Friends Of Roberts: SPOTLIGHT: A. R. & E. Wallis, Paignton
Established in 1926, by brothers Arthur Ronald and Eric Wallis, we sat down with 3rd generation owners of A.R. & E. Wallis, Sarah and Paul Wallis, to dive into the warm heritage of this long-running family business, nestled in the heart of Devon.
Can you tell us a little bit about A. R. & E. Wallis and your memories of Roberts over the years?
Based in Torbay, in South Devon, a family seaside town, our Dad grew up with the business and used to deliver accumulators on his bike on a Saturday during the war for my grandfather and uncle, Ronald and Eric.
The Wallis family have been in Paignton since the 1800’s. Arthur Ronald Wallis learnt his trade in Dartmouth and then went to work at Paignton Power Station where he used to generate the electricity for the trams that ran between Paignton and Torquay. Arthur then went on to work at the first electricity company to open in the town called the ‘The Electric Light Company ". In 1926, Arthur and his brother Eric, decided to start their own electrical business, A. R. E. Wallis. It was the shop selling lighting, appliances, televisions, and of course, radios.
Having grown up with the shop, we have always known Roberts Radio was sold, we must have started Roberts in the 50s. We admire Roberts Radio, the build of them, and the sound from the wooden cases, bass and tone. Nothing on the market compares to them. We had dealerships with Roberts, Pye, Eko, Hacker plus more.
We all remember Mr. Roberts Stanley of course, calling on us, and remember Dad taking us to the London Radio show, to see the latest models, and do orders (it was a big thing when we were little). Even when Stanley retired, he always rang us from home once a fortnight for his chat about everything and inform us of offers and take orders. We do miss Stanley.
What were your most beloved products by visitors to the store?
We’ve always had customers come in for the PP9’s. One of our customers was Mrs Mallowan, Agatha Christie. Dad used to say she always popped in for a chat and would sit on the chairs we have in the shop.
The Sports DAB5 was also popular. We once had a customer after a replacement once as his was broken. His wife was beyond herself as he had dementia, and the radio was the only thing he could get on with. I contacted Roberts regarding the gentleman, and a new radio was sent out that day. Such great service from Roberts.
At the moment, the most popular radios selling are the Play 30, pocket radios and clock radios with customers loving the colour range, but in particular the Pastel Cream, Duck Egg Blue, and more recently the Sunburst Yellow, and Dusky Pink. Recently people have been wanting bigger radios and sound system set ups which is really interesting to see, and cassette players are making quite the comeback.
What have your customers valued over the years at A. R. & E. Wallis?
We have a lot of returning customers, some have radios in every room. With us they like the personal service, with showing them how they work, and always offering an after service if they have problems, setting presets etc. There is a mixture of people that purchase Roberts, either for themselves, presents, an extra radio in the house, or for out and about.
What have been your personal favourites over the years?
In the shop we have a collection of quite old Roberts, including an original R300 Revival, which does still works. A brand new first edition of the New Revival still in its box unused, put to one side years ago by our dad, when they first re issued it. And of course, we have our own Roberts radios at home. My brother has a Gemini 6, Skylark, and a Classic 927. I have a R25, Blutune 50, Sports 925, CR9955 and the Revival Petite.