Dick Sampier has semi-retired and moved out of the building behind Stadium Hardware. A sign posted on the door says he’ll be doing vacuum repairs out of his home.

Dick Sampier Vacuum was the vacuum world’s Willy Wonka palace of wonders. “He had parts from the first vacuum ever made in that place,” Jim Young marvels–possibly an exaggeration, but Young has worked at Stadium Hardware for seventeen years, and the folks at Stadium are connoisseurs of the art of repair. “His kids wanted him to retire,” he adds.

Sampier often repaired just for the love of repairing. “This is bad news! He was such a nice man and once didn’t want to charge me for a repair that took five minutes. I insisted on leaving five dollars,” says the Observer’s Eve Silberman.

Ruth Hafford, who cleans for a living and knows her vacuums, concurs: “He’s the best.” She says she’ll still go to him for service.

Dick Sampier Vacuum, 482-0190.

Wendy has left the building. Wendy Chapman started her eponymous clothing store in Nickels Arcade in 2011. Her best friend and business partner, artist Johnny Vaughn, bought her out in 2013 when she remarried and moved away. Now, “Wendy is officially closed … Life is about change and growth,” Vaughn writes on Wendy’s Facebook page.

Mix–an expansion of the downtown Ypsi women’s clothing store–is coming to Nickels Arcade soon.

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