SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – A Sioux Falls business has reached a major milestone this year. Fonder Sewing Machine Company is celebrating its 80th anniversary.
Step inside Fonder Sewing Machine Company and you’ll find the supplies and help you need to start any project.
“Our grandfather, Ed Fonder, started the business in 1943, him and his brother bought a train car of treadle machines, and they converted them to electric, and that is how they started their business,” president, Fonder Sewing Machine Company, Ben Reiser said.
Since then, it’s continued to be a family business. These three siblings continue the legacy their grandfather started over a half-century ago.
“Us kids, we are third generation, and we all were pretty much involved in the business from the time we could walk,” Ben Reiser said.
It’s a business that has changed over the years, in terms of technology and why people are sewing.
“To be basically one kind of machine and colored a little different, and with technology and computers and everything, it’s just so much more advanced,” service manager, Fonder Sewing Machine Company, Christopher Reiser said.
“When we were kids, sewing was a necessity, for clothes making, or garment construction or mending, patching, that kind of thing, now today it is more of a hobby, people sew because they choose to sew,” Ben Reiser said.
And now the hope is to continue the success for years to come.
“I think between my brother, sister, and I, if you take how many years we worked here, we’ve got 80 years worth of experience in what we know with the selling, repair, and customer service, that’s most important to us,” Christopher Reiser said.
Fonder Sewing Machine Company was originally located in downtown for about 63 years, before moving to its current location along 41st Street.