BENTON, Ark. — As we approach the COVID-19 one-year mark, businesses are slowly starting to bounce back, but 2020 spared one small business.
The doors at McClendon’s Appliance have been open since 1947.
“When you come in you see the same faces,” said Glen McClendon, the owner of the shop.
The company goes back with three generations of a hard-working family.
McClendon’s started as a Firestone store and at one point added hardware and furniture.
After their business burned down in the ’80s, they shifted to only appliances of all sorts, little did they know several years ago this would help them during a pandemic.
“When the pandemic hit, the panic set in,” said McClendon.
Business boomed for McClendon’s. The appliance store had its best sales year in 2020.
McClendon said the surprising success is a result of new and familiar families who’ve renovated their homes while quarantined.
“They are deciding they want a new refrigerator, or new washer, or even going to build a new home,” said McClendon.
For generations, they’ve never seen anything quite like it. They only hope post-pandemic, success continues.
“We hope our sales continue to increase, we hope the economy stays on the path that it is,” said McClendon.