The down economy has brought a bit of a boom to Kiefer's Small Appliance Repair Center, 4511 Monona Drive in Monona, Wisconsin. With money tight more people are thinking twice about buying new when their electronic devices break down, says Kiefer's Owner Wayne Kiefer.

"People are beginning to realize that it's going to cost $250 or $300 to buy a new shaver or they can go to Kiefer's and get it fixed for $50 to $100. A lot of people will throw out an entire shaver when the screen and cutter go dull when for $20 or $30 they can just get a new screen and cutter and make it as good as new.

This tradition to just throw away the product when it breaks is due in large part to what Kiefer says is the conditioning of people by the companies that sell these products to just throw it out, buy a new one and they don't even think about fixing it. But as tough times continue people are reconsidering their wasteful ways as they look to repair their appliances, which is keeping Kiefer and his three employees very busy.

The business started on State Street in Madison in 1945 as a fountain pen repair business. It later moved into repairing electric shavers and small appliances. In 1982 Kiefer bought the business and after about two years moved from the State Street location to a few other locations in Madison over the years before settling at their current home at 4511 Monona Drive.

Today Kiefer's services many types of shavers and other small appliances. From air compressors to crock pots to VCRs. Anything with an electric motor or that is electric Kiefer says they try to repair.

Their presences on the Internet at http://www.kieferappliance.com/ brings in a large part of their business. "The search engines work well for me," says Kiefer. "We get a lot of phone calls daily from that Web page."

And with each call comes a new challenge. "You never have the same thing two days in a row," says Kiefer. "I think that's what the employees enjoy about it too because they don't have to sit on a assembly line. You have to really use your head and do some thinking to figure out what's wrong with things. So it's not a job that you can just sit down and do things."

An area that Kiefer has really put his passion into is repairing antique clocks. After losing his clock repair man about 15 years ago Kiefer started to teach himself the art of clock repair. "Clocks are so darn particular. You have to go through the chain or gears to find out why they're stopping." In many cases Kiefer has to totally dismantle them and get every gear out of them to find out why they have stopped. But it's these challenges that keep the business interesting and in some cases the jobs can be downright strange.

Kiefer recalled one odd job. It was a machine that emitted ultraviolet light and was supposed to cure whatever ailed you. What Kiefer called a "quack machine."

"If you had arthritis you'd hold this ultraviolet light next to your skin and it would cure your arthritis. If you had a sore on your arm it would cure that. You name it, it would cure it. The guy brought it in and wanted me to rewire it. So I rewired it and got it working again and the guys was tickled pink. I don't know what he ever did with it but that was an interesting project."

It's those one-of-a-kind projects that are a perfect fit for this one-of-a-kind business. "I don't think there is anybody like us in the whole country doing all the things that we service," says Kiefer, adding that there were some small appliance companies in Milwaukee, one in La Crosse and another in Minneapolis. Now Kiefer's is picking up a lot of that business which makes for a hopping shop in Monona.

Kiefer's Small Appliance Repair Center

4511 Monona Drive

Monona, Wisconsin

Phone: 608-221-3322