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Retired pastor and Dublin Vacuum owner Dick Green has run the business for about 25 years with a work ethic he said is inspired by his faith. (Photo by Jude Strzemp) 
Green has owned the Dublin-based shop since about 2000. (Photo by Jude Strzemp) 
Green works on a vacuum in the back half of his store, equipped with about 35 years of experience in the trade. (Photo by Jude Strzemp) 
Green works on a vacuum. (Photo by Jude Strzemp) 
Green talks with a customer at Dublin Vacuum. (Photo by Jude Strzemp)
A man in his 70s leans over a workbench topped with an upended vacuum and an array of screwdrivers and wrenches.
He releases a roller from the head of the machine and sets it aside on the table’s worn green cloth.
Dick Green, a retired pastor and the longtime owner of Dublin Vacuum, is in the back half of the Village Parkway shop where he sells and services vacuums.
Having worked in vacuum repair for over 35 years, Green said he can fix almost any of the machines.
Although the family man — a father of four and husband to Sharon for more than 50 years — did not always dream of running a vacuum business, he approaches the work with his faith in mind and an eye for customer service.
“My wife used to get at me — ‘How do you ever get any work done? You spend a half hour talking to a customer,'” Green said. “When it boils down to it, there is nothing I would really rather do than talk to a customer.”
Born April 18, 1952 in Port Hueneme in Ventura County, Green was one of five children.
“My mom was always involved with the church on Sunday, and I thought that was an avenue to help people,” Green explained.
Pursuing his childhood dream of being a pastor, Green attended William Jessup University, known at the time as San Jose Christian College. He graduated cum laude with a major in pastoral care.
Following seminary school, Green was assigned to the church in Sonoma. Meanwhile, Green and his wife lived some 100 miles south in San Jose.
The commute became too cumbersome, as the couple expected their first child together.
Green later served as an associate pastor for about two years at the First Christian Church in Hayward, followed by his role as a pastor for about 10 years at the First Christian Church of San Francisco.
According to Green, the church had no money, so his compensation was composed of $100 monthly as well as his family’s residence in the church’s parsonage.
“It was raising four young kids in that parsonage … which was really fun. San Francisco was a gas to me. I really liked it,” Green said.
While serving at the church in San Francisco, Green took up a part-time job working for a fellow pastor at a vacuum shop in Oakland.
It was here that Green learned to repair vacuums.
“I’m pretty meticulous when it comes to doing repair work,” Green told Pleasanton Weekly. “When people come and they have a rattle in their vacuum, I want their vacuum to go home without a rattle.”
Green broke out on his own about 35 years ago, when he purchased a vacuum sales and service shop in downtown Pleasanton.
“I was preaching in San Francisco at the same time, so it was kind of difficult going back and forth”, he explained, selling the business about five years after acquisition.
Fast forward to about 2000 and Green purchased Dublin Vacuum. At the time, the shop was located on Amador Valley Boulevard, but within a few years Green relocated to the business’s current site at the Village Green shopping center.
Signs of his faith are interwoven with the business — the public facing, Dublin Vacuum operated under Maranatha Vacuum Repair.
“It means the Lord cometh,” Green explained.
“I need to do the best I can,” Green said. “Although people is one of the reasons I do it, I do it to please the Lord.”
At Dublin Vacuum, repairs make up the majority of the business with approximately five jobs daily, mostly of residential customers, Green said.
His work is apparent from the lineup of vacuums in the shop’s front lobby, each tagged with notes on customer names and necessary repairs.
The repair can be anything from a plugged up vacuum to replacing belts and filters, he explained.
With every customer entering the store with a vacuum in need of repair, Green said he walks into the lobby to talk with them.
“When I’m here,” he said of his stance in the lobby, “that means to me — and I hope it means to them — that I’m a friendly person.”
Sometimes people try to take apart their vacuum to fix it themselves, Green said, as he motioned towards a machine in the lobby. A plastic bag with small pieces clung to the vacuum.
“They can’t, so they just bring the parts in a baggie,” Green said. “But that’s not a big deal for me. It’s one less part I have to take apart.”
But depending on the price of the vacuum and required repair, Green said he may recommend a customer simply purchase a new vacuum — since there’s no way to know if something else in the vacuum will break in the next six months.
On the other hand, sentimental value is a key consideration on whether to fix or toss a machine.
“If they really like their vacuum, then I encourage them to fix it. It’s like everything else, once you become used to something and you really like it, then you want to stick with it.” Green said. “It’s hard to change.”
Among those considering themselves a “very satisfied customer” is Dublin City Councilmember Michael McCorriston.
McCorriston said he has visited Dublin Vacuum a couple times for repair work, recalling the longtime merchant was “knowledgeable and provided excellent service”.
In addition to repairs, Green sells vacuums.
“I try to show them what I think is going to fit their situation,” Green explained from the sales floor. He pointed to high-end canister and upright vacuums ranging in price from about $700 to $1,250.
He also spit facts such as the ratio of upright vacuum to canister sales, averaging 7:3 in the area.
Uprights offer convenience, he added. Canister vacuums are typically for more in-depth work such as cleaning blinds and window sills.
“Communities need these small businesses that provide these specialized services,” said Inge Houston, president and CEO of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce.
Also familiar with Green’s business is the Alameda County Fire Department, which contracted Dublin Vacuum from at least 2016 to 2019.
During the last 18 months, Green has been hopping back and forth from California to Missouri every six weeks to spend time with his family who moved to The Show-Me State.
When the family is together, they joke and laugh, Green said with a smile.
Upon being asked how he knew Sharon was the one, Dick quipped, “Oh, I don’t know … she probably told me she was the one.”
While in Dublin, Green stays with friends and while away, the shop mechanic runs the store.
With plans to purchase a home in Missouri — along with a German Shepherd, per Sharon’s request — Green is considering selling Dublin Vacuum in the future.
“Learn how to be friendly to people, learn how to be congenial, learn how to do the best you can with the ability you have,” Green said. “That’s probably the key to any successful business … treat customers the way you want to be treated.”
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