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Main » 2014 » January » 26 » Tiffany Pendants Sale shoes have plastic heels for strength and
6:11 AM Tiffany Pendants Sale shoes have plastic heels for strength and |
House home At one time, a reputation for fixing things was as firmly attached to
the american character as fine cooking is to the french.American ''know-How"Was
famous worldwide and every neighborhood hardware store carried drawers of
graduated screws and widgets for the home handyman.Teenagers who liked to ''work
with their hands"Had after-School jobs at local repair shops that blossomed into
careers. That was the last century.Apparently, fixing things is not part of the
new economic script.Even the tv show ''sesame street"Has closed the ''fix-It
shop"Featured on its set for three decades because young viewers had no idea
what it was for. Stores like wal-Mart have trained a generation of consumers to
buy their appliances and gadgets cheaply and often.After saving money by moving
jobs abroad in the '90s, many manufacturers further increased profits by
eliminating inventories of replacement parts and training programs for
technicians.What was the point?New housewares could be made abroad more cheaply
than old ones could be fixed at home.It became a normal consumer practice to
replace rather than to repair. So is there anything left that's worth fixing?
Well, yes.Steinway pianos.Professional quality ranges.Antique tiffany
lamps.Expensive racing bikes. And treasures with sentimental value. We asked
head conservator kathleen rose at trefler sons of newton what sorts of items
prompted customers to pay $125 an hour for the staff's skilled efforts and she
mentioned a 1, 200-Year-Old song dynasty vase--And a cardboard frame glued with
broken seashells made by a customer's granddaughter. To get something fixed
today, you need to feel as passionate about it as a spawning salmon feels about
making it up the next waterfall, because you are definitely swimming against the
current.You have to be willing not only to pay a lot, but to look hard for
someone to give your money to. Trefler sons recently repaired an asian lacquer
vase that a client smashed while roughhousing as a 6-Year-Old, said rose.''Now
he's in his 70s and he's restoring it for his mother, who is in her 90s.He's
been carrying this guilt all these years, and now it's time to fix it. "That's
motivation for you. If you broke your mother's antique vase(And she kept the
pieces), it's never too late to put it back together again. Just don't try to
get your $40 toaster oven fixed. ''We do get people asking, but we don't bother
with the small appliances such as toaster ovens, electric shavers, and coffee
makers.I don't think there is anyplace that repairs these anymore.I sent people
to a place in needham but i just found out this morning it just went out of
business,"Said denis spindler, owner of mr.Sweeper, which sells and fixes
vacuums and sewing machines in west roxbury and waltham. Spindler admitted he is
sometimes annoyed when something breaks at home and his wife goes out and buys a
replacement.But he knows he can't argue with the new economic logic.''We had a
small $90 TV that broke after a year and a half.I knew that to put it on a bench
here would be $40.It wasn't worth it.We just won't buy that brand again. "
Spindler estimated that in the past 14 years, more than half of all tv-,
stereo-, and appliance-Repair shops have gone out of business.''In this area
alone, there used to be four other vacuum and sewing machine sale and repair
stores,"He said.Between 1985 and 2002, the professional service association lost
three-Quarters of its small-Appliance and consumer-Electronics-Shop members.
When family-Owned repair shops close, they often bring generations of
passed-Down skills to an end as well.Eric rubin, 40, the third-Generation owner
of the watch hospital on bromfield street in boston, started working at the
family business as a child, but sees no future in it for his own kids.The watch
repair business is winding down. Rubin and his two skilled immigrant employees,
who learned the craft from their own fathers in vietnam, still fix old wind-Up
watches in the rear of the shop, drawing on a 70-Year accumulation of spare
parts.Rubin likes being his own boss and still gets a kick when a customer
brings in a rare watch, like the 1930s, 18-Karat-Gold international watch
co.Timepiece he repaired in october.''It's worth $15, 000, and the person who
had it had no idea.That was pretty exciting. "But most watches are battery
powered now and not worth fixing, except for replacing the batteries, which
rubin sells for about $8. Repair shop owners often seek special niches now, and
can seem like they are living by their wits as much as their skills.Whereas the
term ''shop Tiffany Bracelets
Sale owner"Used to be an occasional epithet for complacency, today
there's almost an outlaw mentality among many keeping a small business afloat as
mega-Global-Conglomorated bigness sweeps the landscape. As a high school
student, john fede loved electronics and working with his hands.After 10 years
at custom tv-Stereo service in natick, he bought the place in 1984.Most of the
business was sales, but then big-Box stores sprouted around him like mushrooms
after a rain, ending that part of his business.''Customers would come in to pick
your brain and then go down the street to buy it at BJ's for $5 less,"Said fede
bitterly. CusTom tv-Stereo service now does only repairs and specializes in
fixing older equipment ''such as turntables, reel-To-Reel tape recorders, and
antique radios, because a lot of the equipment made today is perceived as
disposable,"Said fede, 52.''I survive by filling a niche and being
diversified.I'd be a wal-Mart greeter if i didn't evolve and adapt. " He is
still angry that manufacturers no longer ''support a legitimate retailer who
stocks a quality product and can answer questions,"So he exacts a small measure
of revenge each year by shutting down his shop immediately after christmas, when
holiday-Gift recipients are trying to figure out how to use their new
electronics.''The 1-800 numbers will refer purchasers to a service center, which
is us.I'd have techs on the phone all day answering questions about hooking up
something the person bought at bj's!The manufacturers should have a
customer-Service number! "Harrumphed fede.A man can only take so much. In
arlington, sanford camera repair's niche now is repairing older cameras.Though
''business is not as good as it used to be,"Manager edward plekavich reports
that many photographers want to keep their old cameras going because they don't
want to start from scratch learning a new system.''Some of the new digital
cameras have 80-Page manuals--And you really have to read UK Cheap
Tiffany Jewellery Sale them! " Ed soloway cq of david's shoe repair
in arlington is diversifying by catering to young hockey players who would
rather repair old leather goalie pads and gloves they've finally broken in than
start over with new uncomfortable equipment.Soloway also specializes in
build-Ups for shoes for people who have a short leg. Like most craftsmen
interviewed, he's not in the repair business to get rich, but because he enjoys
the work and being his own boss.''I have a close friend in Schenectady and we're
always on the phone about how to solve a problem.The big issue with the shoe
repair industry is the different materials used and finding combinations of
gluing material to bond them.It's not just leather to leather anymore.Most of
the lady's dress Tiffany Pendants
Sale shoes have plastic heels for strength and lightness, so you
have to use multiple glues, each doing something different.I enjoy the problem
solving and it's satisfying to take up something that looks like it's been
trashed and bring it back to something brand new. " Not all types of repair
shops are struggling.For instance, many bicycle repair shops thrive in the
area.Raymond fiore said there are three in franklin, including bicycles plus,
which he owns with his son scott.In an imaginative twist on the old scenario of
trying to lure a son into an established family business, fiore started the
business 12 years ago tailored to his son's passion.''I was in the clothing
business for 30 years.That was over and when he graduated, he started doing bike
racing.So i said, 'you want to get a bike store?' We started from scratch and
have done well. " George toma's rule of thumb is this:''You expect your average
appliance to last 8-12 years.If you can fix it for a third of the replacement
cost, do it. "When his dad started george washington toma tv and appliances in
east weymouth 50 years ago, he focused on tv and radio repair.His son now
concentrates on repairing major appliances.''Everything etrio
Sale changes,"Said toma.''When my dad was born on a Feb.22, it was
the George Washington's Birthday holiday.Now we have president's day instead. "
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