Black & Decker Service Center Boston
12 Market St, Brighton; (617)
782-6264 Official Black & Decker service shops are also good places to look for bargain prices on factory-reconditioned appliances and power tools.
It’s hardly the grimy workshop you may expect; these pleasant stores have a separate sales area, and several aisles are filled with a full selection of current B & D machines from blenders to drills to lawn mowers. They’re sold at 10% to 20% below retail prices, and they all carry the full 1-2 year manufacturer’s warranty.
Among the items Mr. C found on these shelves were a coffee bean grinder for $15.99; Dustbusters for $17.99; and a five-speed mixer, with built-in timer, for $90. A ten-inch band saw had $15 knocked off the price just because it came in a blemished carton. And a 19-inch, rear-bag electric lawn mower was marjced down from $250 to $189. Open weekdays from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M.
Broadway Appliance
77 Dorchester St. South Boston; (617) 268-7080
Located in Perkins Square, where East meets West (Broadway, that is), Broadway Appliance sells new and used refrigerators, washers and dryers, stoves, etc. Most of the stock is used and has been fixed up on the premiseswith a 90-day warranty. During that period they will repair your purchase for free, or replace it, if necessary.
There are at least three or four models of each kind of appliance; most items are only a year or two old, and they look quite good. A Frigi-daire side-by-side refrigerator/freezer, with twenty cubic feet of space, which probably retailed for over $1,000 a couple of years ago, was seen here for $300. Other fridges were on sale for $250. Good deals. Open from 8 a.m. to 5 P.M. every day but Sunday.
Commonwealth Builders Supply
375 Boylston St. Brookline; (617) 731-1800
An old-fashioned neighborhood store that’s hung on in the face of mega-su-per-chains. Everything here is sold at discountfrom small appliances like toaster ovens and boom-boxes to the big-ticket white goodsrefrigerators and washer-dryers. All items are brand new and fully warrantied.
A Black and Decker iron, normally $30, sells here for $19; a Braun Flex rechargeable razor, retailing for $164, is just $90. Save $40 on an Amana microwave oven; a Eureka vacuum cleaner lists for $159, but sells here for $99. Not to mention air conditioners and heaters, televisions, and much more in this large showroom. More recently, they’ve added European import lines like Asko and Miele; friendly, knowledgeable service, too. Open daily from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. til 5 on Saturdays.
Mystic Appliance
135 Cambridge St, Charlestown; (617) 242-9679
This store specializes in reconditioned refrigerators, washers, dryers, and ranges, in all major brands, for as much as half their original cost Taken from building renovations and trade-ins, Mystic inspects and repairs everything from top to bottom and turns out machines that look like new. Prices generally start in the neighborhood of $150, depending on the age of the machine. Some of these babies are only a year old! All carry a healthy 90-day warranty on parts and labor. Open weekdays from
9 am. to 6 PM. Saturdays from 9-4.
Sozio Major Appliances
495 Concord Ave. (Rte. 2),
Cambridge; (617) 547-2252
61 Squire Rd. Revere; (617) 284-4363
999 Worcester Rd. (Rte. 9),
Wellesley; (617) 235-8010
Rotary rats in the Fresh Pond area have undoubtedly seen this store while speeding (or crawling) by; it’s worth a stop on the commute home. Top-quality appliances by Frigidaire, GE, Maytag, and more are discounted from retail, and the prices just keep getting slashed: Most appliances were marked down from their normal store prices when Mr. C visited.
Mr. C saw a Frigidaire side-by-side fridge and freezer, with an ice maker in the door. Usually $1399 here, it was on sale for $1279. An 800-watt microwave by the same folks was just $189.95. And a washing machine by GE was $420, some $50 under its original Sozio tag. Bar-gain-hunters will appreciate bagging a Tappan electric range, with oven, for just $300.
Floor models are clearly marked as such, and discounted even more deeply. Everything in this store, out of the box or off the floor, carries the full manufacturers’ warranties. In addition to appliances, Sozio also deals in dining room furniture; you can get a medium-sized oak table and four oak chairs for as little as $300. All branches are open seven days, except for Cambridge which is closed on Sundays. Hours vary.
