Pardon me if this has been covered before - I did a quick search and didn't see anything. - I'm curious to know if anyone knows of any retail store that sold radios in the 1930's that has survived and is in in business today - and if so - do they pay homage to their past - with pictures or items on display.
Or - just as good maybe - is there anyone here who could provide us with a story about perhaps a relative or acquaintance who had a store back in the day.
I remember seeing a website about a "ghost store" that had been found in a rural town with the radio repair shop frozen in time - I wish I could find that website now.
I've read some items about "radio row" - but I'd like to see pictures and hear stories about some other radio stores from other places around the world.
Through the last twenty five years - I've bought up the remnants of several radio repair shops - Tubes, parts, manuals, etc. - I don't think I've ever seen a picture of the individuals behind these items - personal info like that is always not included or removed by the family members that are disposing of the items.
Let's see if some of you guys can personalize the past a little for us.
Thanks - Steve

When I was in High School in 1961, there was the old Sylvan-Wellington radio parts store (from 1929) at 269 Canal St. in New York City. It moved out but Mr. Wong kept a small section of parts and repairs in the back. Here is a link to the "ghost sign" for Sylvan Wellington, scroll down to the bottom http://www.michaelminn.net/newyork/themes/ghost_signs/
and another picture
http://www.nychinatown.org/storefronts/ ... canal.html
and a description of 269 Electronics which is Mr. Wong http://www.judysbook.com/cities/newyork ... ronics.htm
Don

Leeds Radio started in 1923 on Radio Row in NYC. Although they have moved to Brooklyn they are still in business selling mainly surplus parts and electronics. I've got an old calendar from them circa 1950s.

Is Hatry Electronics (Hartford) still around in some form?

This shop is actually a stone's throw from my office, which is just around the corner on Broadway, and I pass this shop every time I go to the office!!! Don, thank you very much for the info, next time I am in NYC, I will make sure stop by and say hello to Mr. Wong...

Thanks, Paul

Do I count?



I had posted a larger, partially-colored picture in another thread.

This was my grandfather's store in Washington, DC. The photo was taken around 1924.

William E. Tayman worked for the B&O Railroad as a machinist. He later worked for the Navy, in the Washington Navy Yard, as a machinist in the gun factory. As a side business, he started wiring houses for electricity. He soon opened a store, selling light bulbs and electrical appliances. The name of the store was Tayman Electrical. When radio came out he picked up Atwater Kent, Silver Marshall, and Crosley and sold them in the store. Since Grandpop was working during the day, the two oldest boys usually ran the store. Most business came from selling light bulbs and vacuum tubes.

The store eventually closed and a few of the radios came home. My dad had a Silver Marshall highboy radio that never sold, but it unfortunately ended up being thrown out, as did just about everything else over the years. I have one set of headphones; that's about it.

However the tinkering was in the family. My dad started servicing radios and TV sets at home as a side business, during the late 1950's-early 1960's. I was very small at the time, but often sat there and watched him work, probably in much the same way as HE watched HIS dad work.

I went to tech school and became a CET -- and got a job at Xerox. I spent years servicing word processors and computers in the State Department, Federal Reserve, the White House, and other area offices. I met my wife at the Fed -- she was a supervisor working for Bill Taylor, who later became FDIC Chairman.

One day we moved to Sarasota, and I worked for copier dealers here, becoming a Product Specialist for Canon color machines.

The day came when I purchased an old Thunderbird as a project car to fix up. Upon getting it home, one of the first things I serviced was the radio. While putting it back in, I wondered about offering this to others, as very few people are willing to service such sets. In almost no time the place was flooded with radios! I soon became an authorized dealer for Antique Automobile Radio, purchasing vibrators from them as well as stereo PCB's and other products. I had informed them that I was just getting started, and had a name picked out -- Classic Car Radio. I was immediately informed that EVERY car radio dealer has tried some variation of that name, and that another dealer is sueing anyone who tries. So I asked my dad, the name of Grandpop's radio store. Tayman Electrical. I figured if anyone were to try and come after THAT name, I can trace it in the family back to the early 1920's.

So, almost 90 years later and 1,000 miles to the south, the radio shop lives on!

Gary:

What a great story!

Hope you're enjoying the good weather. It's lousy here.

Steve Chambers

PC Richard Appliance chain in New York City started 100 years ago as a hardware store that added radio repair then television. Here is a link to their history, with pictures. http://www.pcrichard.com/custserv/conte ... me=AboutUs

Don

I have operated radio stores and known other that did that too.
The one thing is there always a distinct divide between the clients and the repair people. The shops were supplied by wholesalers who had travelling salesmen who knew the parts and tubes well, and could come in and look at your tube shelf and more or less
write up a restocking order. They had specials on rabbit ears, line cords volume controls and 30/50-150 capacitors and also knew who had good credit lines. They also carried news between shops about dogs and fixes.

