Showroom Rides Wave of Success with Test-Drive Kitchen Concept

HONOLULU, HI —

How does a company that started out servicing automobiles end up selling automatic dishwashers?
Well, given Servco Home & Appliance Distribution’s multi-ethnic locale, it’s not surprising that the strengths of different businesses could be mixed and transformed into something unique – just as easily as the strengths of myriad cultures could be mixed to create one big melting pot.

This is perhaps the only way for mainlanders to appreciate fully the off-beat origins of a company like Servco, which was founded as a service garage in 1919 by a Japanese immigrant who had taught himself automobile mechanics.

It wasn’t until 1935 that Servco got into the wholesale appliance business, and it’s been distributing high-end kitchen products ever since.

‘POI’SED FOR SUCCESS

Tradition in this island state is as important as knowing where all of the prime surfing spots are located, and being part of an 87-year-old, Hawaii-based kitchen appliance dealer with strong ties to the community is something in which Craig Washofsky, group v.p. for Servco, clearly takes extreme pride.

“The Servco name is short for ‘service company,’ and that’s what our company’s philosophy is all about,” Washofsky explains. “Service to the client. Service to the community.”

But, as in any diverse culture, along with an appreciation for the old, there is almost always an equal appreciation for the new. To this end, Servco recently renovated its 7,000-sq.-foot showroom, replacing those often musty-dusty, manufacturer-supplied display cases with 22 exciting vignettes. Each one is different from the next, unique unto itself, the firm states. And all were created by 13 different Hawaii-based designers, who geared them toward not only the professional design community, but also toward consumers, who often frequent the showroom.

As a result of the revamp, the firm has created a customer-friendly space much like Hawaii itself: a place as welcoming and laid-back as it is unique.

“We first built three live kitchens,” Washofsky says, explaining how the concept was born. “We’ve got a GE Monogram [kitchen] that’s live, [plus] a Thermador and a Gaggenau kitchen.”

Then the company went to 13 local kitchen and bath designers and, in typical, easy-going Hawaiian fashion, let them cut loose with their designs. “We didn’t tell them what to do, so we didn’t know what to expect,” he says. “We ended up with all of these incredibly different, incredibly beautiful vignettes, but they flow together really well.”

Given Servco’s early affiliation with the automobile, and the fact that one of its current divisions is even now the Toyota and Lexus distributor for the entire state of Hawaii – yes, they still sell cars – it is fascinating to discover how they came up with the concept of what is, essentially, a “test-drive” kitchen.

“We were trying to figure out a way to show our products in a way that was compelling, and yet would still make customers feel at home when they walk in,” says Washofsky.

Because they live in a multi-ethnic culture accustomed to blending ideas, languages and traditions – and in looking to the firm’s car division for showroom inspiration – the folks at Servco might tell you they were only doing what comes naturally to every Hawaiian resident: thinking the island way.

“People can shop for cars online [or in a magazine],” explains Washofsky. “But until you have a positive experience walking into a showroom and sitting in that Lexus, feeling your fingers curve around the wheel, smelling the leather, it is less likely that you are going to be excited about that purchase.”

Even though Servco is a wholesale appliance distributor, the company recognized that to be successful in Hawaii, where real estate is a premium, it had to address the needs of the end consumer.