TV repair shop photos/advertizing signs

[bgadow]

Great, great place! And sounds like a great conversation you had. Come on, guys, if you haven't visited your local TV shops now is the time to do it!

Several years ago I visited a little one man shop about an hour from home. I ended up buying a truckload of stuff from him. Unfortunately the batteries in my camera died and I couldn't get pictures. I finally got back up that way over the weekend and the place was gone. Well, he was in his 80s. Time waits for no man.

[Adam]

Nice 67 Electra 225, I like those big Buicks. And I miss driving my 72 Centurion (I still have it but I'm just storing it for now.)

I've never had too much luck at old tv shops.

I stopped in one when I lived in Berkeley, (it was full of hundreds of those Zenith hotel sets from the 80s) and the guy didn't want to sell any of the few nice older sets he had, but tried to sell me his stock of tubes at $40 a piece!

The next one I stopped in was in Lafyette (a town nearby) and they had some nice older stuff on display, but didn't want to sell any. But they were nice here, not like that crazy guy in Berkeley who acted all insulted when I didn't want to buy his $40 tubes.

I stopped in quite a few in LA, most of the guys working there were nice, but nobody had any old stuff.

Except for one nutter who wanted to sell me old sets at several thousand a piece, (And I'm not talking about 15" color sets either) He had a 1960 Magnavox b/w combo he wanted 2k for!

I only stopped at one tv shop here in town in MI, they had nothing old. But they were nice guys and offered me whatever I wanted from the junk heap of sets in the back - but it was mostly 1990s bad-crt era Zeniths and I passed on everything there.

[Reece]

Tom beat me to it: that Buick Electra land barge is certainly fitting. I had a car in the shop years ago and they gave me one of those as a loaner. My kids would scrunch down in the back so people wouldn't see them riding in the "Uncle Buck" car (which was a Merc., I think.)

Reece

[newhallone]

merc. or LTD

[AUdubon5425]

1975-78 Grand Marquis coupe - I had two four-doors like it. Best road car ever.

[Reece]

We actually had a '75 Lincoln Continental Mark IV land yacht. I recall one cold winter's day in the garage sitting atop the imitation Rolls Royce grille, astraddle the crosshairs hood ornament, changing the timing chain and sprockets.

But I didn't mean to hijack the thread! Onward about TV shops.

Reece

[maxm]

Here are some photos I just took at Coles. At one time there was an additional line of signs along the side of the building, but they have been painted over. They were probably signs for specific companies like the Admiral sign up front. I'm not sure if they would have been neon or just enameled.

I need to go back at night and see the signs lit up.

Down the block, the white building pictured that is now a Currency Exchange was once a TV repair shop. I think they had a Zenith sign up front. They closed about 10 years ago.

[maxm]

This video about an electronics repair shop in Chicago was on Chicago Tonight a few years ago. I thought somebody might be interested in seeing this, sorry it is so small.

http://homepage.mac.com/brameika/PBSTVs.mov

(Quicktime movie)

[HiFiCanada]

Repair shop at the back of Wrights TV & Radio, was my favorite place as a kid getting started in audio, I was only 13 at the time. I so,so wanted a HI-FI which it was called then, it was a cabinet with speakers on each side, turntable and AM,FM radio, and those Hi-Fi's put out a sound that was not tiring to listen to all day.
They sold LP's and 45's the top 40 hits, but I remember the two rows of Hi-Fi cabinets the best. The repair shop at the back was packed with radio's, TV's and testers,and also a scope. Two repair man worked in there full time, George and Alvin, they were great, me a kid went in there almost every Saturday, finding out things, asking questions all the time, and they were alway's freindly and alway's had some time for me. All I had was a table radio and I wanted to hook a bigger speaker on it, via a cord to a small box, so they sold me a 8in Pacer speaker for only $5.00, probally at their cost. I remember George smoking a pipe,and he repaired most of the TV's while Alvin repaired all the radios and everything else.
In around 1971, I bought my first color TV, a Electrohome 21 in,that costs $550, I did not have all the money, so I asked if I could pay them every two week's. They said 'sure', so I picked out my TV and paided my first $100.00, but every two weeks I went in and paid another $100, till it was paid for. But what I find so amazing is that when I looked at the reciept when I first picked up the TV, my name was on it and that was it, no home phone number nor any identification was on it, just what I had left to pay.
It was trust that they had, that was your credit was trust.
I remember them always, great people and a great time era.

[Dan Starnes]

Totally awesome,, and the Electra parked next to the building is just an added hoot.

[drh4683]

I can't believe Ron's TV in Wheaton is gone. I went to an estate sale that way last weekend. This place was always busy, tons of stuff in for repair and he had quite a few techs working there. They always had vintage stuff in for repair too as ron's had a reputation for being capable for restoring vintage hi-fi and radio equipment. I knew Ron Mueller personally since I was about 12 years old. He was a WWII vet, started his business in that location right after the war.
I remember as a kid, he showed me the inside of a UHF tuner to show me the diode that fails causing "no uhf". He also showed me how to adjust purity on color TV. He passed away back around 2001 and his son kept the business going. They had all sorts of Zenith neon signs in the window. They were also a nutone dealer, he had a wall full of old nutone intercom system displays. You can see the inside, whats left of it.
Last time I was there was about 6 months ago. Either he shut down on his own, or the town of Wheaton wanted him out of there as "Ron's TV" isn't a trendy kind place like Wheaton wants.
I grew up in Downers Grove, that town went trendy too. The nice middle class suburbs of chicago are either going straight to hell, or yuppies tear everything down and rebuild them with stupid little knick knack stores downtown and 2 million dollar houses. Everything I like is either dead, or dying off.

[zenithfan1]

Wow, it's really sad to see these places go. I remember about 6 years ago when the last tv shop closed in Kenosha. It was called "The Tv Shop" I knew the guy pretty well and he called me one day and said I could have the set in his store window. It's a 1954 blonde Philco, works perfect after I changed a few tubes. He almost cried the day I drove off with it, he definitely didn't want to close his shop. I never heard from him again. I saw him once out in Salem WI where he lives but that was it. I wonder what ever happened to him? You're not alone Doug, all the stuff I like is dead or dying off too.

[Kalamazoo-DJ]

Originally Posted by zenithfan1

Wow, it's really sad to see these places go. I remember about 6 years ago when the last tv shop closed in Kenosha. It was called "The Tv Shop" I knew the guy pretty well and he called me one day and said I could have the set in his store window. It's a 1954 blonde Philco, works perfect after I changed a few tubes. He almost cried the day I drove off with it, he definitely didn't want to close his shop. I never heard from him again. I saw him once out in Salem WI where he lives but that was it. I wonder what ever happened to him? You're not alone Doug, all the stuff I like is dead or dying off too.

Just be glad you are not a flat screen LCD etc from California, All brand new in a box and already going extinct possibly by government outlaw. Just hope it's us that don't die off next. Oh btw it maybe a good Idea to collect incandesent light bulbs before Al Gore gets those too! ops political sorry!

[leadlike]

That sight of Ron's empty work bench is pretty sad, too... maybe he'll let me borrow it-god knows I have enough here to fill it up.

[ha1156w]

Take it easy, Kalamazoo....the CA efficiency rules apply to newly sold sets and are aimed at future designs, not existing ones.