KALONA

The Appliance Barn has a talent for transforming commercial properties. When they moved to their current location on the corner of B Avenue and Hwy 1 in Kalona in 2016, the space had been vacant for years and was in poor condition. Today the remodeled space features a beautiful showroom, income-producing solar panels, and has a little rental housing unit on the side. And it has served the business well.

“It was such a drastic change,” owner/manager Brylee Miller said. Their previous space was a quarter of the size, so small that people who came to purchase appliances had to page through catalogs to see the selection as it could not be displayed. Once they moved, “that was when we really started to get people to come and buy from us.”

Now The Appliance Barn is prepared to make another move, this time into the CIVCO building, which will be vacated next year as that business moves its manufacturing to a new location in Coralville. The Appliance Barn hopes to close on the property in early 2025 and begin moving warehouse inventory in immediately; the showroom buildout will begin soon after.

The larger space will allow The Appliance Barn to consolidate all their operations under one roof. Currently, the main showroom and warehouse spaces are separated by blocks in Kalona, and mattresses are sold out of the Sleep Center in Iowa City.

“Right now we’ve run out of room, and it’s been like that for a few years,” Miller said. “We were considering building a new warehouse,” he said, when the CIVCO building came up as a more convenient and efficient option. With about 43,000 square feet at street level, the new location will provide The Appliance Barn with perhaps an additional 10,000 sq ft in which to stretch out.

“We feel lucky to have the opportunity to buy a building that could work for both a warehouse and showroom,” Miller said.

With plenty of parking space and true truck docks for loading and unloading, the CIVCO building is well suited to attracting a volume of customers from across the state, which is something Miller hopes for.

“Being in Kalona, we need to be a destination store,” he said. “We’ve got to get people to want to drive here to come into our store.”

By having one of the largest appliance stores in the state, The Appliance Barn already attracts customers from cities like Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Burlington. And that is great for the whole community; when they come, “They see what else Kalona has to offer,” Miller said.

What sets The Appliance Barn apart from its competition is its selection, which includes unique specialty brands; its quality; and its sales and service team, which is experienced and well-trained. And those advantages don’t come at a premium price: digital price tags in store match box store pricing.

“You get box-store pricing with trustworthiness,” Miller said. “A lot of our customers talk about how they like to shop in Kalona because they trust the people that are here, that they’re going to do a good job for them. That’s the appeal of being in Kalona. Our outside customer base loves to deal with Kalona.”

As The Appliance Barn’s current properties go on the market, Miller looks forward to The Appliance Barn’s next step forward.

“It’s pretty exciting to be able to do it again,” he said of moving into a larger space. “I’m excited to see what kind of displays we can do with it. I think we’ll make it memorable for people when they come in.”