Evanston’s Retro Gas and Stove Works store to close unless a buyer is found

The 1948 Chambers C is the Ferrari of Joseph Oliver’s Evanston workshop. Its cherry-red frame and chrome handles stand out on the shop floor. It even has an appropriately glamorous name: Scarlett. But Scarlett isn’t a vintage sports car. It’s a gas stove weighing about 475 pounds that’s cooked countless meals over the decades.

Oliver, owner of Retro Stove and Gas Works, has about 200 working vintage gas stoves at his workshop. He repairs, services and sells retro gas ranges, particularly those made in the late 1930s through the 1950s.

Some have fixtures like illuminated stove clocks, reminiscent of vintage car odometers, or curves like 1950s jukeboxes. All of them have names like old friends. A powder-blue Chambers stove bears a tag with the name Rhapsody; a pale blonde one is called Greta.

Some stoves belong to customers and are being serviced but most are for sale. The models hearken back to another era, made by brands — most shuttered — like Chambers, Roper, O’Keefe-Merrit, Wedgewood, Universal, Crown and Western Holly, as well as Tappan, Magic Chef and Kenmore.

For two decades, Oliver, 66, has assiduously collected them to restore and sell. But soon, his antique stock may be destined for the scrap yard. His workshop’s lease ends May 1.

“I have to get rid of inventory, fixtures, racks, tools and supplies,” he said. “It will be a mess.”

Oliver said he’s possibly the Midwest’s last and only repairman specializing in vintage gas stoves and one of a handful remaining in the U.S. He services stoves across the Chicago area and travels to Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Kentucky.

His customers range from wealthy homeowners to churches, synagogues and social clubs to senior citizens on fixed incomes. Some live in mansions, others reside in humble abodes and can’t afford new stoves, he said.

Hallelujah Temple church in Park Forest owns three large Magic Chef stoves dating from the 1980s. The stoves have seen their share of fish fries, fried chicken and spaghetti meals over the years.

Oliver recently fixed the stoves’ pilot lights. “He did an outstanding job,” Hallelujah Temple Pastor Astead Herndon said.

Replacing them would have cost tens of thousands of dollars, he reckoned. What will the church do without Oliver, or even another repairman?

“We would have to pray for someone to donate an industrial stove to us,” Herndon said.

Like a roller coaster ride

Oliver’s workshop has high vaulted ceilings that give the bright 3,000-square-foot space a cathedral-like feel. Kitchen ranges are neatly stacked on three tiers of customized industrial shelving, arranged like precious wine bottles in a cellar.

The workshop’s closure will likely end his stint as an entrepreneur. Unless he finds a buyer for his business or another option appears, Retro Stove will be another victim of the pandemic’s economic roller coaster ride.

Oliver started fixing and restoring gas stoves as a hobby 22 years ago, after spotting a Chambers stove at the home of a friend in Cincinnati, Ohio.

“I was impressed with how well-designed and well-made it was, how gorgeous it looked and how fun it was to use,” he said.

Stoves built around World War II were built like tanks, Oliver said, as factories at the time were building war machines with military-grade materials and mindsets.

It soon became a side gig to his full-time job in film production as a grip, handling the set up and operation of equipment on sets. He launched Retro Stove and Gas Works in 2018 hoping that the small business would carry him through until retirement.

In early 2021, he opened his Evanston workshop after years of searching for the right space and during a pandemic.

“Business went through the roof,” Oliver said. “People were renovating; they had extra money. For a couple years, I could barely keep up with requests. I was really hopeful the first couple years.”

But for several months early last year, Oliver had no calls for service and few calls for restoration. Even worse, a widespread supply chain disruption meant his suppliers such as enamelers and thermostat re-builders couldn’t get the goods they needed so Oliver couldn’t finish the projects in his shop.

“Nationwide, there was a three-month lull in getting things done for the residential housing industry. All of a sudden, no one had work,” he said. He let go of his two employees.

