In New York Metropolis, there’s nonetheless not less than one place left untouched by trendy tech.
At Gramercy Typewriter Co., there isn’t a display screen in sight — probably the most superior piece of know-how could be the cordless landline cellphone propped up on a counter.
“I prefer to type someone a letter over an email any day,” typewriter technician Jay Schweitzer, who inherited the enterprise from his father, instructed The Publish.
“It’s a beautiful sound. I mean, there’s nothing like it.”
However typewriter restore is a waning discipline. Offhand, Schweitzer can title the few remaining typewriter restore outlets throughout the nation, however this month, the one typewriter retailer in Boston is shuttering — and Gramercy Typewriter Co. is NYC’s final.
The corporate was began by Schweitzer’s grandfather, Abraham, and was handed all the way down to Jay’s father, Paul, who, at 87, remains to be fixing up machines day by day.
“Retirement was never something to consider,” the youthful Schweitzer mentioned. “He slowed it down a bit, but he enjoys what he does and looks forward to being at that workbench every day.”
Right this moment, they promote a mean of 40 to 50 typewriters each month, with stock — a few of which was acquired from since-shuttered shops within the area — that dates again a long time.
Machines are even loaned out for Hollywood initiatives and onstage productions, from “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” to Steven Spielberg’s “The Post.” At present, the corporate’s typewriters could be noticed onstage within the Broadway present “Good Night and Good Luck” starring George Clooney.
The third-generation household enterprise by no means bothered moving into the pc business regardless of the speedy growth of the World Large Internet.
Machines constructed to final centuries — not laptops that give out after a half-decade — are extra their kind (pardon the pun).
“I don’t come across too many people that say, ‘I’m going to go get my laptop fixed.’ It’s just not cost-effective. So, you get a number of years out of it — the operating systems are getting old and not keeping up, and you have to buy new,” mentioned Schweitzer, 57.
“That doesn’t happen here.”
Rising up, he would come to work along with his dad throughout summer season breaks from college to observe and be taught the household commerce, typically tasked with “things like spool ribbons.”
Again then, typewriters have been in each workplace on each desk, however when the pc gained traction among the many public, the relics have been shoved into storage closets and left to gather mud.
However that didn’t dampen the Schweitzers’ spirits.
As dozens of opponents tried to adapt to technological developments on the time — dipping into copiers, printers and even computer systems — Gramercy Typewriter Co. stayed true to the one piece of equipment they knew.
“It was already a very oversaturated business, and they were trying to catch up as they were just learning,” Schweitzer recalled. “My dad didn’t feel that it was time at his age to start learning something new.”
He added: “It was like learning a new language, and he didn’t want to start going back to school, so to speak.”
That’s, maybe, the key to their longstanding enterprise, which has boomed since 1932, outlasting all their opponents.
However his clients span generations, from extra aged clientele who’ve used the machines for years to Gen Z, who’s ushering in a revival of old fashioned relics, like landline telephones, vinyl data and even cassette tapes.
“We have parents coming in with these 7-, 8-, 9-, 10-year-olds who have seen the typewriter somewhere and took a liking to it, whether it be a movie, television show, Broadway, friend’s house,” Schweitzer defined.
Mother and father, he mentioned, are joyful to splurge on the typing artifact if it retains their children “away from the screen.”
“Regardless of the reason that they’re getting a typewriter, one thing’s for sure,” Schweitzer mentioned.
“Even when they’re not being used and they’re sitting on a desk or a piece of furniture, they look beautiful — probably the best-looking thing somebody has in their home or office — and will continue to be readily available to be used for decades to come.”
