“I’ve always been able to figure out how machines work,” says Chen, the owner of Discount Vacuum. “As a child, I would take apart my mechanical toys and look at the insides.” It was a natural progression to do the same with his parents’ broken tools and appliances, and by the time he started working for Discount Vacuums under the previous owner in 1975, he was already a seasoned repairman.
When Chen bought the store in 1981, he became the owner of a third-generation repair shop that has been a fixture in the Burnaby Heights neighbourhood for decades. Since then his reputation for quick, affordable and skilled repair work has only grown, making Discount Vacuum the go-to destination for locals with faulty vacuum cleaners, sewing machines and other electronics in need of tuning up.
