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History of Bray and Scarff

History of Bray and Scarff

Bray and Scarff was first founded in 1930 when Marvin Bray and Bennett Scarff teamed up to open their first appliance and service store to serve local apartment owners and property managers of the Washington D.C. area. The company exclusively carried the ever popular Frigidaire brand, a subsidiary of General Motors at the time, through to the late 1960s, then GE became the focus and later featured Whirlpool products as well. In 1978, Bray and Scarff ventured into the sales and services of icemakers when it added Manitowoc, the leading producer of commercial icemakers. Only five years later, thanks to its aggressive marketing and sales efforts, Bray and Scarff became known as one of the top Manitowoc distributors in the country, expanding its customer base to include to the Federal Government and top national accounts, from restaurant equipment dealers to hotels, including Quality Inns.

As apartments were converted to condominiums and were no longer managed by large real estate companies, Bray and Scarff made the crucial decision to expand into retail operations. The company opened its first retail store in 1980 in Bethesda, Maryland and extended its appliance line to include SubZero, Thermador, KitchenAid, and JennAir. It wasn’t long until the growing company opened its second store in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia where it remains today in its original building. With the expansion into the retail market, Bray and Scarff decided to move its corporate headquarters from Washington D.C. to Beltsville, Maryland where it became the company’s third retail outlet and increased total facility and staff by four times. Continuing its expansion, the company opened additional outlets in Maryland and Virginia in 1983 and 1984 and started adding to its product line with the introduction of high-quality cabinets.

With such rapid growth, it was time for Bray & Scarff to open a much larger corporate headquarters, central warehouse, and expansive showroom to meet the demands of its customer base. Starting construction in late 1986, the $2 million corporate headquarters opened its doors in Beltsville, Maryland in July 1986, and measured in at an impressive 50,000 square-feet, complemented by an additional 8,000 square-feet showroom.

Sadly, in 1987, the original founder, Bennett Scarff, passed away. However, his legend lives on through both his name and his philosophy which is carried on through his family and members of management. In fact, it is his very philosophy that inspired Bray & Scarff’s mission statement: At Bray & Scarff, we are committed to providing the area’s premier customer experience for the purchase, installation, and service of appliances and kitchen remodeling.

Today, Bray & Scarff continues to be a family-owned business with 15 retail outlets around the Washington metropolitan area, including the recent addition of the Springfield showroom. It has doubled its warehouse size and continues to grow and expand to meet the customer’s needs. With its own construction department, Bray & Scarff has the power and capability to install every kitchen it sells. As a one-stop shop, it offers customers the best quality products with top professionals in every department, including 80 Experienced Appliance Specialists and Kitchen & Bath Designers. In fact, Bray & Scarff specialists are in nearly 300 homes every day, from appliance and kitchen to service and contractor sales.

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