Wayne Kiefer purchased what would become Kiefer’s Shaver & Appliance from a WWII veteran in 1981. The business was called Electric Shaver Service and had been open since 1945. They mainly dealt in fountain pen repair & greeting cards. The shaver portion was only a small portion of this business until the transition in 1981.
After owning the business for several years, Wayne moved to Cottage Grove Road which is where the name was officially changed to the Kiefer Shaver & Appliance that it is today. At this time, small appliance repair was added after the purchase of the Appliance Service Center. It was at this time that the business exploded and became an authorized service center for many large names such as Norelco, Moulinex, Remington, Black & Decker & several others.
In the mid 1990s, the business outgrew the location and moved to the current location on Monona Drive which was originally a flower shop. Needless to say, there were many adjustments that needed to be made to the property to make it ready for a growing appliance business’ needs!
Around this same time, a company in Milwaukee who specialized in Sunbeam & Oster repair, approached the shop to see if we would be interested in purchasing their business as did a small shaver shop on Park Street. Both merged into the Kiefer’s Shaver & Appliance family successfully, increasing both visibility & inventory. At this point, the shop had five employees.
During the 2008 recession, many service center closed as people began discarding appliances rather than repairing them, but Kiefer’s Shaver & Appliance prevailed and remains one of the only repair shops in the Midwest today.
Eventually the name was shortened further as shavers were only a portion of the business and the shop became Kiefer Appliance.
Wayne still comes in to do clock repairs, but the business is currently run by his son Kip.
