Clicking on a dishwasher and putting it in an online cart may be easy, but nothing beats a
bricks-and-mortar store in the heart of downtown.
Lahey Appliance and TV continues to serve local customers, with appliance sales and repairs since 1954.

“Everyone gets on the internet and orders anything they need,” owner Kirk Lahey said. “But we’re still
here, busy as all get-out.”
While much has changed since it opened in the early 1950s, the business has remained a fixture of
downtown Bowling Green, remaining at the same South Main Street location for decades.
Lahey said a hopping downtown is important to small businesses, such as his own, which rely on word of
mouth.
“Everyone always asks me, ‘where are you located?’, and all I have to say is that we’re next to Grounds
for Thought,” Lahey said. “A lively downtown is important.”
But Lahey said many customers have been coming back to the store for years.
“We try to offer the best service to people, and if you keep doing that, they take notice,” he said,
surrounded by paperwork and business invoices. Shortly after, he paused to answer a call from a
customer.
He worked with his late father, Jerry Lahey, for 30 years. Like his father, Lahey enjoys the time he
spends operating the business.
Lahey learned to get to know his customers, and many other aspects of the business, from his father, who
died in 2007.
Lahey said technology changes have slowed down when it comes to home appliances, but TV repairs continue
to decline.
“The whole TV industry has changed because of less repairs,” he said.
Most devices are thrown away instead of repaired. People would rather buy a new TV, as the average LCD
screen lasts about 11 years and new, thinner displays come out every year.
Besides technology, not much else has changed at the store. New products are on the sales floor, but
these appliances, such as washers and dryers, still stand in the same positions in the store as they
have for years.
As noted in a past interview with the Sentinel-Tribune, Lahey said his store can still compete with big
box appliance stories, and he hopes business continues into the future.
And despite the convenience of online ordering, Lahey said his customers tend to call him directly when
they need repairs.
“We have a lot of customers who have been with us for many years … but, obviously, some of our older
customers pass away,” Lahey said. “It (business) kind of comes and goes over the years, but we’re still
here, selling, repairing and delivering.”
Lahey has no plans to slow down after six decades of business. On a record-setting low temperature day,
Lahey was at the store making sales and contacting customers, and his employees were out delivering
appliances and doing repairs.