If you want to find out about old time shops, get hold of their
work order copies, the forms were carbon, and the old books
held stuff shops needed , like who owned what model, addresses
phone numbers. Sometime people who buy collections just throw that stuff out because they dont know what they are looking at.
The other thing too is techs moved about between shops and
arguments and other crap made them go down the road.

One catalog I have from the mid 20's gives a mark up of 50% on radios and 30% on speakers.

Is that calculated in the traditional way for retailing, as a percentage of the selling price (50% markup on an item seling for $10 means the store paid the manufacturer or wholesaler $5)?

Those are great stories - I love seeing the pictures of the old stores - when I see one that has good detail I try to study it.
Gary - Its interesting how impressions are made at an early age - I have a picture of myself at about the age of three - perched on top of my grandfather's Marconi console - that radio sat in our basement all through my childhood - I would look it all over and tinker with it - wondering what it would sound like etc - eventually the radio was given to a relative who had a "professional" repair it. When I became a technician I started to fix antique radios on the side - I eventually got to work on that old radio and repair it properly - and now its in my Nephew's home - I noticed last time I was there that it needs a little freshening up - a new grill cloth and the dial glass is loose - but I won't mind working on it again - its a tie to my grandftaher.

Sears sold radios back in the '30's and is still selling radios today. But I'm sure that's not the type of store you had in mind. The radio offerings in old Sears catalogs are interesting to look through. A book has been published showing reprints of many of them.

Dave

Interesting question. I'm not far from you in Cambridge. Within an hour of me here, there are two I can think of: East Hamilton Radio (1931) and Bay Bloor Radio in Toronto (1946). The latter was started after the war by a guy named Sol Mandlsohn. Their modern website says he "started fixing radios in a little store at the corner of Bay and Bloor Streets. Sol had learned his trade while in the Canadian army during the Second World War.

Sol Mandlsohn believed in honesty, integrity and fairness, and his customers always came first. Because he gave good service, his little radio store grew… and grew… and grew." They sell audio and video equipment still.

I'll have to do a search and see if if there are any of the old Sears catalogues scanned and available for viewing. Tango - I think I've heard commercials on the radio for East Hamilton radio - I think on the Hamilton 107.9 station - that's a good station by the way. - Can't get it on the air up here in Barrie - but I get it in the car when I go to work.
Locally there was a shop here that was called POOLE Bros - Two brothers who did radio/tv in one half the building and Bicycle /motorcycle servicing in the other half . I met the son about ten years ago and bought what was left of the radio/tv stuff - it was all stored in decrepid sheds on the dad's property - a lot of it was ruined - but I got quite a bit of stuff out of there and so did a friend - that's also where I got my 18 tube Northern Electric. I should try to see if I can get hold of him again - maybe he has access to some old pictures.
I got the tour of the bicycle and motorcycle stuff to - he had a motorcycle / sidecar combo that was pre 1920 - pretty cool stuff.

This may seem a little off to the side of the thread but here goes.

I grew up in Salt Lake City Utah and there was a Radio Store on State Street in the Downtown called "Radio City" starting back in the 1920's

It remained in business until just a year or two ago as a Gay Bar called "Radio City Lounge".

It also had the distinction of being the oldest Gay Bay west of the Mississippi. I don't know at what period it went from radio to beer.

The sinage "Radio City" remained until the end.

That section of the downtown has been since redeveloped into a parking lot.

As a younger lad I spent some time photographing the painted singes on the sides of buildings in alleys selling cars, radios, and whatever; they two are all gone now (except my yellowing Kodachrome).

My favorite Was when a fairly tall hotel burned to the ground and the brick walls collapsed which were against the adjacent building and exposed a perfectly preserved painted sign for Studebaker Buggies and Wagons. Got a picture somewhere.

Jim

I wonder what happened to all the signage ?

Mark V. Stein's book on The Sears Silvertone catalogs 1930 - 1942 is composed of reprints of pages from the catalog pages, and is an excellent resource. It also makes it easy to see the styles change over the years.[/u]

This is what I had in mind when I started this thread -

http://www.the-rocketman.com/images/scr ... o-shop.jpg
The website ties the picture to a family - I find it very interesting to see the family history behind the scenes - quite often the entrepreneurial spirit is passed from generation to generation.
The Rogers family here in Canada is an example of such. http://www.antique67.com/articles.php?article=25
Ian anthony also authored a book for the Rogers corporation (RADIO WIZARD) where he details even more of the family history - they made money in Pennsylvania oil long before radio came along.

Dan Dollar in Anaheim, CA operates the radio repair store his father started. Dan is elderly, so the store has been in operating for many decades. He has a showroom, so they may have sold radios at one time.

[quote="Gary Tayman"]Do I count?



You betcha! Great story Gary.