Janitor-turned-inventor J.M. Spangler’s early vacuum cleaner featured a pillowcase to catch the debris, making it the first portable upright.
The spotted history of the dutiful vacuum cleaner
By Andy Kriege, YSN
Brooms and carpet-beaters just didn’t get the job done. There had to be a better way to eliminate the dust and dirt accumulating beneath the feet of 19th century home dwellers.
So, in 1869, Chicago inventor Ives McGaffey submitted a patent application for a carpet sweeper that relied on a hand-operated crank to create suction. It was the first step in the evolution of the vacuum cleaner.
Over the next few decades, enterprising people from around the world fiddled with various suction-cleaning concepts. Each contributed to gradual improvements. A major breakthrough came in the 1920s, when an Ohio janitor named James Murray Spangler created a carpet sweeping contraption out of a soap box, a broom handle, a pillowcase and an electric motor. The modern electric vacuum was born.
Hoover, damn!
Spangler’s cousin Susan Hoover and her husband William bought the patent from the cash-strapped inventor and went on to found the Hoover Vacuum Corporation. The vacuum cleaner was off to the races.
By the 1940s, the vacuum cleaner (predominantly the Hoover brand) could be found in most homes across the country. It became a staple at many independent retail stores, and was often sold alongside other household appliances and sewing machines. It was a high-margin product that could be merchandised with many accessories (think belts, bags, hoses and attachments). Servicing them was lucrative as well.
BrandSource member and Tri-States Region President Barry Kindy owns North Canton TV & Appliance, located in the Ohio town where Hoover once employed 3,500 people. “This town was built upon the Hoover Corporation; for a century it was the backbone of this town,” he said. His grandfather, Paul Kindy, started out working as an electrician for Hoover before founding the family’s retail operation in 1939. “Hoover grew the business to the point where the expression ‘hoovering’ your carpets was synonymous with vacuuming,” Kindy said.
Hometown Competition
The Kindy family business started out selling radios, then TVs and eventually appliances — but never sold vacuums in the vacuum capital of the world. As Kindy explained, “In this town, everybody knew someone who worked for Hoover, and they had an employee store where you could purchase one much cheaper than at retail.”
Kindy lamented how the vacuum cleaner, once a lucrative, high-margin retail item, has since devolved into a box-store commodity.
“Easily shippable cash-and-carry items like vacuums, small appliances and TVs all went that way,” he said, and unless there is some value-add on behalf of the seller, independents simply can’t compete on these products. “With TVs, for example, we sell the mounts, address the needed wiring, hook them up and show people how to use them. By adding all this value, we can make up for the thin margins on products.”
Still in the Game
BrandSource member Dwight’s Discount Vacuum & Appliance in Waco, Texas, was built on retail vacuum sales and still services and carries a full line of commercial-grade floor care products along with major appliances. Store Manager Pat Jones agreed that vacuums have been commoditized to the point where the box stores now sell the bulk of the low-quality models found in most homes.
“There are brands that are geared to box stores,” Jones said, “but there are better-quality machines that are geared toward business like ours that still have good margin.”
Before working at Dwight’s, Jones tried his hand at selling Kirby vacuums door-to-door in the 1980s. “We would offer free carpet cleaning or a set of steak knives just to get in the door,” he said. “It was a tough way to make a living; you were not welcome in a lot of areas.” While cold calling no longer exists, Kirby continues to sell high-margin machines via in-home appointments.
It’s in the Bag
Elsewhere, “Big Ed” Wernsing of Wernsing’s Appliance & Video & Sleep Center in Litchfield, Ill., used to carry a full line of vacuum cleaners. “We sold lots of Oreck vacuums over the years,” he said. “It brought a lot of customers back to buy bags and other accessories.”
Wernsing stopped selling vacs several years back when margins fell and warranty reimbursement dried up. But in a nod to the legacy category, “We still sell the bags to old-time customers. It’s just like selling to water filters for refrigerators; it brings some footsteps into the store.
“It was a good ride while it lasted,” he said.
YSN publisher AVB BrandSource is the nation’s largest merchandising and marketing co-op for independent appliance, mattress, furniture and CE dealers.
