HONOLULU, HI —

How does a company that started out servicing automobiles end up selling automatic dishwashers?
Well, given Servco Home & Appliance Distribution’s multi-ethnic locale, it’s not surprising that the strengths of different businesses could be mixed and transformed into something unique – just as easily as the strengths of myriad cultures could be mixed to create one big melting pot.

This is perhaps the only way for mainlanders to appreciate fully the off-beat origins of a company like Servco, which was founded as a service garage in 1919 by a Japanese immigrant who had taught himself automobile mechanics.

It wasn’t until 1935 that Servco got into the wholesale appliance business, and it’s been distributing high-end kitchen products ever since.

‘POI’SED FOR SUCCESS

Tradition in this island state is as important as knowing where all of the prime surfing spots are located, and being part of an 87-year-old, Hawaii-based kitchen appliance dealer with strong ties to the community is something in which Craig Washofsky, group v.p. for Servco, clearly takes extreme pride.

“The Servco name is short for ‘service company,’ and that’s what our company’s philosophy is all about,” Washofsky explains. “Service to the client. Service to the community.”

But, as in any diverse culture, along with an appreciation for the old, there is almost always an equal appreciation for the new. To this end, Servco recently renovated its 7,000-sq.-foot showroom, replacing those often musty-dusty, manufacturer-supplied display cases with 22 exciting vignettes. Each one is different from the next, unique unto itself, the firm states. And all were created by 13 different Hawaii-based designers, who geared them toward not only the professional design community, but also toward consumers, who often frequent the showroom.

As a result of the revamp, the firm has created a customer-friendly space much like Hawaii itself: a place as welcoming and laid-back as it is unique.

“We first built three live kitchens,” Washofsky says, explaining how the concept was born. “We’ve got a GE Monogram [kitchen] that’s live, [plus] a Thermador and a Gaggenau kitchen.”

Then the company went to 13 local kitchen and bath designers and, in typical, easy-going Hawaiian fashion, let them cut loose with their designs. “We didn’t tell them what to do, so we didn’t know what to expect,” he says. “We ended up with all of these incredibly different, incredibly beautiful vignettes, but they flow together really well.”