BUSINESS NEWS
Great Bend Appliance of Great Bend was named the 2023 BrandSource Dealer of the Year for the Great Plains Region at the BrandSource National Convention & Expo, held Aug. 27-30, 2023, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville. Owners Dale and Sherry Pruter were honored at the buying group’s awards ceremony.
The Pruters launched Great Bend Appliance in 1998 after Sears closed the couple’s Appliance and Catalog Store. Following a five-year stint with an area appliance shop, Whirlpool recruited Dale to open a brand-exclusive store in Great Bend, and along with Sherry and two employees Great Bend Appliance was born.
Since then, the 1,300-square-foot showroom has mushroomed into a city-block-long home-goods emporium featuring bedding, furniture, TVs, grills, space heaters and, of course, appliances, and a staff of 21 employees.
The Pruters attribute much of the company’s success and dramatic expansion to their membership in BrandSource. The dealer-owned cooperative provided the couple with a turn-key mattress program that offered easy entrée into the category and, at one of the group’s bi-annual trade shows, led them to a similar opportunity in furniture.
“We were a BrandSource dealer from day one,” Dale said. "Adding a SleepSource showroom was one of the best decisions we ever made.”
The BrandSource Dealer of the Year awards are presented annually to members like the Pruters who have demonstrated a continued commitment to excellence in the retail industry and to their fellow BrandSource dealers. The winners, who are selected by the members within each of the group’s 14 regions, must also show their support of BrandSource and its vendor partners by attending regional meetings and national events such as the annual Convention and Summit.