Newlyweds find success in used appliance sales

By Ryan Cornell

NEW MARKET -- Craig and Christy Barnes are used to bringing their work home with them.

A top-loader washing machine missing a bearing sits in the hallway of their Mount Jackson home. Other appliances requiring extra work also take up valuable space.

"We have the ones we're not going to lose money on," Christy Barnes said. "We're like, we'll deal with that noise, we'll bring it home."

One month before marrying in December, the couple opened Southern Appliance & Repair in New Market. Their business, which started out of their home last fall, sells used appliances from all types of brands, including refrigerators, washers and dryers, and repairs broken appliances.

According to Christy Barnes, it's the only shop of its kind in the area.

"Unless you're going to a thrift store or someone on Craigslist, which you don't know anything about the stuff when you buy it, we pretty much have the monopoly around here on that," she said.

She said customers have the option to buy one of their used appliances if it's cheaper than getting a broken appliance fixed.

These used appliances come from an array of sources, from people flipping apartment buildings and condominiums and removing the old appliances to bidding on storage units.

Christy Barnes manages the office and handles the sales. Her husband, whom she calls "the brains of the operations," does the bidding and repairing.

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Newlyweds find success in used appliance sales