Life after Sears — the watch repair department does it alone
When Sears went bust late last year, there was a lot of attention on the thousands of employees who lost their jobs and the company’s underfunded pension plan.
But there was more to the story than that.
In dozens of Sears stores, in five provinces across the country, watch and jewelry repair kiosks run by the same family business had to close as well.
The closure put an end to three decades of the Sears Watch and Jewelry Repair chain that at its prime had 62 locations and more than 250 employees.
“Obviously it was shock when Sears went out of business. We became an unsecured creditor and we went in line with everyone else,” says Milon Talsania, 42, the vice president of operations for the company.
But now out of the ashes of the former enterprise, the family has regrouped with a new plan to use kiosks in mall walkway areas instead of space inside department stores.
So far nine locations have opened under the new brand Fast Time Watch and Jewellery Repair, and one of them is at Lime Ridge Mall on Hamilton Mountain.
The company hopes to expand into Eastgate Square in Hamilton and Mapleview Mall in Burlington over the coming months, says Talsania.
McMaster University business professor Marvin Ryder says watch repair in malls would have a similar business approach to shoe repair and clothing alterations businesses.
“They can operate out of nooks and crannies that many malls have trouble renting out. These people can pick it up for a song. And they can turn it into a pretty good business.
“I think there is definitely a market for it,” he said.
The business was started in the late 1970s by his dad Sam, who is now 71 and remains president.
He is a mechanical engineer by training, and began by fixing cordless phones in Willowdale before moving into electronic watches and then finally into watch and jewelry repair more generally.
He signed licence agreements to run kiosks at Simpsons, Eatons and Consumers Distributing stores. As those companies exited the Canadian retail space, the Talsanias tied their fortunes with Sears.
“The idea of the business was that Sears would sell watches and we would fit the watch strap and provide other after-sales service,” says Milon.
And while in recent years they could see Sears faltering around them, Milon says business remained strong.
That might sound counterintuitive in an era when people are more likely to use a smartphone to tell the time.
But Milon insists that “watches are making a comeback. Especially from a fashion perspective.”
Sure, a lot of his customers might only need a $5 battery.
But the small sale is a great start to build relationships with customers, he says. The next time maybe the purchase will be a strap or a new watch.
And what about Aunt Erma’s old brooch? They do jewelry repairs as well.
He said not long ago, a woman came in with a “locket with a lot of sentimental value that apparently had been blessed by the Pope. And we were able to repair it.”
That kind of thing makes him feel good about the work he does, feeling blessed himself that the company is set for a second chance.
“When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. That’s what my father taught me and that’s what we are doing,” said Milon.