my absence Jensens was robbed a few times and Kathy was pistol whipped. They quickly closed down completly and the last time I saw them was at a bus stop in the dead of winter. Unfortunatly I could not get turned around fast enough to offer them a ride before the bus arrived. That was in 1994 and that was the last I saw of them.
Another shop I hung around was Tradesman TV and this was during the VHS-Betamax and CED vs Laserdisc wars of the time. Tradesman was around until 1986 and moved to a wierd little town south of Minneapolis and closed up shortly after. That place was packed floor to rafters with just about every set made and the basement was even more packed. Will never forget moving day!

In 2001 I found a big box of tubes in the front seat of my truck with an old Jensen TV receipt book tucked under it with my name scribbled in various places, I did those scribbles when I was maybe 13-14 or so because I always had to leave my mark... The new tenants of the building discovered the box and book in the basement where the old oil drum sat, that was the area where we would hide our "prized" parts such as the colorful ON/VOL knobs and other trinkets. My mother still calls me a packrat, I wonder why... I still have some of those old knobs and that receipt book. The days of the corner TV Radio shop are all but gone now but I can still look at that book and remember how good it was to be a kid in those candy stores.

Tech-109