Larry Alkinburgh prepares to transfer the contents of a magnetic tape to a digital format at LADD Electronics in Nelliston, which he founded in 1973. “I have plenty of things to keep me occupied,” said Alkinburgh, 78.

LADD Electronics has been a fixture in Nelliston since 1978. Many types of electrical hardware have been sold since then – from televisions to vacuum cleaners. It remains open even as its owner is semi-retired.

Larry Alkinburgh founded LADD Electronics in 1973. Since 1978, it has been in his hometown of Nelliston.

Above: Larry Alkinburgh works in the back of LADD Electronics, which he founded in St. Johnsville in 1973 and moved to Nelliston in 1978. “I enjoy what I do,” he said. “My business was successful.” Below: For more than 45 years, the owner of LADD Electronics has lived above where he works, in his store and shop at 17 East Main St. in Nelliston.

There are hints of when LADD Electronics sold consumer electronics, such as this sign which remains posted in the shop. Its owner is now semi-retired, and the store is mostly devoted to the repair of home computer equipment.

Connectors and other electrical components are held in this case at LADD Electronics in Nelliston, where repairs are made to computers and other hardware. The business was founded in 1973.

Some lengths of coaxial cable are coiled and ready for use in the repair section of LADD Electronics in Nelliston.

For more than 45 years, the owner of LADD Electronics has lived above where he works, in his store and shop at 17 East Main St. in Nelliston.

For more than 45 years, the owner of LADD Electronics has lived above where he works, in his store and shop at 17 East Main St. in Nelliston.

NELLISTON — LADD Electronics' sole proprietor retired more than a dozen years ago, but Larry Alkinburgh still comes to work at least three mornings a week and during some periods he is in the shop every night.

“I enjoy what I do and that’s why I do it,” Alkinburgh, 78, said standing near the sales counter on a recent afternoon. “Otherwise, I’d close the door.”

A VHS videocassette, a part of the work backlog, sat atop some papers and boxes on the counter at 17 East Main Street. Written on its label was “20/20 1-3-97” — but Alkinburgh was unsure if the tape contained a wedding, some other special event or was indeed a recording of a television show made nearly 29 years ago. Whatever it was, a customer wanted a digital copy.

“Video transfers,” he said. “We do a lot of those.”

While at college in Westchester County in the mid-1960s, Alkinburgh and three classmates began fixing electronics for their fellow students. College administrators required the repairmen to register their service, so the quartet chose LADD — using the first letters from each of their names: Larry, Arthur, Derrick and Dorian.

Alkinburgh resurrected the name in 1973, after he was discharged from the Coast Guard and he started LADD Electronics in rented space at a gas station located across from his house in St. Johnsville.

Being self-employed wasn’t Alkinburgh’s first choice when he left the service. He said he felt pressured by state unemployment representatives to take any job, including a machinist in a gun factory and a line worker in a bottling plant. Frustrated, he stopped collecting unemployment benefits after only a few weeks.

“I was trained as an electronic technician,” he said. “And that’s what I wanted to do.”

When the business opened, Alkinburgh focused on televisions — selling and servicing Motorola TVs.

In 1976, LADD Electronics put up the first of four communications towers.

“That was the beginning of almost 30 years of two-way radio business,” Alkinburgh said. He had many customers, including companies engaged in towing and fuel oil delivery, who found the back-and-forth capability of the radios essential in the time before cellphones became commonplace.

In 1978, Alkinburgh moved the business to Nelliston, his hometown, and purchased the building at 17 East Main Street. He remembered the place from his youth, and how the shop was used for selling radios, record players and other electronics.

The building had a leaky roof, but the new owner remediated the issue by adding a second level to the structure. The new apartment allowed Alkinburgh to live above the shop with his wife, Marion, and two sons.

Various lines of merchandise have been sold and serviced in the shop. LADD Electronics has carried kitchen appliances, pagers, videocassette recorders, camcorders, cellphones, satellite television and even vacuum cleaners. Alkinburgh said the changes were necessary to keep the business viable.

“We don’t have a lot of industry,” he explained. “Therefore, there’s not a lot of money, so we found different ways in which to provide for people where they had needs.”

Alkinburgh considers the late 1990s to be the high point of LADD Electronics. There were four technicians on the payroll and business was strong.

While the owner is the only remaining staffer, there is still a time clock in the back of the shop, near where Alkinburgh does repairs on computers. He doesn't punch it.

Larry and Marion Alkinburgh’s two sons,........

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