A legacy of service and giving back: Highway Appliance celebrating its 80th anniversary in the Mon Valley
Highway Appliance, one of the few remaining independent appliance dealers in the Mon Valley, is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year.
Highway Appliance was originally established in 1946 by William Ulerich, a U.S. Air Force veteran. Over the years, Highway Appliance has changed ownership, eventually being owned by Jerry Zahand Sr. and now his son, Jerry Zahand Jr.
Ulerich originally established Highway Appliance in Roscoe, but it was relocated off of Route 88 in Dunlevy, where they’ve expanded in size and added their own delivery crew and service department.
“I was in the military when I got out of high school, I went into the military for six years with a tour in Vietnam,” Jerry Zahand Sr. said. “Then when I got out of high school, I got a couple little jobs, and I came here in ‘72.”
“We’ve just continued to grow. We’ve had four expansions and we’ve grown under the premise of customer service. We have our own delivery crew, we have our own service department.”
Jerry Zahand Sr. said that large, corporate-run stores have made it more difficult for independent businesses to remain competitive. Jerry Zahand Sr. emphasized that with larger stores, customers don’t get to have the personal connection like they can at a store like Highway Appliance.
“Now, small independent appliance dealers like us are very few anymore, because of your Lowes and your Home Depots and everything,” he said. “But none of those give you the service aspect. They sell it to you, and that’s the last they want to hear from you. You call some toll-free number, and they give you another number, and you have to fight for service and to get service.
“We answer our own phones. When we’re open, we always answer the phones, take care of the customers ourselves. We’ve always believed whatever it takes to keep a customer satisfied, that’s what we do, and I think that’s the reason we’ve grown.”
Jerry Zahand Sr. said that when he first gained ownership of Highway Appliance, there were more than 20 independent appliance stores in the Mon Valley, but now they’re proud to be the only one remaining.
Highway Appliance sells almost everything a homeowner could need, including refrigerators, cooking appliances, laundry machines, furniture and mattresses. Highway Appliance sells notable brands like LG, GE, Speed Queen, Whirlpool, Serta and Flexsteel.
Highway Appliance offers competitive prices, and staff will help with finding easy financing options.
Highway Appliance is located at 2214 Route 88 in Dunlevy and has an online website where their product offerings can be found at www.highwayappliance.com.
Highway Appliance hours are:
• 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays
• 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.
• 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays (the store is closed Sundays).
Family business
One of the unique aspects of Highway Appliance is that it’s a locally-owned, family-run business. Jerry Zahand Sr. has now passed on ownership to his son Jerry Zahand Jr.
Jerry Zahand Jr., said that once he retires, he’s expecting to pass on the business to his son-in-law, Evan Dyll, who is the current general manager of Highway Appliance.
Jerry Zahand Jr. said he was working in Chicago before he came back to the family business.
“I actually worked for Sears and didn’t like working in the corporate aspect after being raised in an independent business, so I decided to come back,” Jerry Zahand Jr. said. “It was a lot easier to raise a family in this area, then in Chicago. Basically from the ‘90s on I’ve been running the store, we’ve grown a good bit since then.”
Over the years, Highway Appliance has been able to develop relationships with local residents, from generation-to-generation, which has helped them survive the ups-anddowns of the economy in the region.
“We’re in an area that has been considered to be a depressed area the entire time,” Jerry Zahand Sr. said. “Then during that time, the mills closed down. We’ve continued to survive through all that, through customer service and loyalty of our customers, so you know we’re fortunate.
“We’ve had employees that have been with us over 50 years. We have probably five or six employees that have been with us for 40 to 50 years, and I’ve seen a lot of them start here.”
Something that Highway Appliance prides itself on is their efforts to give back to their own Mon Valley community.
“We donate to all the churches, the high schools; I said years ago we gave over a million back to the Valley,” Jerry Zahand Sr. said. “It’s probably 2 million now that we’ve donated back to the Mon Valley to churches and schools and any charitable organizations.
“I think that’s one of the reasons that we’re successful, because we’re a part of the community. Where the big box stores, they’re not, they come in, they take the local money, and it goes back to some corporate headquarters. Where here (at Highway Appliance) it comes through us back into the community.”
Anniversary deals
For it’s 80th anniversary, Highway Appliance is giving over $10,000 in prizes, including a four-piece GE kitchen, a Serta mattress, furniture, gift cards and other appliances.
According to Jerry Zahand Jr., their prize drawings will be on July 6. Highway Appliance also typically has different types of deals like their “red tag” specials and more.
Highway Appliance will also have a July 4 sale for the summer holiday.
For more information, call 724-326-5616.
