A staple of downtown Danielson has closed its doors.
After 75 years, Hurme TV and Appliance closed on July 1 as owner Michael Gaudreau wishes to retire. The building is expected to be sold to a new company on July 14. Customers can still reach Gaudreau at his business email address hurmetveandappliance@aol.com through the end of the month with any questions or concerns.
The company was originally founded in 1948 by Birger Hurme. Gaudreau’s father Robert worked for Hurme in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Fed up with working with the public, Hurme sold the company to Robert Gaudreau in 1963 for a relatively cheap price, said Michael Gaudreau.
The Hurme store was originally just a television store, at a time when television was a relative luxury in this part of the country. In the 1970s the business expanded into household appliances, demand for which continued to grow and accounted for 80-90% of the business in recent years,” said Michael Gaudreau.
“Television became disposable,” he said. “Not many people have serviced TVs.”
Service is everything
That has made Hurme’s “an integral part of the community,” said Jill St. Claire, director of economic development at Killingly.
“Service is everything,” she said. “These small businesses offer a service that the big stores can’t.”
After Michael Gaudreau graduated from Killingly High School in 1975, his father sent him to an electronics school and an appliance repair school. Gaudreau took over the business in 1998.
“It was set in stone as to what I would spend most of my life,” he said.
The focus on maintaining products kept people loyal to Hurme through the years. Gaudreau reckons that most people don’t want to throw away their stuff every few years while other stores keep selling people the next model, he said.
“We built our business on fixing the problem first, rather than judging it and making you come into the store and buy a new one,” Gaudreau said.
Like many other companies, the 2008 stock market crash and the COVID-19 pandemic were tough times for Hurme’s. For the latter, Hurme’s was considered an essential business because it could repair refrigerators and stoves.
“We were open every day and people appreciated that when everything else was closed,” he said.
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Big supporter of the community
Gaudreau has worked at Hurme since he was 14 and is now 65 years old. So he wants to retire and do other things while he’s still able, like golf, travel and possibly coaching again. He tried to sell the business but couldn’t find a buyer.
What Gaudreau will miss most about his company is the day-to-day work with customers.
“In the last month or two I’ve gotten a lot of hugs from customers and I’m not really a big fan of hugs, but they’ve appreciated what we’ve done for them and the community,” he said.
Local causes Gaudreau has supported over the years include numerous youth sports teams, he has served as director of the Springtime Festival Parade and was the coach of Killingly Youth Hoop Basketball for 25 years. He currently chairs Brooklyn’s Parks and Recreation Commission and will continue to live in Brooklyn, the next city, he said.
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For anyone missing Hurme’s, Gaudreau recommends going to JT’s Appliance, Inc. in Putnam, as it’s a similar store.
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