Alfred J. Richard (“A.J.”) was chairman of the board of P.C. Richard & Son, a retail chain with 49 showrooms that his father, Peter Christiään Richard (“P.C.”), founded as a hardware store in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn in 1909.
Born the year his father established the business, A.J. was only eight when he began working with his father, handling stock and waiting on customers. He had been learning the business first-hand for nearly a decade when, in 1925, he spotted an opportunity that would change his life forever.
An abundance of new household appliances followed the increasing electrification of America. A.J. convinced his father to start selling electric irons along with the hardware and plumbing supplies that were the company’s stock and trade. The irons were a hit with customers and A.J. pounced upon the trend, rapidly diversifying the store’s inventory, adding washing machines, refrigerators and a host of other appliances designed to make the lives of American homemakers easier. Simultaneously, he introduced an innovative time payment plan that helped to rapidly grow the company’s business.
Taking over the company from his father while he was still in his teens, A.J. proved to be a classic entrepreneur, combining boundless energy with a natural instinct for merchandising, marketing and customer service and a willingness to take risks. By the mid-1930s, he had converted his father’s hardware store into an appliance oasis. Though the nation was embroiled in the Great Depression, he was selling an impressive amount of appliances weekly and supervising a staff of five sales clerks and six door-to-door sales people. That remarkable transformation set the stage for even greater success as radios and, later, televisions transformed popular entertainment.
Always ahead of the times, he further distinguished P.C. Richard & Son by creating his own service department to repair the radios and televisions he sold. “I’ve been in the service business since the beginning of radio and then television,” he often boasted later in his life.
Despite his success, though, he never forgot his humble beginnings or the values that made him successful. His father had been a tinsmith, roofer and bicycle repairman before opening a part-time home repair service that would prove to be the foundation of his hardware business. And it was upon P.C.’s reputation for reliable, high quality work and fair customer service that A.J. grew the company. Until he passed away December 28, 2004, he remained a hands-on business leader and a devout advocate of honesty, integrity and reliability. Those simple standards are an unambiguous hallmark of all P.C. Richard & Son employees, with 49 showrooms serving the greater New York/New Jersey metropolitan area. Closing in on its 100th anniversary, the company is now the nation’s largest family-owned and operated consumer electronics, appliance and computer retailer.
P.C. Richard & Son continues to be a friendly, family-owned and operated business. A.J.’s son, Gary, is CEO; his son, Peter, is executive vice president; his grandson, Gregg, is president; his granddaughter, Bonni, is director of human resources; and his grandson, Peter III, is manager of warehousing and distribution.