Selling Cleanliness
Our Story......
Beach Vacuums, started in 1997 as Oreck of Rehoboth by Matthew McKay and his parents, Carolyn and Beverley McKay. Carolyn and Beverley purchased a summer house in Rehoboth with the idea of retirement. They purchased a three level townhouse and Carolyn decided her heavy duty Kirby vacuum was too heavy to carry all three floors. So she gave her husband, Beverley a choice...he gets to do the vacuuming or purchase a new light weight vacuum. Beverley had no problem making this choice....he immediately purchased the famous Oreck lightweight vacuum he had heard so much about on the radio for years. There was no way he was going to do the vacuuming.
Upon Matthew's graduation from college and preparing to live on his own, Carolyn and Beverly decided the best gift would be a new Oreck vacuum for his new home! Matthew was now working for a toy company in North Carolina setting up new retail stores. He brought in his Oreck vacuum to prepare for the grand opening and a visit by the chain's president. The president saw Matthew using the lightweight and durable Oreck vacuum and decided to buy one for each of the locations across the county.
In the same shopping center as the toy store, was an Oreck Clean Home Center. Matthew went to inquire about getting the local store to provide Oreck vacuums to the toy store chain and ended up getting hired as the store manager for their new location. Not longer after, Matthew ended up moving back to the Washington, DC area to help another Oreck Clean Home Center owner open stores in the Metropolitan DC area.
Matthew then convinced his parents to lend him their retirement funds and devote 5 years to opening a vacuum store in Rehoboth. A partnership was born between the three and the corporation was started in 1997. By fall of 1998, Matthew had moved to Annapolis, MD and opened their second store. Both stores growth exceeded the plans and quickly stores in Dover, DE and Salisbury, MD were opened. It was decided to return the borrowed funds and have the parents really retire, at least partially to Florida.
Matthew went on to continue to grow the four locations, then finally purchasing eight locations from his previous boss in the Washington, DC area. More stores were opened, a distribution center was created, a staff of over 55 employees were hired and Matthew became the largest franchisee in the Oreck system for time.
Matthew got married to Gretchen and they had two girls, Elle and Addison during this time. Matthew decided that being a Dad and Husband were much more rewarding than vacuum mogal, so he decided to get small again. It took about 8 years to sell off 14 location, but once this was completed, he and the family moved back to the Rehoboth area.
The change to Beach Vacuums was completed in 2018 when we became the last full service vacuum store in Sussex county. We felt the need to let folks know we sell other brands and service ALL brands. Miele (German designed and manufactured) and Riccar (Made in St. James, MO) where quickly added to the mix. Additional brands were brought in as well to compliment most customers wants, desires, and needs. We are dedicated to excellent customer service with quality products. Stop in today and see how we can help you and your cleaning needs.