In another sign of these recessionary times, more people are visiting guys like Joe Levy, who is owner of electronics repair shop Stone Electronics in West Los Angeles. Levy said he’s seeing more people come in to repair their TVs. Which is surprising because television sets have become disposable commodities.

“What we’ve seen is people come in who didn’t want to spend the money on a repair because they thought they were going to be able to afford a new one,” Levy said. “But with the recession, some people now don’t have that much money.”

Levy charges from $80 to $120 for most TV repairs. He normally has about 15 customers a month for television repairs, but last month had 45.

Most of the repairs are for older sets. Many new sets come with warranties that funnel repairs through the point of purchase, keeping them away from independents such as Stone.

The TVs that Levy’s shop repairs range from older sets encased in wooden cabinetry to the LCD and plasma models of the new millennium.

“It doesn’t matter the age of the owner or the TV set,” Levy said. “What matters is that everyone is trying to find a way to save money.”