In a world where it is almost always cheaper to by new appliances rather than repair old ones, Dick McDonnell is one of the last of the old-time repair craftsmen. McDonnell is one of the few ready and able to fix your vacuum cleaner. He has had his shop in three different places since 1959, but all of them on the same 1300 block of East Pike Street.
It's not a way to get rich, he acknowledges, but over the nearly 50 years he has been repairing Capitol Hill vacuum cleaners he has managed to raise four children, buy the building his shop occupies and buy a house in Madison Park. His needs, he says, are small.
The windows of the storefront occupied by Central Vacuum Services at 1310 East Pike Street is much as you would expect: filled with vacuum cleaners. Inside, more of the same, standing at attention in rows, waiting for their owners. At the rear of the shop front is a counter and an L-shaped, paneled wall, all but hidden under boxing posters, press clippings and photographs of both boxers and family members.
"We're sort of a junk shop," McDonnell said, sweeping a hand around at the vacuum cleaners, a wall full of vacuum cleaner bags and various parts, such as drive belts.
He has an extensive inventory of parts, attachments and accessories, some of them from basket-case vacuums. It all goes into the shop inventory, because you never know what you will need.
"We can usually fix anything," McDonnell boasted, even if the parts are not inventoried by computer. In fact, he doesn't even take credit cards. They are too much trouble.
"We're still kind of back in the old age," he said.
McDonnell and his son Dennis run the shop. The senior McDonnell opens each morning then wanders home around 2:30 p.m. To look at him, you might easily think he was 15 or 20 years younger than his 81 years.
"I'm having grandchildren come in, where their grandparents were customers," McDonnell said.
Ordinarily, someone who buys a $59.95 vacuum cleaner that stops working does not want to spend $30 to get it fixed, McDonnell said. But for the high-end machines costing $125, $300 or $500 it's a different thing. He said a lot of his business is apartment maintenance and janitorial services with industrial quality machines. Even so, he gets homeowners, too, who become attached to machines they have had for a long time.
"We can keep it going for you," he promised. He has bought a lot of parts just for that purpose, and he thinks his $24.95 service charge is probably the lowest in Seattle.
McDonnell sells new vacuums and used vacuums, too. The new ones are Eureka's Sanitaire line, a light-weight but powerful vacuum that is not distributed to the big discounters.
He said used vacuums used to be a big part of the business when the leading makes were the expensive Electrolux and Kirby brands. Discount stores have mostly put an end to that. Although used vacuums don't make up much of the business anymore, there is a surprising component of his clientele who does buy them.
"There are a lot of people who are vacuum collectors," McDonnell said with a look that invited disbelief. He said they are organized and have meetings. He recently obtained a 1936 Hoover and a 1927 model 700 Hoover for a collector. Of course, when he sells them to the collectors they run like new.
"When he got that 1936 die-cast magnesium Hoover he was just thrilled," McDonnell said with a delighted laugh. "We've been able to keep some of those old machines on the road for people."
McDonnell worked for Hoover for 13 years before he set up his own shop. Hoover went through a reorganization and outsourced maintenance and service. McDonnell opened his first shop at 1318 East Pike Street in a storefront he rented for $60 a month. He said it was "a dump."
He moved to another shop in the same block and then bought the building he is in now, which has a seven-room house above it.
"They want to develop this block of land," McDonnell said. But he is not eager to sell. He likes having his shop and likes watching the neighborhood.
"I've seen a lot of changes," McDonnell said. "They've all been for the good."
He is happy to chat, and could easily be a one-man historical society for the intersection of Madison, Pike and 14th Avenue. Besides working in the shop, he keeps up with amateur boxing. He helped out with the Golden Gloves programs for many years and was friends with legendary Seattle boxer Kid Cotton (whose restaurant was just a block north of McDonnell's vacuum shop) and nearly mythical P-I sports editor Royal Brougham.
Mostly though, McDonnell reigns over his repair shop.
"It's certainly not too lucrative," he said, leaning back in his adjustable office chair. "It's sort of a relaxed situation."
Central Vacuum Services is at 1310 E. Pike St., 323-2627. Web site ... are you kidding?
Freelance writer Korte Brueckmann lives on Capitol Hill and can be reached at editor@ capitolhilltimes.com
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