Tom's TV History

Who We Are.
Tom and Deb Sampson are the president and vice president of Tom’s TV, Inc. Both grew up in southern Minnesota, Tom attended a 2 year Technical college, after which he worked for Control Data in product analysis and development. After leaving Control Data Tom became the manager of a large consumer electronics sales and service facility and was also involved in the construction and management of a new facility.

In 1979, after purchasing an existing electronics sales and service store in Brainerd Tom and Deb moved to the Brainerd Lakes Area along with their two children, Jamie and Phil. Shortly after moving to Brainerd the economy took a severe down turn, as a result the first few years proved to be a very difficult struggle, with oil being in tight supply driving up fuel prices, and at the same time the government was trying to control inflation, consequently driving interest rates to over 20%, driving the U.S. into a deep recession. All of this caused home sales to fall to very low levels and unemployment to climb to around 10%. (Kind of sounds like today’s news!!) After getting thru the first few years Tom’s TV has made several expansions to their facility over the years. The service facility is now known as Audio Video Technical Services, and is well known for quality service on a wide range of consumer, as well as commercial electronic product, and is authorized for warranty repair for a large number of manufacturers and 3rd party warranty providers.

Tom’s TV has one of the most sophisticated retail showrooms in the state, featuring select brands such as Sony, Sony XBR, LG, Sonance, Beam, Panasonic Phones, RTI, plus much more. Tom’s TV now employs 11 full time employees, with 6 service vehicles on the road. The service area has expanded dramatically over the years to include the entire Brainerd Lakes Area along with nearly constant work being preformed in the Twin City area as well as Duluth and with occasional projects in various locations throughout the U.S. AND after all these years Tom and Deb are still very active in the business and enjoy interacting with the clients.