Better Electric Co. Inc. switching off after 75 years on Grafton Street in Worcester

WORCESTER — In an unassuming one-floor building on Grafton Street not far from where downtown traffic pushes up under the Interstate 290 bridge to reach Union Hill, family business Better Electric Co., Inc., has been nothing short of a generational presence in the city during its 75 years.

That run will come to an end later this year, when owner Raymond Grimaldo Jr. closes the home appliance store for good after being in business since 1948.

The 69-year-old, who plans to retire when he locks the front doors to Better Electric for the last time, had no regret in his voice Thursday while talking about the store’s closing.

“It’s time,” said Grimaldo. “I’ve had to do what I’ve had to do to take care of the customers, we always paid our bills, we got everything right, we're in good standing.

“It’s time. I’m tired.”

Best known for selling home appliances such as stoves, washers and fridges, Better Electric was the dreamchild of Grimaldo’s father — Raymond Grimaldo Sr. — who started the store at 21 in 1948, shortly after finishing his training as an electrician’s apprentice.

From lighting fixtures to home appliances

Grimaldo Sr. started the store at 190 Grafton St., where he first sold lighting fixtures and adding in the late 1950s home appliance sales, delivery and installation — the main thrust that the store is best known for.

Those shopping at Better Electric in the early days will remember the store having a rectangular shape, starting at the front doors and ending deep into the red-roofed building.

Grimaldo Sr. later expanded the store after buying land to the left of the building in the early 1970s. Columns running through the store now separate the “new” from the old.

Since the changes, Grimaldo Jr. said the store was never touched up again, as was also evident by the wooden wall sidings typical of the 1970s interior design styles.

When Grimaldo Jr., the eldest of four children, started working at the store in 1970, he was 16, with duties mostly involving delivering appliances side by side with the store’s handymen.

He was part of a pattern that wasn’t uncommon for the Grimaldo family. His mother and uncles were all involved in one way or another, something that was the beginning of a family work culture that was passed on to him and his siblings, and even his own children.

“I've been paying taxes in this place since 1970,” said Grimaldo with a smile. “I’d get on a delivery truck and go do deliveries carrying stuff up and down the stairs.”

He said the work was preparation for him to take the reins later in life.

“I always knew I’d be doing this,” Grimaldo said.

Junior takes over from senior

After earning a degree in business administration from then Worcester State College in 1976, he became even more involved in the family business, eventually taking over the store in 1988.

Even though that year marked a big moment for Grimaldo Jr., it wasn’t the end of the line for the senior, who helped how he could until his death in 2013.

“My father never retired, he was always here,” said Grimaldo Jr. “Until 85, he carried ‘em out of here!,” he added jokingly.

The tradition of the business being a family affair continued as his three daughters, Amy, Alicia and Allison, helped at the store throughout their teenage years.

They echoed one another when saying that being around a working environment where dedication was the only key to success helped later in their adult years.

“I remember going to the high school secretary as soon as I could to get a work permit to work here summers,” said Amy, 36. “He instilled that on us. He is the epitome of hard work.

"On a Christmas Eve, he would stay open until we would go to church and if somebody needed a stove because their family was coming over Christmas Day, it would be there.”

To Grimaldo, going the extra mile for the customer was always a must.

His daughters recounted that he was at work even on the days after his three heart surgeries.

Beloved wife, mother, grandmother

Another instance was more emotional for them when remembering how Grimaldo worked on the days around their mother Andreana’s recent death, despite the great emotional pain he had for her loss.

Touched by the memory of his wife, who was a Quinsigamond Community College math professor, Grimaldo wiped tears that trailed off his eyes.

“It’s my nature,” Grimaldo said. “I like to help people, I really do.

“And you know, people always remember that.”

With the closing of the store in sight, Grimaldo said business will continue as usual, taking in more products until the end of March. He will then enter what he called “a liquidation mode,” selling everything in the store throughout the summer.

Grimaldo’s daughters did not have an interest in continuing the business, especially with professions in medicine and science. Once he retires, Grimaldo will look to place the land at 190 Grafton St. for sale.

“It'd be nice if I can be out here by the middle of the summer,” Grimaldo said. “If it goes beyond that, that’s fine, too.”

Grimaldo said that the closing of the store will give him more time to “enjoy himself,” including “grandkids’ basketball games” and trips to his vacation house in Florida.

For Alicia, 34, who works as a nurse, said that the work of her father and her family has left a strong legacy in the city that she has seen where she has expected it the least.

“For me and Allison working in health care and for Amy working at Hanover Insurance, it’s not uncommon to have people to see our names on our badges and say, ‘Your dad owns Better Electric,’ ” Alicia recounted. “It's unbelievable the amount of people that recognize us and know us and say so many nice things about our family.”

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Better Electric Co. on Grafton St. in Worcester closing after 75 years