A business all but extinct elsewhere still in Sidney

A familiar business within Sidney tucked away on a downtown side street and easily missed if one is not sure of where it is, is Max’s Vacuum and Sewing Center.

A business open that has been open for 35 plus years is selling the same merchandise from the very beginning; sewing machines, vacuums, product supplies and performing repairs on such products.

Cindy Stewart, the shop’s third owner, says she stands behind the Singer vacuums and Brother sewing machines 100 percent, just as the other two owners have.

Originally the business was opened by Max Sanders, who sold the shop in the 70s to Bob Schiel, Stewart’s former boss, and then changed hands again when it was purchased in 2005 by Stewart.

How did she come about the decision to purchase a business some would say is of a dying breed? The only way any person could, by being an employee first.

“I worked for Bob for 28 years and it got to the point where either he would retire and me take over or one of us goes,” She said.

She began working for Schiel when she “came back to Sidney with a baby and the clothes on my back.

“I needed a job and my dad was really good friends with Bob. He said I was coming back and at the time Bob needed somebody, so he said he would give me a chance. If it didn’t work out he didn’t want there to be any hard feelings. And I worked for Bob from ’82 on.”

She could have left or gone to work for someone else during those years but said with a great deal of jest, “It’s what I do, I’m a compulsive vacuumer.”

But on a more serious note Cindy admitted she just loves it; the work, the place and the people.

Stewart has a unique perspective on the many changes, both within sales and consumers, because of the first hand experiences through the eyes of an employee and business owner, all within the same walls.

According to Cindy many of these unwanted changes because of the internet and increased numbers of super centers.

She feels they are responsible for the death of small businesses over the years – a view she is not alone in exposing.

“The bigger ticket sales are not there very much anymore,” she said, “because of the “box stores” like Wal Mart and K-Mart. Granted you can get a cheaper vacuum but you get what you pay for.

“Mine, I offer service after the sale. I am not going to sell you a product and not care about you. I want to sell you something that I can feel good about, while you’re walking out the door,” she said. “You are my customer, I am going to take care of you, because I care.”

She admitted to understanding where shopping at the corporate owned stores is conducive to a person’s pocketbook, because of the economy and ability to buy in bulk therefore at a cheaper price, but holds reservations as to the cost efficiency those stores offer the consumers.

“They go to Wal Mart every month for six months,” Stewart began explaining her thoughts, “and buy a new vacuum, thinking they are saving money. But if they would pay just a little more to buy a good one, they aren’t that much more expensive, they start at $239, they (the customers) are spending about the same amount of money, but getting a 3-year warranty on them and I am going to take care of them if anything happens to it.”

Cindy admits her prices are a bit steeper and there is a product in her store that is a full $40 cheaper at Wal Mart but this is due to an inability to buy in bulk; too much inventory is not good for any store.

She also warns that consumers “need to remember, you have service if you buy from me and I am going to take care of you,” something she doesn’t feel the larger stores can or will do.

As for sewing machine sales, Stewart said she has noted a great decline, but for other reasons than just the “box stores”.

“It’s more quilting, these days, so the ladies are going after the big quilting machines,” she said. “My daughter’s generation doesn’t like to sew though the kids that are 13 and 14 years old they are starting to like to sew.”

Despite the hardships of a small business owner, Stewart said staying open is important to her and “as long as I have enough money to pay my bills if someone needs help I’ll do it. I am not here to get rich, I am here to help people, and it is what I like to do. I love it.”

For her, it is this attitude that makes small business owners a cut above the big conglomerates, because it shows the value customer service still holds within this genre - as cornerstone in business ethics.

“You have to treat your people well and I do. Every year I pick one person and I give them a vacuum or will provide them with a year’s worth of vacuum bags or something like that. I usually chose the person from the elderly generation, from Western Heritage, I don’t tell them and I just do it.

“If someone comes in here and they have only $10 in their pocket,” because they are low on funds, “and they need their vacuum fixed, I’ll fix it for them and won’t charge them anything.”

Cindy said she feels this kind of caring is very important, despite so many people warning her it may eventually lead to the closing of the doors,

“I love my people.”