After more than 40 years in business, Kim and Tom Taglieri have closed Alliance Appliance in Pittsfield

May 26, 2023

Business writer

Alliance Appliance in Pittsfield is going out of business after more than 40 years. Owners Tom and Kim Taglieri are retiring.

PITTSFIELD — Tom and Kim Taglieri recently learned that their lawnmower wasn't going to be fixed when they thought it would be.

The person who normally fixes their mower had left the job, and their repair shop was having trouble finding a replacement. It's a situation the Taglieris can relate to.

Trouble finding employees, a situation that all small businesses in the Berkshire are struggling with, has caused the Taglieris to shut down Alliance Appliance on Fenn Street, which they’ve owned since 1986, ending their 43-year career in the appliance business.

"We were kind of looking at retirement anyway," said Kim, who is 67 (Tom is 69). "But last year, trying to find help was pretty much impossible. We can't run this on our own anymore."

The Taglieris, who have been married for 47 years, have had as many as six employees work with them in the three Pittsfield locations where they’ve run Alliance Appliance. But they’ve been running the business alone since November.

"In November, two of our employees left so it was just the two of us," Kim said. "We tried to do it with just the two of us, but we said this isn't working very well."

One person had been interested in buying the business, but backed out because all they wanted to do was concentrate on service not sales, the couple said.

The owners plan on selling the building, at 579 Fenn St., where Alliance Appliance has been in business since 2005.

Alliance Appliance closed on May 26, but the Taglieris plan to remain at the store until June 9 as they sort through their inventory.

"People can still come in," Tom said.

"We’ll give them a part if we have it," Kim added. "We don't have any set hours."

They plan on selling the building at 579 Fenn St. that they’ve owned since 2005.

Closing the business is difficult for the two Berkshire County natives.

"It's kind of bittersweet because we were both ready to be done," Kim said. "But it's hard being a business for 44 years and then just be done."

Tom, a 1972 Taconic High School graduate, studied appliance repair at the former Northeast Institute of Industrial Technology in Boston, then worked as a repairman for both General Electric and Sears. They entered the appliance business full-time in August 1980, originally working out of the front rooms of their then home in Pittsfield.

"I kind of enjoyed the work," Tom said. "I always just wanted to have my own business."

They ran a used appliance store on Wahconah Street before purchasing what was then known as Alliance All Appliance in January 1986 when the business was located on Linden Street (Alliance All Appliance opened in 1980). The first thing the Taglieris did when they bought the business was to drop the word "all" from the name.

"It was a tongue twister," Tom said Friday. "People never got it right."

In 1988 they moved Alliance Appliance to a larger location at 1400 East St., into a building that they shared with a fitness salon. At that point, Alliance Appliance had two other full-time service technicians that worked with Tom Taglieri.

That, of course, was before small businesses had so much trouble finding employees.

Kim said the hiring issues began when the COVID-19 pandemic hit three years ago, and have never really reversed themselves.

"Not to our knowledge," Kim said. "The same thing has happened with some friends of ours who own businesses. They’re having a hard time finding help."

"A lot of small businesses have cut their hours down because they can't find staff," Tom said.

The nature of the appliance business has also changed, they said.

Kim recalled that when the couple started out, Tom would often receive gifts from people who couldn't afford to pay for the repairs.

"He would come home from a service call with four coffee mugs," Kim said. "He’d say, ‘Well, they couldn't afford anything so they gave me coffee mugs.’"

"A pottery guy in Sheffield," Tom said. "We used to go all over the place back then. He gave me four homemade coffee mugs.

"It's not always been about the money," Tom said, referring to service calls. "I’ve spent more time having a cup of tea with a little old lady or a little old man that needed the company."

"I’d call him to see where he was, and he’d say, ‘I’m having a sandwich,’ " Kim said.

The Taglieris don't have any definite retirement plans.

"We picked a good time to retire because we can do a little babysitting and some golf," Tom said (the couple have two grown children that live in the Berkshires). "I don't know what I’m going to do in the winter."

They will miss their customers as much as the people they served will miss them.

"We really enjoyed the customers we had," Kim said. "They’ve been amazing. We still have people calling here saying, ‘What am I going to do without you?’"

Tony Dobrowolski can be reached at [email protected] or 413-496-6224.

Business writer

Tony Dobrowolski's main focus is on business reporting. He came to The Eagle in 1992 after previously working for newspapers in Connecticut and Montreal. He can be reached at [email protected] or 413-496-6224.