Another downtown Sparta anchor store set to close

The Haas family, from left, Stephanie holding Huxley, Mike, Julie and Henry holding Hans.

 Photo by Amanda Clark at Manda Mae Photography. 

A history of Mike’s TV

Mike’s TV, Appliance and Furniture was established in 1974. The owner, Michael Haas, started repairing televisions at the age of 10 in his father’s hardware store (Art’s Hardware) in downtown Sparta. In 1974, Mike started his own business in his dad’s hardware store selling televisions and repairing electronics in the basement.

Mike and his wife Julie were married in January 1975. They purchased a building at 115 East Oak St. in Sparta and moved their television sales and repair business in the fall of 1975 and operated out of a 10 x 40 foot area. A tenant moved and Mike’s expanded the business display area to 20 x 40 feet and the repair service was operated out of the basement. In 1978 Mike’s business had grown and added a 20 x 70 foot addition onto the building, making a total of 20 x 110 feet. At that time Mike added Whirlpool appliances to his lines of products sold and rented a building at 117 E Oak St. for repair and warehouse.

As business continued to grow, Mike’s purchased the historic “Williams Building” (circa 1896) on the corner of Oak and Water Street and moved the business into the 10,000 sq. ft. building on April 1, 1989. For many years, along with television and appliance sales, Mike’s rented videos. In 1995 the video portion of the business was sold to accommodate furniture sales. Mike’s secured the Flexsteel Home Furnishings line, Catnapper Reclining furniture, along with Best Craft Furniture for upholstered lines.

As business continued to grow, Mike remodeled three of the basements to add an additional 3,500 square feet of showroom space. In the basement Mike’s has dining room furniture and bar stools, Symbol, Englander & Anatomic Global mattresses, as well as Coaster Bedroom sets, bunk beds and Oak Design bedroom furniture. MIke’s also carries framed prints, plush animals, occasional tables and table and floor lamps.

Mike’s features a full line of Great Northern log furniture including sofas, recliners, cedar pub tables and bar stools, cedar tables and chairs, cedar bar, EZ-Beds with a variety of wildlife prints and bedroom sets.

Mike's TV & Appliance
119 S Water Street
Sparta, WI 54656
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Business couldn’t be better for Mike’s TV & Appliance in downtown Sparta and that’s part of the reason the family run store will be ending its 47-year run.

Mike and Julie Haas started the business in 1974 in a store front across the street from its current location on the corner of Oak and Water streets. It quickly gained a reputation for quality and customer service and secured itself as an anchor for downtown Sparta.

Last year was the best year the business ever had but it coincided with health issues with some Haas family members. The current  labor shortage didn’t help matters and Henry Haas -- Mike and Julie’s son – and his wife Stephanie said it was time to reassess the business.

 “We can’t slow the machine down is what the problem is,” said Henry. “It’s not that we don’t have business, it’s that we have too much business and we can’t keep up with it.”

He added that at 72 years old, his father Mike is still working 12 hours a day, while he and Stephanie also are putting in long days and feel they are sacrificing time with their sons, Huxley, 4, and Hans, 3.

Henry said the business wasn’t willing to sacrifice quality to keeps its doors open. “We just can’t maintain the increase in business with how we operate as a family.”

The store won’t shut its doors immediately but will close after liquidating its inventory, which is substantial. Henry said the business ordered quite a bit of merchandise back in December and January before the different pressures on the business manifested.

At that time, he knew it would take eight or nine months to get the shipment of furniture, which he is now expecting within the next month or so. That’s added to the inventory that has already delivered.

The store is temporarily closed as the Haases get inventory onto the sales floor in preparation for upcoming sales.

While the retail side of the business will close, Henry said Mike’s TV will still service the appliance they have sold.

“We’re not going to leave (customers) hanging out to dry because people have bought from us for 47 years because of the service,” he said.

The Haas family owns the building and Henry said there is no immediate plan to sell it. He said they are keeping their options open.

When the store does finally close, it will leave Water Street without any large retailers. Arenz Shoes, closed its doors in Nov. 2020 following a nearly 120-year run in the area.