Ericksons Communications was first opened on Foster Ave in Chicago back in 1969, by a local area ham/lawyer, Jim O'Connell. Ericksons moved several times during the Seventies before settling in at its final location on Milwaukee Ave. In 1978 Jim O'Connell sold Ericksons to Amateur Electronic Supply, AES, for an undisclosed amount of money. AES ran Ericksons as one of their satellite stores until it ran into some IRS, Tax troubles in 1988. It seemed that the state of Illinois department of revenue wanted AES inc. to charge all of its mail order, Illinois customers sales tax. This would have cut into a large amount of AES's Illinois business and created a hardship paperwork burden for the Milwaukee based ham-super-store. So in a corporate move, Terry Sterman, W9DIA, ordered AES inc. and the Employees of the Chicagoland Ericksons store, to pretend not to have anything to do with one another. AES went as far as to remove all mention of the Erickson store in all their catalogs and sales flyers from 1989 to the present. The running joke in Illinois was to go into the Ericksons store and see if you could get an employee to admit to the big AES secret. Although if you where around on inventory stock up day; the delivery truck always had Wisconsin licenses plates on it and AES inc. stenciled, on to the cab's doors. Who where these cheese heads fooling?? Now that the store is closed for good, you can clearly see that AES inc. fully admits ownership again. I wonder if this means AES is going to reimburse the State of Illinois department of revenue back sales taxes from all their Illinois mail-order sales dating back to 1989? Ericksons had a reputation for going through store managers and personel. I don't know if it was the "stuck up attitudes" or the geekey-ness that attributed to this annual turn over; but it seemed that every time I went in there, someone new was in charge. This all came to a halt though in the summer of 1990. That's when AES inc. hired , Vince Sawyer, KA9ZDM, as Ericksons' store manager. Vince became Ericksons' 13th store manager and although no one knew it at the time, he would be their longest and their LAST! Vince Sawyer, KA9ZDM, was married to Lorretta Sawyer, WQ9D, with no children. Vince, a hard working street messenger, gave up his life long occupation, to begin his dream job of managing Chicagolands only "FULL-TIME" amateur radio store, Ericksons Communications. Vince, a ham radio character, could be heard daily on A.C.L.R.'s family of repeaters, 147.225,443.700, 224.480 and on GMRS. As time went on though, Vince would be heard less and less on the radio. I guess it's like anything else, who likes to bring their work home with them. Vince was always the one who you hoped was on the air when you were lost. Vince could give you directions to any place in the Chicagoland area from memory. I sure do miss having that resource available on the radio. Vince's other hobbies included; private airplane piloting, astronomy and photography. During the weekend of April 27th & 28th, AES inc. held one of their OPEN HOUSES at the Milwaukee, Wi. location. Terry Sterman, W9DIA, conducted a survey of all the Illinois participants (FIBS). The survey said, they preferred NOT-TO-SHOP at AES's, NOT IN ANYWAY CONNECTED, Illinois branch of Ericksons Communications, for various reasons. The main reason though was Convenience and Cost. You see AES inc., is only ONE-DAY-AWAY by standard UPS, and NO SALES TAX is charged on mail order sales to Illinoisans!! Also AES inc. has 100 times the inventory that Ericksons' had. Lets take a typical sales item like a dual band mobile. If this mobile cost $650.00, with sales tax at Ericksons your take home price would be $706.88. In contrast, if you called and mail ordered it from AES inc., this same mobile would cost you about $660.00 if even that, and it would usually be at your front door within 24 hours or less. That's a savings of $46.88; and who knows if Ericksons limited inventory would have had this mobile in stock! Also consider the many less expensive mail order amateur radio stores that are one-days shipping away from Illinois, like Ham Radio Outlet, and your savings is increase $50.00 to $75.00 or more! Armed with the W9DIA, AES survey, and the fact that Ericksons Communications sales have been on the decline; Terry Sterman, W9DIA, made his last Illinois corporate decision, and shut Ericksons Communications down. On Wednesday, May 1st, 1996, at 9:30 A.M. when Vince Sawyer, KA9ZDM, was opening up the Ericksons store, much to Vinces surprise his first customer was Terry Sterman, W9DIA, and an empty AES inc. delivery truck. Terry promptly confiscated Vinces keys, and escorted all the Illinois, Ericksons (FIBS) store personel out. Then the boys from Wisconsin proceeded to load up Ericksons' small ham radio inventory into AES's delivery truck. I heard that Terry, W9DIA, was home, in the land of Cheese Heads, in time for lunch. On a sadder note, 1996 has been a lousy year for our hero Vince Sawyer, KA9ZDM. Vinces wife of 10+ years Loretta, WQ9D, filed for and was divorced. Vince was than fired on May 1st. 1996 from his dream job of 6 years, managing Chicago's only "FULL TIME" amateur radio store, Ericksons Communications. Vince has not been heard on any ham bands anywhere. Poor Vince, hopefully he will find love again, get back on his feet and on-the-air. We need your guidance Vince to help all the LOST souls find there ways to various destinations throughout the Chicagoland area. Good luck Vinney. Vince Sawyer; KA9ZDM Ericksons' LAST Store Manager 1990 - 1996 It has been mentioned by other "PART TIME" area ham radio toy stores, that if locals don't start to patronage them, there soon may be NO HAM RADIO stores in the Chicagoland area any more! Update: February 9th, 1997 12:00 P.M., less than 1 year after Ericksons closing, the only other "PART TIME" ham radio Toy Store in Wheaton closes for an extended period of time. It is now back, but for how long?? Better shop local or soon Chicagoland may be Ham-radio-store-less again. Don't say you weren't warned!!!
Vince Sawyer; KA9ZDM Ericksons' LAST Store Manager 1990 - 1996