Sid Miller’s Appliance and Bedding is an anomaly in the business world.
In a time when family-owned businesses are often beat out by big business, the appliance store Sid Miller started almost 50 years ago has managed to thrive — a feat it accomplishes despite a barely-there marketing and advertising budget and a non-existent growth plan.
And it’s closed on Sundays.
In a sparse strip along Cottage Grove Road in Bloomfield, Sid Miller’s showroom is nothing fancy or gigantic. It’s not the flagship location of a massive chain. It’s one store in one spot, and that’s exactly how Sid’s son, Al Miller, likes it.
“We try to keep it simple,” Al Miller said, sitting in the store’s showroom. “We’re content here.”
His father’s story is simple, too. Sid Miller grew up in the Hartford area. He went to school, went to war, and started a family. Then, he started an appliance business.
And his business philosophy is simple as well: Customer service is king.
He opened his first store in a small space on Cottage Grove Road, not far from where his store is now located, and grew it on his commitment to customer satisfaction. As a result, business was good. So good that the store outgrew its humble beginnings and needed to find larger digs. So 17 years ago Sid Miller’s was moved to its current location.
Although Sid Miller, now in his 80s, still stops by the store for the occasional visit, son Al Miller is now at the helm.
Son Like Father
“My father did it, so now I’m going to do it,” Al Miller said.
Miller said that the store has survived, in part, because of its competitive prices. Traditionally, smaller, independent stores would have to charge more for the limited stock they purchased, driving price-conscious customers away. But Sid Miller found a way to keep prices down, by joining a large cooperative buying group with a warehouse in Franklin, Mass. that stocks about $200 million in inventory.
“The combined buying power allows us to buy at the right price,” Al said, meaning he is able to pay about the same as do the big chains, like Best Buy or Home Depot, that buy in bulk.
However, with one location, low prices could be trumped by the convenience of omnipresent megastores. Plus, Sid Miller’s rarely advertises. Nor does it capitalize on big-spender holiday weekends. And during the summer, it’s not even open on Saturday.
Despite all that, Sid Miller’s continues to snag customers. Customer service continues to be its clutch.
Apartment Niche
With that focus the store’s forte, the store has carved out a niche for itself during the past 15 years by providing personal attention to businesses that manage large apartment complexes. Currently, Sid Miller’s provides appliance repairs and replacements to about 60 to 70 property management companies.
One such client is Stratford Management, which manages Bloomfield-area apartment complexes, some of which house elderly and disabled residents.
Several times, Gelb has called the competition — Lowe’s, Home Depot, Bernie’s — to check on prices. Sid Miller’s is always the most competitive, and it always stocks the items that the complexes need, such as the smaller-sized appliances that fit smaller units.
“Sid has always taught us to take care of the customer,” Al Miller said, whether that customer is a property manager, or a mom or dad. “Rather than spend your money on advertising, reach into your pocket and make your customer happy.”
Every so often, Al Miller will purchase a few seconds of advertising on cable, but for the most part, that money is reserved for extra customer care, like picking up the tab to fix an appliance just out of warranty.
That helps, as does the company’s same-day delivery options and all-inclusive price tags — there are no separate delivery charges or installation fees.
It’s all an effort to make the customer happy, and when that happens, Miller said, the advertising takes care of itself.
It’s all word of mouth.
