WICHITA — Tim Brecheisen is opening his fifth Wichita-area EarCare Hearing Aid Centers site Monday, which brings his total number of stores to 13 in Kansas, Oklahoma and New York.
Two of his children run the New York stores.
The newest Wichita location, which will offer free hearing tests and sell hearing aids, is 125 S. West St. The store will be about 1,500 square feet.
Brecheisen started his business in the early 1980s, in part because he and one of his children have hearing issues.
“It was partial motivation,” he says.
Brecheisen was in construction previously as a tile setter and was looking for a new career.
“I wanted to work with people instead of just things,” he says. “It was pretty easy for me to make my decision.”
He says he views his chain of stores as being there long term for people who suffer from hearing loss.
“It’s terrible bad,” he says of hearing aid issues. “They quit working, and (people) don’t know what to do, and they end up in their top dresser drawer.”
Brecheisen says his No. 1 focus is on customer service.
“As a consequence, even when we had the bad economy, our business did not go the other direction.”
Brecheisen likes having multiple locations to make it convenient for customers. He’s already at work on finding his next Wichita site.
“We’re always looking to help more people.”