On a weekday morning, the corner of Cesar Chavez and Bryant streets is full of the sounds of people going to work. This is a street where you can find day laborers looking for jobs and tech workers waiting to get on a Google shuttle.
On this same corner, you can find Jorge Bermudez Senior putting used refrigerators, stoves, and washers onto a hand truck and setting them on the sidewalk outside his store.
“People can see when they are driving by. ‘That guy has stoves.’ So they go around and buy it. That’s my showroom there. My driving showroom,” he says.
Jorge Bermudez Senior is the owner of Rancho Grande. He takes old, worn-out appliances, fixes them up, and resells them. Or, as he likes to say, “We are not just selling used appliances, we’re selling refurbished appliances, because we refurbish them.”
Let me explain. Let’s say your washing machine stops working.
What do you do? Get it repaired, or buy a new one, right? Well, Senior shows me a hand-painted sign right out front that offers a third option. It says: “Rebuilt Appliances: The Other Way Of Recycling.”
And not only is this option eco-friendly, it can also save money.
“So, this is most likely directed to the people that are underprivileged. You know, they’re people that don’t have much money.” says Senior.
The shop has been on this corner since 1996, and from the get-go it’s been a family business. Also working are Senior’s wife Ana, his brother Alberto, and his son, who everyone calls Junior. Junior shows me around the inside of the store.
“All the saints, you know, Mother Mary, La Virgen De Guadalupe, pictures of my parents or my grandparents, calendars sticking out everywhere.” says Junior, describing the inside of the store.
It feels like you’re walking into a family’s living room. Except this one has 20 refrigerators in it.
To complete the scene, Ana is changing a little girl’s diaper, right on the front desk. You see, raising a kid in the store is a Bermudez tradition.
FULL STORY ON KALW!
Had a couple good experiences with Rancho Grande. I’m glad this story is out there because they don’t have much internet presence. I once found their number by using Street View, because I knew it was painted outside the building.
Was happy to recently give them an old washer/dryer we’d bought off a neighbor and had for 10+ years. If anyone can extend its life for another family, they can!
I bought my washer and dryer there over 2 years ago and they still work perfectly!