Groton business to close after 50 years
Groton — For 29 years, until she was almost 94 years old, Margaret Kent came to work dressed in high heels, a pencil skirt, a scarf and a blazer.
She worked at All-Vac Service Inc., and since it sometimes got dusty unpacking and assembling vacuums, she’d tape paper over her sleeves so they wouldn't get soiled. Customers still ask about her, owner Bob Moshier said.
She died a year ago. Now the shop where she once worked, a business that has been in Bob and his wife Carol Moshier's family since 1967, is closing March 31.
“It’s bittersweet,” said Bob Moshier, 65. “I didn’t really want to do it, but we had to.”
The Moshiers bought the business from Richard and Alice Hoyt when it was at 5 Thames St., in a building that's since been demolished. A television repair shop, rug cleaner and diner served customers nearby.
The couple moved All-Vac to Groton Shopping Plaza in 1977, hosting a grand opening that March. A fabric store, bakery and woman’s clothing store in the plaza attracted shoppers.
“All day long, you had women walking up and down the sidewalk,” Bob Moshier recalled. Sales people from Royal, Hoover and Eureka brought in the latest model vacuums.
Shopping malls opened, but the store carried on. Big box stores served customers well into the evening, beyond the 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. hours of All-Vac. People began buying less expensive, bagless vacuums and tossing them when they broke.
The changes hurt, but the store maintained its customer base. In 2003, Hoover held a contest for shops, offering a cruise to Mexico to the top 50 Hoover sellers in the country. All-Vac won one of the cruises.
Then in 2007 and 2008, business fell off. Vacuum sales declined by half, and internet sales cut deeply into business, Bob Moshier said.
“It just kept slipping every year, and you’re always thinking it’s going to get better,” he said.
The store repaired vacuums and washed and cleaned bagless machines. But more and more, customers decided it wasn’t worth it, he said. They'd drop off a machine, learn of the $35 or $40 repair cost, and tell the store to throw it out.
The shop ended up with parts that quickly became obsolete. Dirt Devil models used F-1 filters to start, and Moshier still has F-4 and F-7 filters. The company is making F-77 filters now, Moshier said.
He knew where things were going five years ago, but didn’t decide until a few months ago to close, he said.
“We can just see the future,” Carol Moshier said. “Our age group, we want to see things, touch things” before buying them. But the younger generation is less concerned with this or doesn't have time to shop in person, she said.
Bob Moshier turns 66 next week, so the couple decided the timing was right. The store’s lease ended in January, so it’s been on a month-to-month arrangement since. After the store closes, Moshier said he’ll continue installing central vacuum systems in homes, as the business did.
The company’s full-time repairman of 30 years is looking for work.
The Moshiers told customers last week they'd handle only minor repairs. The shop has 23 vacuums waiting for pickup.
“I’m sad to see them go but I can understand it,” said Leonard Kostek of Preston as he picked up his vacuum Thursday. He has shopped at All-Vac for 30 years. “It’s just what’s happening. Can’t help it."
The little guys are being run out of business, is essentially what’s happening, he said.
George Finlayson of Stonington knew the company back when it was on Thames Street, when Carol Moshier’s parents owned it.
“It’s part of history for a lot of us,” he said. “It is. All of the businesses that were originally (in the plaza) are gone. The oldest business that’s going to be left is Benny’s.”
He knows it’s a new world. Everything seems so impersonal, he said.
“It’s a shame,” he said. “It’s nice to go into a store and hear, ‘Hey, George. How are you?’”
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