But it will continue to run its home appliance repair business.

"It was a business decision we had to make," said co-owner Cindy Boucher of the decision to close the retail operation on De Anza Boulevard. "In the past year particularly, business dwindled, with our overhead exceeding the amount coming in."

Store customers have been sympathetic and understanding, she said. "Our customers have come in saying they'll miss our personal service," said Boucher.

"For us they are not just an invoice number, but a person. We provided all the extra services [to retail customers]. If something went wrong, we would go out and fix it right away."

But good service wasn't enough to keep the retail end of the business viable.

Previously, Maytag appliances were primarily available at Maytag outlets. In fact, Boucher said the decision to open the retail store came in part because of this Maytag policy. However, over the past decade Maytag's policy changed, and gradually their products became more widely available in stores such as Sears and Home Depot.

"It's always been a roller coaster," said David Schick, a 17-year employee of the family-run business. "But now too many people can walk in anywhere [and buy a Maytag product]."

The company will now return to its roots of repairing appliances in customers' homes and running the business out of a small office.

Such home repairs have been the core of De Anza-Almaden Appliances since 1972. At that time, Boucher's father-in-law--in a Silicon Valley tradition--opened a small home repair business out of his Cupertino garage. The former engineer decided to go out on his own after tiring of the corporate life. He subsequently trained his son Roger in the art of fixing appliances. Roger Boucher now runs the business with his wife Cindy. The twosome met as students at Monta Vista High School.

Cindy remains cautiously optimistic about the future of such deeply local family-run enterprises in Cupertino.

"It depends on the market," she said. "Unless [a business] offers something the larger companies don't have, it's hard to compete with them."

She said she has enjoyed working with different generations of customers. "It's the same [families]," she said, "across different generations."

Maytag's closure is the latest in a string of business setbacks for the city. The Oakville grocery story closed at the end October, after being open just a few months. Anderson Chevrolet also shut its doors this year. Collectively, these business losses have hurt the city's bottom line. Sales tax revenues are down by $2 million. In an average year, the city collects approximately $10 million in sales tax revenue.