Sewing machine repair

[from the Boston Globe]

SOUTH BOSTON -- George Candora, 81, has had a sewing machine repair shop in Boston for more than sixty years. Elliot Sewing Machine Company started in Elliot Square in Roxbury, hence its name, then moved to Broadway in Boston. When the Mass Turnpike extension was built, he moved to Harrison Avenue, and now his three-story shop is located on West Broadway in South Boston. His nephew Edwin Pacheco works with him now in a shop crammed with more than 4,000 sewing machines, including a couple dating to the early 1800s. "Business is slow," Candora admits. He used to service all the city's factory machines, but "all the factories have moved to China." Pacheco pipes in, "Soon we're going to move to China too." Candora responded, "And we'll work for 50 cents an hour too." These days, they mainly work on home machines and sewing machines from cleaners and tailors and colleges.

(Globe Staff Photo / Suzanne Kreiter)

I cut this out of the Boston Globe a few months ago. I called today to see how much it would cost to have my sewing machine serviced. It will cost $45. Then I asked how long it takes. "You can pick it up the next day." Wow! That is amazing. I'm hoping to take my Singer Stylist 776 to the shop this week.