Mickey Reali and his wife Mary, herself a former Orville’s employee.
Retirement beckoned for Orville’s Mickey Reali after earning AVB’s top honor
By Janet Weyandt, YSN
When Mickey Reali got his first job, he couldn’t have imagined one day he’d be standing on a stage in front of a couple thousand people being honored for the independent retail career he started as a 16-year-old stock boy.
Reali, who went on to become CEO of Orville’s Home Appliances — the celebrated eight-store chain serving Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y. — was inducted to the BrandSource Hall of Fame at last August’s Convention.
“I was indeed shocked to be selected to the Hall of Fame,” he said. “And what an honor. I never imagined that I would be considered for the Hall of Fame.”
Poised at press time to retire at the end of 2024, Reali began his retail career working part time for a local appliance store in his hometown of Buffalo. While still in high school, he started helping out on the sales floor and made a life-changing discovery.
Natural Talent
“I found out I love to sell people things,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s always the best kept secret — you can make a lot of money selling appliances.”
He spent 16 years at that store, then moved on as a Whirlpool rep and sales trainer. Three years later he landed at Orville’s, where he has spent 35 years. His first job there was sales manager, and he jumped right in to make the changes he felt were needed.
Staffing Savvy
“Why do salespeople not want to be salespeople? Because of the hours,” he said. “It was the same thing for me — I was a salesperson for years.”
His solution was to give the Orville’s sales staff a four-day work week twice a month, guaranteeing them enough days off to have a happy work-life balance.
“It gives them family time, time to do what they need,” he said. “We really don’t have much turnover at all. I want them to feel like humans, not like salespeople. I wanted them to feel like they had a life.”
That worker-centric approach served Orville’s well, and four years ago the low turnover helped Reali achieve his biggest professional goal: bringing the company across the $100 million threshold in annual sales.
“The company’s in great shape,” he said. “It’s very well capitalized and everything’s operating smoothly. BrandSource has done a great job helping us get to this point.”
Orville’s has eight showrooms and a 140,000-square-foot warehouse. Of its 250 staffers, about 180 are employees and the other 70 are contractors. Orville’s also has its own service, delivery and installation departments.
A Networking Natural
Orville’s has been a BrandSource member since 2006 and relies on the group for digital marketing and its e-commerce website.
Chad Evans, VP of merchandising, has known Reali for about 15 years.
“Mickey is someone who has great insights into how to run and grow a business,” Evans said. “He is tough but fair as a negotiator. He has also been very willing to share ideas and information with any who have questions.”
Sharing ideas is important to Reali.
“I have no problem borrowing ideas from other people,” he said. “You look at best practices; what I look for is the best things they do, then implement them if we think it’s right. When we joined AVB, it went on like that. They were always big on that type of thing, sharing ideas, best practices and stuff.”
Laying the Groundwork
To prepare for retirement, Reali got creative to set Orville’s up for continued success in his wake. For instance, his hand-picked successor, then COO Shawn Buffam, started out as one of Orville’s newspaper sales reps.
“He was very talented and knowledgeable,” Reali said. “We played golf together. He left there and went to work for Live Nation Ticketmaster, and during the pandemic he had nothing to do. I asked him, ‘Why don’t you finally come to work for us?’ and it worked out.”
Orville’s started doing business with Eastern Marketing, the luxury appliance distributor, about 25 years ago, and founder/president Marty Friedman has always been impressed with Reali’s business chops.
“He wanted to know how to improve his business,” Friedman said. “That told me he was unusual, because us people who run big businesses like his often are more concerned about themselves and what they can get out of the business than what the business can get out of the business.”
Partners
Reali and his wife Mary have two daughters, four grandchildren and are serious about golf. Once upon a time they also performed as semi-professional water-skiers, ran marathons and more. “You name any sport at all, we did it,” Reali said, and Mary has been a key part of everything he’s accomplished.
“Mary was an employee, and she was the face of Orville’s — when I would go to shows, she was always there,” he said. “She is the catalyst; she never gave me a hard time. I used to work 80 hours a week 70, 80 days in a row.” That’s why the alternating four-day work week, he added.
Building on Success
Orville’s is a large and profitable business and therefore hasn’t leveraged BrandSource for its purchasing power. At that level, Reali said, securing a competitive advantage with vendors is manageable on their own. However, other benefits of BrandSource membership have been very important.
“When you get to a certain level, you’re not looking to a group to help you buy,” he said. “What you’re looking for is services. BrandSource has the best programs. Everyone tries talking to us but we look at the programs, we look at what people do and [BrandSource has] what you need. You need the digital, the advertising, the website, the manufacturers’ rebates — you need all that stuff all rolled into one.”
Reali said being part of BrandSource was its own reward, and induction into the Hall of Fame was icing on the cake.
“I really need to express my gratitude to BrandSource and all its personnel for this honor,” he said. “What a great industry to be involved in. I love the camaraderie that we have at our Conventions and the feeling of success that it brings. I am very grateful.”
YSN publisher AVB BrandSource is the nation’s largest merchandising and marketing co-op for independent appliance, mattress, furniture and CE dealers.
