Diane and Michael Belforti are leading Better Housekeeping into its 81st year.
Photo courtesy Better Housekeeping Shop
By Eileen Moon
RED BANK – For generations of Two River families, there was only one place to go when it was time to buy a brand new household appliance or fix one suffering from a persistent squeak, leak or other problem that required a pro to diagnose.
They’d simply put in a call to the Better Housekeeping shop at 48 Monmouth St., where business founder Paul Joy, his son Morton “Bud” Joy, and later his granddaughter Diane and her husband Michael Belforti were ready and willing to help.
The home appliance shop is celebrating its 80th year in business, an achievement the family credits to its in-depth knowledge of the products they offer and its long-term commitment to customer service. “Our staff are experts in appliances,” Diane noted. “They are professionals in the industry.”
Another secret to their success is the fact that, although they are a small store, they belong to a large buying group comprised of similar business across the country, giving the group enough buying power to remain competitive with discount-style retailers whose advertising budgets keep them in the public eye.
“I tell my customers, bring us a price. We’ll match it or beat it,” Diane said.
Being able to rise above the economic ups and downs of 80 years, including the advent of shopping centers, big box stores and the internet, makes the family feel very proud.
The first step on that journey began in 1939 when Paul Joy, a former sales representative for a household appliance manufacturing company, decided to make a fresh start.
After moving with his family to Atlantic Highlands, the Maine native established his business in Red Bank with the help of partners.
“He was looking for a better life for his family, so he basically took a leap,” Diane said.
It was a challenging year to go into business. The nation was gradually emerging from the economic blows of the Great Depression and few of their customers could afford to spend lavishly.
“They were scraping together dimes to get their refrigerators. Everybody was kind of in the same spot.”
But soon the country began to prepare for America’s entry into the war, causing inventories of new appliances to shrink as factories geared up for war production.
That put increasing importance on keeping older appliances in working order, which helped the repair side of Joy’s business grow.
In those years, Diane continued, the business was much less specialized than it is today. “He basically did anything he could to keep the doors open,” Diane said. At Christmas, Better Housekeeping sold Christmas trees. They also carried a line of radios, hand mixers and other small kitchen appliances.
Photo courtesy Better Housekeeping Shop
Paul’s son, Bud Joy, grew up in the family business, displaying a talent for organization honed during his years at Valley Forge Military Academy. He joined the shop full time in 1957 after graduating from the former Upsala College in East Orange at the age of 22.
Bud’s daughter Diane came on board after earning a marketing degree in college and working for a newspaper chain in Boston.
Her boyfriend at the time, Michael Belforti, owned a successful video store with his brother.
When Diane moved back to New Jersey, Michael followed, and the couple were soon engaged.
“Michael and my father really hit it off,” Diane recalled. Ultimately, he invited Michael to join the family business.
Today, Michael and Diane are leading the business into the future.
The business has changed radically with the times, Diane said, but the family’s commitment to careful planning and customer service endures.
The appliances they sell today are intelligent machines that can be operated remotely from your phone, blink an error code when there’s a malfunction or show you a picture of the contents of your fridge as you’re maneuvering in the grocery aisle.
And although a kitchen is still considered the heart of any home, “It’s gone from a basic kind of functional kitchen to a major investment for the way we live today,” Diane said.
What remains the same is Better Housekeeping’s ability to provide the kind of customer service that makes word-of-mouth their strongest form of advertising, whether providing a customer with a $50,000- $60,000 French range or helping a customer with a modest budget find an appliance they’ll be happy with. “We carry everything for every budget, basic to high end.”
She credits her father and grandfather with setting the pace for success in an ever-changing marketplace.
“In order to survive, businesses need to constantly evolve and modernize and it was no different in the 1950s and 1960s. In a family business, making changes to ‘how things have always been done’ can be an even greater struggle. One of the key reasons Better Housekeeping Shop is a third generation, family-owned business is because my father and his father both recognized this and planned accordingly,” Diane said.
