S&S TV and Appliance is a family-owned business, operated by Kurt Brauer and his wife, Alyssa (not pictured), and owned by his mom and dad, Joan and Thomas Brauer. (Photo by Tyler Murphy)

NORWICH — S&S TV and Appliances co-owners Tom and Joan Brauer have been serving Madison and Chenango County since 1971.

2023 was an important year for the family business, with the family’s son Kurt and daughter-in law Alyssa taking on a growing role with the company.

S&S two showrooms are in Norwich and Hamilton. They carry selections of brand name appliances such as Amana, Speed Queen, Danby, Electrolux, Maytag, Monogram, and Whirlpool.

“Our goal has been to deliver the best brands at the best possible price, while delivering outstanding, friendly, customer service,” said Tom. “We’ll work with you to find a product that fits your needs, budget and lifestyle.”

In the last few years, S&S received recognition and was named the BrandSource Dealer of the Year for the North Atlantic Region. They also received the New York State Senate Empire Award for outstanding contributions and dedication to the growth, prosperity, and betterment of their community.

“Our in-house technicians are specially trained and prepared to service all that S&S sells,” Tom added. “We also do in-store repairs at our Norwich location if you’re in an area we can’t get to in a timely manner.”

In addition to appliance repair, they offer a great selection of parts and can help identify the correct piece needed for repairs. If they don’t have the part in stock, they will special order it.

He said they also also sell reconditioned appliances.

A family business close to community

“We do a lot of business with landlords, it’s a part of our business, and we work with coin operated washers and dryers,” Tom said. “We rent them and work on consignment and commission.”

“Say a guy has a three to four family apartment building and he wants to put coin operated washers and dryers in there; we put them in and split the collection 50/50,” Tom said, “S&S does all of the servicing. The landlord only has to pay the utilities, otherwise, we do it all.”

Tom said, “Speed Queen is really popular with excellent washing machines. He said they are built old-school and don’t wear out like the others. “That’s been a good selling point for us. They’re a little pricey but worth it,” he said.

“We’re a family-run business that are employees appreciate and allowances are made for our employees to have the freedom to take some time off to take their kids to the doctor.”

“We know what families go through and support our employees with their personal family needs and they appreciate it.”

Tom also said the company joined with another buying group for better pricing and better service.

He said 2023 has been another good year and they hired two more service people.

He explained the benefits of being based in a small town with only two appliance competitors, the box store and S&S. He said they compete with them very well.

“Maybe 30 years ago there may have been five or six appliance stores, so it’s easy for us to prove our service.” he added.

Between the two stores, they have 15 employees, 12 being full time.

Working closely with customers

The company had a hard time finding qualified service technicians to fill roles. “Nobody wants to work, so we had been going a little crazy to keep up with it,” he said. “It took about four to six weeks to find the right local hires,” said Tom

“The challenge is we must tell the people what we do for them. A lot of people don’t realize what a small business can do for the town. We don’t stand there and say we’re the greatest, we can do this, we don’t do that, but a lot of it is word of mouth.”

He said some time people shop for price, some shop for service and its up to him to try to convince the public that service is more important than price.

He explained that on Thanksgiving Day he received a call from one of his customers, saying he bought a range from S&S about 8 years ago and it wasn’t working, so he would need another one.

Tom said, “I told him to meet me at the store, I’ll be right there.”

“On Super Bowl Sunday, I received a call from Jim Cushman, and he said I want to watch the Super Bowl but my TV just conked out, and I said, ok Jim, come to the store, we’ll get you one.”

Those are the things people don’t consider, they only consider that when they need it,” he added.

“Its my job to show them thats what we do. He said, “Thats service, thats all.”

Another challenge shared was the issue of sales tax. He said the business is on East Main Street and they have to collect more sales tax than the whole city.

“We’re not even in the Business District,” he said. “We do over $2 million dollars a year and with 8% sales tax, thats a lot of money.”

He said he reached out to the Commerce Chenango but the only answer he got was the Business District only takes care of the main downtown up to the railroad tracks.

“I think S&S should be included in the Business District and would like this looked into 100%.

Welcoming a new

future

S&S welcomed Kurt and Alyssa Brauer on their return to Norwich last year, the couple is partnering in ownershi.

Tom said, “Kurt and Alyssa will be doing a lot more social media and advertising. I’m pretty much laid back, where word of mouth means a lot to me, but we must get into the new times. We’re trying to keep the younger people as our customers, thats the main thing for the future.”

He said the service department is going to get busier with all the new appliances and it will be imperative to keep up to date with all of the electronics in them.

“So we will have additional training to stay current,” he said.

S&S Partner Kurt Brauer said he grew up in Norwich and was always with his parents at the S&S store. He said he enjoyed sports and was part of the community but when he married his wife Alyssa, they decided to move to Maine, being two young married kids they really didn’t care where they lived.

He said they were gone for about eleven years and when they found out there was an opportunity to work with his parents, to work with the business, they decided to move back home.

“We moved back in May 2023 and found a house and settled down, putting our roots back in our hometown of Norwich,” Kurt added.

“I just invested in the business, so I’m working buying it from my parents, over time. It sounds kind of weird for me to say part owner. The whole thing is humbling,” he said.

“Working with my dad has been awesome, I wouldn’t want to work with anyone else. He really knows his ways with people and has a great demeanor about him,” Kurt said. “I’m doing sales and service now, helping out where I can behind the scenes.”

S&S would like to thank the community for making 2023 such a great success!

Norwich S&S store hours are Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m to 5:30 p.m., Saturday 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and closed on Sundays.