Retro Stove’s expenses also kept climbing. Monthly rent for the workshop was initially about $4,000; now, it’s $5,500. Annual insurance for the space was $9,000 three years ago; now, it’s $11,000. Also, interest on a home equity loan, taken out in 2021 to help fund the business, has soared to $2,000 a month.

Because of this perfect storm, last year Oliver decided not to renew the workshop’s lease and to close Retro Stove.

“We were too close to the edge. It was hard to say we’ll tough it out again at this age,” he said.

Then business picked up late last year, customers started calling again and the supply chain bottleneck eased. But Oliver had already let go of his lease. He isn’t sure what will happen to the company, the kitchen ranges and the huge inventory of parts, equipment and tools.

Stoves have been priced for a quick sale. A Chambers C, like Scarlett, normally sells for $2,000, but he recently sold the Ferrari of his collection for $200.

With a month left on his lease, the stoves could end up in a dumpster or hauled away for scrap. In a last-minute Hail Mary, the company’s website says: “Retro Stove & Gas Works is closing its doors. Don’t want that to happen? Buy our business!”

Olivier said a couple people inquired about purchasing the company but no one has stepped up.

On a Saturday morning, Maria Valeria arrived to buy a petite stove nicknamed Shirley. The 21-inch Universal range was made between 1948 and 1952 by Chicago company Cribben & Sexton, now defunct.

Valeria, of Little Village, prefers cooking with gas rather than electric. “I love vintage stuff,” she said, as Oliver and her husband loaded the stove into their pick-up truck.

Valeria paid $75 for Shirley, discounted from $100. Oliver reminded her that the stove lights with a match and she nodded, unfazed.

‘Fowl, meat loaf and casserole’

Oliver wheeled out a Roper Town & Country stove made between 1948 to 1958. He bought the range from a Lake Shore Drive apartment after spotting it on Craigslist. It has the bulk of a small bus with its two ovens, eight burners and massive griddle.

Inside the oven door shows the “Roper Scientific Broiling Chart,” which indicates where the broiler tray should be placed for “fowl, meat loaf and casserole.” The other door reveals a blueprint-like cooking guide. The white lettering is still crisp: Instructions are inscribed with porcelain enamel, not paint.

Oliver believes there’s a strong case for retro stoves, despite the national push to convert gas stoves to electric for environmental conservation.

Vintage models are made of cast iron, chrome, porcelain and other long-lasting materials, he said. They can work for decades longer, unlike modern appliances often made of plastic and other disposable materials that usually break after 10 to 15 years. He said some Millennials and younger customers like retro models for their durability and their long life span makes them sustainable.

When retro stoves do need servicing, their problems are usually fixable. Common issues include oven doors with old springs that won’t shut completely; stuck knobs that need cleaning; faulty thermostats; and clogged gas jets spruced up with a toothbrush.

Policies quashing new gas hookups, like Mayor Brandon Johnson’s “clean” buildings ordinance, haven’t helped business. But Oliver points out that regulations banning gas stoves in favor of electric ones apply to new buildings, not existing ones.

Evolution of cooking

When asked which stove he likes best, Oliver walks to a white 1950s Crown. His grandfather had one in his East Side home. He remembers his Italian grandparents cooked ever-present pots of spaghetti sauce on their Crown. As a boy, Oliver was transfixed by elegant stove-top features resembling the dashboard of a vintage car. Even Crown’s regal-looking insignia looks befitting of a Cadillac.

For Oliver, fixing and restoring vintage stoves is an homage to his father and uncle who fixed up cars. “As toddlers, my brother and I watched them build a race car in the garage,” he said.

Oliver has another dream to start a museum of culinary history. “I’m fascinated by the evolution of cooking spaces,” he said. He pointed out a 1920s Chambers that pioneered an “auto stat.” The temperature regulator freed up women from being tethered to stoves, he explained.

Oliver always wanted a space to tinker and bring machines to life alongside other people. He gazes affectionately around his workshop. “Every day I think about how much I love coming here,” he said.