When Duerden’s Appliance declared bankruptcy in October and shut their doors, many customers found themselves without appliances even though they’d paid for them. At first it seemed they were just out of luck, but now those people may have some recourse. 

The bankruptcy court approved the sale of Duerden’s Appliance assets to Standard Plumbing Supply Company Dec. 18 and it’s the goal of the company to provide cash deposit customers with access to their appliances, if they are part of the purchased assets, a company release said.

“We are thrilled to expand our business and offer appliances on a larger scale,” said Richard Reese, president of Standard Plumbing. “This sale presents a unique opportunity, and we are pleased to provide customers with a fair resolution in this difficult situation.”

Some of those customers that paid with credit have already received their money back, he said. “My son was building a home and had purchased appliances. When he got the notification, he made a request with his credit card company and he got his money back.”

Standard Plumbing has been in business since 1952, said Reese. “My father started it. We’d like to be in business for another 70 years.”

The Duerden family sold in 2013, he said. “This location has been here through many generations. We plan to purchase the building from them in January.”

The judge said this was a Christmas miracle, Reese said. “We hope to make it a miracle from here on. We’ve been delivering materials since Thursday (Dec. 19). We had nine people here pulling orders. We’ve shipped about 900 appliances to customers.”

Reese said they have hired some of the employees who worked for Duerden’s. “We’ll bring back as many as we can as quickly as possible.”

“They offered me and other employees positions," said Todd Hall, director of appliances for Standard Plumbing. Hall was formerly president of Duerden’s appliances. “Our goal is to take care of the customers who have inventory here. We’re sorry for the stress it must have caused when Duerden’s shut down. We’re glad we can take care of a lot of those customers.”

As part of the acquisition, Standard Plumbing will reopen as the Appliance Gallery, a Standard Plumbing Company, the release said. 

“We have live kitchens that people can come and try out no matter the price point,” said Hall. “You don’t have to guess whether you’ll like it because we have live displays. You can see what it will look like in your kitchen.”

Hall said they’ve had people bring in dirty dishes to try out the dishwashers. “We had a food blogger who came in and tried baking cookies in nearly every oven we had. We tasted all of them.”

They’ll also match any price, he said. “You can shop around the national chains but we guarantee the lowest price.”

“We have compassion for them (customers),” said Reese. “They’re innocent people. It’s personal for them. Nobody wants to pay twice.”

For more information contact Reese at 801-233-4090.λ