Atlanta Washer sales archives----

[gyrafoam]

In addition to the old Atlanta trivia I just posted on the "Norge Village" thread previously, here is some more information I found. Digging through old Atlanta telephone books was quite interesting!

(Tom, this was a shock------------)

In 1955 there were THREE Blackstone dealers, as well as Easy dealers and three S.Q. Dealers as well. WTF??????? I NEVER remember a Blackstone dealer around here! The main one was "Associated Appliance Co." on the 700 block of Ponce de Leon which would have been between Sears and downtown (around Ms.P's?).They also sold Frigidaire, Thor and Hotpoint too.

Associated was also the big Apex dealer! I NEVER saw one in Atlanta that I remember, although I remember Fox discussing working on them. The Apexs' I remember were all in Miami.

Davisons department store sold all kinds of stuff----I don't remember their appliance department being this large-------they sold BLACKSTONE!, Bendix, 'Noge, Kelvinator, and Whirlpool.

Rich's Department store sold Bendix, and GE. Haverty's sold Easy's and there was a large exclusive Maytag store on Gordon Street, as well as the one in Buckhead and a few out in Decatur.

NOT ONE WESTINGHOUSE ANYTHING LISTED ANYWHERE!!!!!!!
Whats up with that?????!!!!!!!

In 1964:

Westinghouse was (finally) being sold by all the Ga. Power Co.stores and Cassell's Appliance on on Flat Shoals Rd. in Decatur, as well as Hapeville Home Supply.
Easy was down to one dealer: Chafin's in Forest Park. Apex and Blackstone were no longer listed anywhere!
Kelvinator was in all B.F. Goodrich tire stores as well as Tippen's Appliances out on Moreland Avenue (and I-20).

Frigidaire had 18 Dealers!!!!!!!!

BY 1968------ Apex,Blackstone,Easy had all dissapeared.
Of course Frigidaire was still strong, with Whirlpool now showing quite a few dealers.
All the Georgia Power Company stores sold Maytags.
'Noge who had had 16 dealers in 1964 was down to three!
BUT-----there were no less that 26 PHILCO dealers!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go 'figya!!!!!!!!

A very interesting look into Atlanta's appliance history!

I did not mention them, and of course they were very strong here back in the day, were the "Kenmores" sold at Sears (early on at the huge Ponce de Leon store) who were up to four large metro stores by 1968.

I still can't get over those Blackstone dealers!

 

[peterh770]

Steve,

We're just going to have to start looking harder in da hood!

 

[mayken4now]

Very interesting and amazing information. Da yella pae dont lie do it?

 

[jetcone]

Steve

Thats absolutely fascinating. It shows how our perceptions can color our memory, no?

Now I need to go find an old Phone book for Schenectady from 55, 64 and compare since it was a GE town from the get go.

 

[gyrafoam]

Jet----

You're not kidding!
I still can't get over those Blackstone dealers!
Of course,the Atlanta metropolitan area was MUCH smaller back in the '50's and '60's, so that may have something to do with it.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Hey Steve, Thanks for the interesting stroll down memory lane. We moved to the area in the spring of 1955 and with the way my parents tried to keep me away from appliances, I guess there were no Bendix dealers left when I got close enough to look in stores. The Georgia Power company sold Westinghouse appliances almost from the time the Lord decided we should have electricity. By about 58 or so they began stocking Maytags. In the early 70s, they also started selling Hotpoint.

I think we were headed to Tippins on Moreland to look at a Maytag when we were passing the Sears on Ponce and daddy suggested that we just stop in and see what they had. That's how we wound up with the 58 green LK.

One of mom's friends had an APEX, but that was the only one I saw.

Haverty's and at least one other (maybe Rhodes Furniture?) had big warehouses where in 1968 and 1969, I talked with men in the used appliance department about combos. I remember the man at Haverty's discussing a Westinghouse combo with me. I already had the 33' WP and had read enough to know that the Duomatic was the only successful combo, so that's what I was looking for. You should check those directories for Appliances, Used also.

Riches no longer had Bendix when I started being allowed glimpses of the appliance department. It was GE and Norge. That's where I got to examine the Norge combo.

Davisons had a lot of brands go through there. That is where I saw the L1000 and D1000. They sold Hotpoint because I remember hearing a salesman tell a prospective customer to feel the top of a Hotpoint tub and explain that that it had a ring of cement up there; Lord Help Us!! He was trying to sell a WP at the time and that was when I got to really get inside the combo. We bought our Westinghouse washer (LTA 590?) there in the mid 60s and our 1-18 in the early 70s. They picked up Maytag also because it was in their appliance department at North Lake Mall that I found my DE806 still on the shipping skid, reduced from $359 to $199.

Philco had all of those stores in 1968 because from time immemorial Firestone Tire Stores sold them. When we would go into Decatur to get haircuts, our barber shop was in the Hotel Candler which was diagonally across the street from the Firestone store. Sometimes we even parked near it. I remember the two tub wringer washer on display as well as the Automagics and the various Duomatics. The windows seemed to go around 3 sides of the store. 1969 was the end of the line for the Duomatics. I don't know how much longer the laundry line lasted. Economy Auto Stores sold Philco. I remember the Ball Point balance agitator washers when I was about 6 or 7. The appliances were up at the front of the store, but the men liked to stay back by the counter where tires were sold. I could go in, open the sideways opening lid and grab the agitator and push and pull that tub all over the place. They started selling Maytag in the late 50s. They had a big lucite Maytag dryer in the window with the Halo of Heat element simulated in red neon. I remember waiting in the car one evening waiting for mom to finish up in the Krogers which was next to the Economy Auto. The store was closed and the only light was that red neon lighting up the corner window. It was in that store by our house in 1958 that I saw a traded in Frigidaire that was the first model. It was not all that expensive.

In those days, there were lots of used appliance places. I remember one on Memorial on the way into Atlanta. It was almost at a corner and had lots of appliances outside under a metal awning, clearly not Buckhead ambience. I used to pray that we would catch a red light and be stopped in front of that store. Further in on Memorial, on the other side of the road from "The Cemetery," Oakland, maybe? there was a plumbing company in an OOOLD almost unpainted, wood house. They had all of this used plumbing-related stuff like sinks, tubs, toilets, water heaters out in the "yard" in front and for a while, there was a pink Westinghouse combo sitting there without its lower front panel. Even in Decatur when Malcolm & McKinney Plumbers were located next to the car wash, north of the tracks near the Atlantic Ice Co., they had all kinds of scrap laid out beside their building and I remember a beautiful AMP sitting there, but since I could not watch Maytags operate, I was not interested in a Maytag.