Question about a repair shop I saw in Chicago

I walked past a small repair place on Clark Street yesterday and noticed they had a whole shelf of old, gutted VCRs for parts. It got me thinking, do you guys still keep specific old parts like that around, or do you just tell customers it's not worth fixing? What's your cutoff for keeping obsolete stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

anthony1273mo ago

Wow, that's a dedicated parts hoarder right there.

wendy6743mo ago

Dedicated parts hoarder" is putting it nicely, I mean that's a museum display. My cutoff is when the part is older than my car, then it's just clutter. Idk maybe they're waiting for a VCR renaissance.

nathan_foster601mo ago

...and that's exactly what I think of every time I see a shelf like that, you know? I had a buddy back in the day who kept a whole bin of old VCR gears and belts just in case someone brought in a - well, I guess a VCR that worked. He never used them once in two years but swore they were "prime inventory." That's the thing about parts hoarding like @anthony127 mentioned, it's more about nostalgia than practicality at a certain point. Like sure, you might fix one a year if you're lucky, but the rest of the time it's just taking up space and collecting dust. Honestly, I bet that shop in Chicago is just holding onto them for the same reason people keep old record players around - it feels wrong to throw away something that used to be everywhere.