Local Business Leaders
Beth and Brian Grayson, Home Appliance Sales & Service, Owners
Beth and Brian Grayson
In our new feature “Local Business Leaders,” we will be highlighting area business owners and managers each week that are helping to build strong local communities. We sat down recently with Beth and Brian Grayson, owners of Home Appliance Sales & Service, and asked them the following questions.
Tell our readers a little bit about yourselves and your family.
I grew up in Brunswick and Brian lived in the Cleveland area his entire life and settled in Brunswick in 1977. We both graduated from Brunswick High School and Brian also graduated from the career center’s electricity program.
We met at Country Counter grocery store in Brunswick. He worked there and I used to shop there with my mom. He asked me to homecoming when he was loading groceries in our car, and the rest is history. We were together seven years before getting married and have been married for 32 years. We live in Lafayette Township, where we’ve been for 29 years. We have two daughters, Brittany and Brooke, and a granddaughter, Madison, and Brian’s constant companion, Bailey, our black lab. Brittany also works in the business and Brooke will be graduating next week with her Doctorate in physical therapy from Cleveland State. She lives in Berea with her husband, Greg.
What drove you to start your business?
When Brian graduated from the career center in 1982, he worked multiple jobs (grocery store, restaurants) and was trying to find a place to use his electrical skills. He approached the owner of Home Appliance and offered to work for him for free for six months if he would teach him the appliance repair trade. It worked out so well that he purchased the name and phone number from the previous owner and went out on his own in 1988. We ran the business out of our house for many years. I worked a full-time job at a leasing company in Medina and would go home at lunch and schedule calls for him. I also did the books for him in the evening. We moved from our house to a storage garage, then opened the store in Lodi, then came back to our original location in Brunswick, then built the new store in Brunswick and just opened our third location in Avon this year. I joined the company full time in 2001.
What has been your philosophy in building your business over the years?
Home Appliance may have grown from one man to 50 employees over the years, but we still maintain the same core values that we had when we started. It is the can-do attitude and accountability to our customers that Brian believed in when we started that has helped us grow the way we have. When we hire, we talk about those core values in the interview process to make sure we hire people that truly have the same beliefs that we do. We don’t just post the core values on the wall, we walk the walk with them in everything we do. Our business model is unique because we are the only company in northeast Ohio that sells, services, installs and delivers with our own team members.
What community service organizations and projects are you involved in?
Brian and I are members of Hope Church in Brunswick. We support many organizations through engagement with our teams such as doing a blood drive with the Red Cross at our store and raising money for St. Jude’s when 20 of us ran the Warrior Dash this summer. We are currently collecting food and funds for the Harvest for Hunger Network at all of our locations. We also just signed on as an appliance provider for the Medina County Habitat for Humanity where we provide the laundry for the homes being built in Medina County. Our team has also committed to help with the next Habitat build next year.
What do you see in the future for your business?
Home Appliance is still in a growth mode. We just opened our retail and design showroom in Avon this June and it was an instant success. We are always looking for the next opportunity to serve our customers where we can have the greatest impact on the community. We have been in Brunswick and Lodi for so many years and have become a household name for the great service and pricing we offer. We will work to be that successful at all of our future locations. We have an amazing team, many of which have been with us for 10 to 20-plus years. It is that kind of infrastructure that will carry us forward for years.
To learn more about Home Appliance Sales & Service, please visit them online at www.yourhomeappliance.com
Are you interested in having your business featured in The Post? Email us at business@thepostnewspapers.com for more information.
Tell our readers a little bit about yourselves and your family.
I grew up in Brunswick and Brian lived in the Cleveland area his entire life and settled in Brunswick in 1977. We both graduated from Brunswick High School and Brian also graduated from the career center’s electricity program.
We met at Country Counter grocery store in Brunswick. He worked there and I used to shop there with my mom. He asked me to homecoming when he was loading groceries in our car, and the rest is history. We were together seven years before getting married and have been married for 32 years. We live in Lafayette Township, where we’ve been for 29 years. We have two daughters, Brittany and Brooke, and a granddaughter, Madison, and Brian’s constant companion, Bailey, our black lab. Brittany also works in the business and Brooke will be graduating next week with her Doctorate in physical therapy from Cleveland State. She lives in Berea with her husband, Greg.
What drove you to start your business?
When Brian graduated from the career center in 1982, he worked multiple jobs (grocery store, restaurants) and was trying to find a place to use his electrical skills. He approached the owner of Home Appliance and offered to work for him for free for six months if he would teach him the appliance repair trade. It worked out so well that he purchased the name and phone number from the previous owner and went out on his own in 1988. We ran the business out of our house for many years. I worked a full-time job at a leasing company in Medina and would go home at lunch and schedule calls for him. I also did the books for him in the evening. We moved from our house to a storage garage, then opened the store in Lodi, then came back to our original location in Brunswick, then built the new store in Brunswick and just opened our third location in Avon this year. I joined the company full time in 2001.
What has been your philosophy in building your business over the years?
Home Appliance may have grown from one man to 50 employees over the years, but we still maintain the same core values that we had when we started. It is the can-do attitude and accountability to our customers that Brian believed in when we started that has helped us grow the way we have. When we hire, we talk about those core values in the interview process to make sure we hire people that truly have the same beliefs that we do. We don’t just post the core values on the wall, we walk the walk with them in everything we do. Our business model is unique because we are the only company in northeast Ohio that sells, services, installs and delivers with our own team members.
What community service organizations and projects are you involved in?
Brian and I are members of Hope Church in Brunswick. We support many organizations through engagement with our teams such as doing a blood drive with the Red Cross at our store and raising money for St. Jude’s when 20 of us ran the Warrior Dash this summer. We are currently collecting food and funds for the Harvest for Hunger Network at all of our locations. We also just signed on as an appliance provider for the Medina County Habitat for Humanity where we provide the laundry for the homes being built in Medina County. Our team has also committed to help with the next Habitat build next year.
What do you see in the future for your business?
Home Appliance is still in a growth mode. We just opened our retail and design showroom in Avon this June and it was an instant success. We are always looking for the next opportunity to serve our customers where we can have the greatest impact on the community. We have been in Brunswick and Lodi for so many years and have become a household name for the great service and pricing we offer. We will work to be that successful at all of our future locations. We have an amazing team, many of which have been with us for 10 to 20-plus years. It is that kind of infrastructure that will carry us forward for years.
To learn more about Home Appliance Sales & Service, please visit them online at www.yourhomeappliance.com
Are you interested in having your business featured in The Post? Email us at business@thepostnewspapers.com for more information.
