Tasco Appliances

From its humble beginnings in the back of a small furniture store, Tasco Appliances has become a respected dealer of high-end appliances citywide. In the 1960s, owners Mike Sayer and Lou Maurice bought out the furniture store and over time focused their efforts on specializing in appliances.

By the late ’70s, Mike’s son James Sayer had taken over the business, adding a focus on high-end luxury appliances. “My dad was born in England and lived through the depression. He said if a $500 fridge worked, then buy it,” James shares. “When I came in everyone else was selling that $500 fridge, so I steered toward a higher-end product, the stuff that you won’t run into at a big box store.”

Tasco Appliances has succeeded by keeping up with the changing ways people shop. At first the store catered to contractors and builders, but in the ’80s they opened a Kitchen Design Division to provide advice for people designing their own kitchens. In the early 2000s, people weren’t willing to fight through traffic to go to one store, so the company expanded to five stores spread out across the GTA.

“It’s a very competitive business,” says James. “My theory is that within the GTA you can get to a Tasco store within 15 minutes.”