No dirt left behind

DALTON GARDENS - Ask Loren Walz why he has been selling Kirby vacuums for four decades.

Ask him why he has dedicated 40 years of his life to providing people with what he says is the top tool to keep carpets dirt free.

He doesn't hesitate. He knows. Always has.

"It is the best product there is, No. 1," he said.

No. 2, Kirbys last.

"You can't wear them out," he said.

And No. 3, they're made in the good old U.S.A.

"They're a great company. That's why I've stayed with them," Walz said.

Today, he runs his shop from 1,500 square feet at 6055 Government Way. Step into his office, and the wall is covered with plaques, each a witness to his success.

There's an opportunity award and a promotion award. There's one for winning a Kirby world series and being on the Kirby council. There's some for taking first in national sales contests.

He points to a picture of a majestic castle in Germany - which he saw on a trip in 2002, courtesy of Kirby for shining at sales.

What it comes down is this: Loren Walz knows Kirbys.

Nothing again the Bissells, the Hoover, the Dysons and the Shark Navigators, but for Walz, Kirby is always the answer to the question, "What vacuum is best?"

The price tag alone, $2,249 for the top model complete with shampoo system, is well beyond $49 you might pay for a basic Dirt Devil on sale somewhere.

That's like comparing coconuts to carrots.

Walz, confident and easy going, has no doubts Kirbys are worth every nickel. Your carpets will be clean. Damn clean. So clean, there won't be dust, even, on the flip side. Your carpet will thank you for it.

"Their reputation follows them because they do last forever, they do work the best," he said.

Keeper

Let's jump all the way back to 1972, a year when Walz was looking for a new career. He had a good gig with Singer sewing machines in North Dakota, but the profit structure, he said, was not conducive to managers like him.

"The salesmen were making more than me," he said.

Walz accepted a job selling the sturdy, dependable Kirbys door to door.

And, as he discovered, business did not suck.

"There was a lot of dust in North Dakota, so we had a lot of vacuum sales," he said, smiling.

Promotions followed and around 20 years ago, Walz arrived in the Lake City. In the golden days, he had around 30 salesmen selling Kirby door to door. Today, there's Walz, Rutley and two door-to-door salesmen.

"It's a numbers game in our business," he said. "When most people see it demonstrated, they know it's way better than what they have."

He has sold somewhere in the range of 20,000 Kirbys in his career.

The business was at 5648 N. Government Way before it was destroyed in a fire in March, later relocating just north.

"We recovered. We're back to normal right now," Walz said. "Customers are finding out where we are."

Lasting impression

A line of used, but shiny Kirbys stand in the display window. His longtime repairman and friend Thomas Rutley is cleaning and adjusting a used Kirby, 1990 model, brought in for a tune-up.

In his work area are an array of screwdrivers, drill bits, scissors, spray cleaners and other gadgets to care for the motor, transmission, belts, brushes, housing and filters.

Clients come in with vacuums near their death bed, no longer able to pick up that dog hair or fall leaf that blew in, and Rutley or Walz give them new life. They can replace or fix most anything.

Sometimes, it's a complicated operation. Sometimes, it's not.

"The belt goes bad and it starts to smoke, they think they're done," said Rutley, wearing a dark blue shirt with the word "Kirby" stitched in bright yellow near his left shoulder.

He points to the center of the Kirby display room, where refurbished vacuums stand for sale. There are Dirt Devils, Hoovers, Bissells. Orecks and Dysons. Each, Rutley said, was traded on a Kirby.

One customer, he said, brought in seven vacuums she had accumulated over the past six years and traded them all in.

Rutley walks over to the front display window and points to a Kirby he said is 40 years old, with a pricetag of $228. Another, 27 years old, is offered at $388.

Then, he glances at the center display of misfit vacuums. Good for surface cleaning, he says. That's it.

"Everything in here is a trade. Lost to a Kirby," Rutley said. "It would be like having a tractor pull a Datsun S-10 and put a Dodge Ram on the other end. Who's going to win?"

"This is a three-quarter ton vac. Everything else is a half-ton vac," he continued. "It's that simple. It's a better machine. There's no way around it."

Walz said they sell 20-25 new Kirbys each month, and boasts of their three-year unlimited warranty.

"We'll take care of it no matter what," he said.

So while Kirbys may be bulletproof, much of their business comes from repairs.

"He works on the older machines, the archaic ones," Rutley said, laughing, as he nodded at Walz.

Walz, who vacuums at home but isn't wild about it, said wife Nancy was once a Kirby distributor, too, before deciding there could be only one Kirby king per family.

He hasn't gotten rich selling vacuums, Walz said, but he has enjoyed it. Satisfying career. Pride in his work. And that's what counts.

"We do OK. We've lived a good life. But it's not the money. A lot of people have a job but they don't like it. They usually don't do well at it because they don't like it. They do it for the money.

"That would be terrible to just do it for the money."

Rutley, and this could go under Ripley's believe it or not, came to work on Kirbys after buying one nearly 20 years ago.

He tells the story of someone knocking on his door with an "overpriced vacuum" in the $1,000 range. Ridiculous, he thought. Who would pay such a price?

"The only way I could buy this is if I went to work for you," Rutley told the salesman.

Funny story ...

He ended up trading in a bass, something else he can't recall, and just as he offered, going to work for the Kirby distributor.

Rutley, a gifted musician who played with Santana, was in sales for a year before moving into repairs. Been there since, and loving it.

"We say if you don't have one, you're paying for one, anyway. You're going to pay for one because you keep buying different vacuums."

By the way, that first Kirby that Thomas Rutley bought?

It still works.