A ‘Royal’ family business BY JEREMY WAYNE
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aunched in 1995 by three partners — Stuart Royal, Jay Greenspan and Ron Serafin — the Royal Green appliance business has its flagship store in White Plains. But its reach extends from mid-New Jersey to Hartford, says Rob Safran, who now owns the company with Royal and who is Greenspan’s cousin. The original partners had actually bought an existing firm, Leibert Brothers, which had been in business since 1948. To retain Leibert’s loyal clientele, they kept the name, running the new company as Leibert’s Royal Green. But when they opened their second location in Tribeca six years ago, they finally dropped the Leibert’s. Royal Green Appliances Center was more than ready to stand alone. Which it does just impressively. Because Royal Green is not your average retailer. Here
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is a company that places as much emphasis on pre- and after-sales service as on the quality of the appliances it selects and sells. With 20,000 square feet of displays in its White Plains showroom and 3,500 square feet in Tribeca, the company has also recently taken over Mr. Jay Appliances and Elgot Kitchens — both legacy brands within the industry — which, while keeping their names, now operate as divisions of Royal Green from its third location in Williston Park on Long Island. Along the way, Royal Green has also hoovered up — forgive the appliance-themed pun — two other legacy brands, Krup’s Kitchen & Bath and Dial-a-Brand, all now operating under a sizeable umbrella. While other businesses have struggled to stay afloat during the pandemic or sadly — and in too many cases — been forced to close entirely, Royal Green has doubled in size in the last year. “Apart from PC
Richards, we’re probably the biggest retailer in the tristate area by volume,” says Safran.
SEXING UP THE KITCHEN
It’s quite a collection for this unique retailer, 80% to 90% of whose business is generated by the trade. Every major architect, design firm, kitchen cabinetmaker and general contracting firm knows of Royal Green, but that is not to say the private residential customer isn’t welcome to shop there, too. All this was borne out on a recent visit to the White Plains store, where the handsome retractable awnings outside, displaying Royal Green’s distinctive logo, suggest an upscale restaurant or resort hotel, rather than your average kitchen appliance warehouse. Once inside, though, apart from the sheer size of the space, even the most kitchen-averse, thermophobe would find it hard
