Randa’s closure ends 20-year legacy

When Kerry Walker was 14, his parents Randa and Lee bought the old Archer’s store in Newton and ever since, Walker’s life has revolved around Randa’s Appliance and Electronics store in downtown Newton.

Walker thought he’d always be in the appliance/electronics retail business, but a tough economy, combined with the downfall of Maytag and the close ties between Randa’s and those products, forced Walker and his family to shut down the iconic downtown Newton business last month.

In many ways, Randa’s was the poster child for the All-American mom-and-pop operation. The family ran it, they knew their customers and everyone chipped in to help. Walker, who started working in the store as a teen, remembers working holidays and special moments of his life tied to the store.

“I grew up around the store. And that’s the whole thing ‘the store,’ that’s what our family refers to it as: ‘the store,’” he said. “I remember getting my driver’s license and being excited that I could drive the delivery truck — do deliveries and drive it. I kinda grew up in the business.”

Living through the demise of the family business was difficult for Walker and his family. He referred to the past year as the worst in his life as he and his family slowly came to the realization that Randa’s was not going to survive the economic downturn.

The store’s close ties to Maytag didn’t help either. Strong feelings of bitterness and resentment over Maytag’s departure made any business with a tie to that name a target for angst.

“We were the biggest Maytag dealer around and when Maytag went out that hurt quite a bit. We were so closely associated and tied with Maytag, we tried to change our image ... it just didn’t seem to work,” Walker said.

And the recurring Newton mantra of “shop local” is something Walker finds younger people doing less and less these days. Quick trips to nearby Des Moines retailers are fun, but the results are empty store fronts and a local retail market stacked against small business owners in Newton.

“Over the years it’s kinda gotten to be a catch 22 where we’re losing retail stores, so people say they can’t shop in Newton and have to go somewhere else. So we just end up losing more and more retail,” Walker said. “We have turned into somewhat of a bedroom community for Des Moines.”

Walker and his family considered moving away from Newton, but ultimately their ties to the community, through friends and family, and the fact that Walker was able to accept a job with Servicemaster — a

local cleaning company — led to them to stay.

“I want to see Newton change for the better. I feel like we’re kinda in a down time now. You look at some of the other communities in the area, Grinnell is strong community, Pella is a very strong community and I know we can get back to that prominence and strong community as well.”

Randa’s is closed now, but a former employee of the business has taken on warranty repair work under Charlie’s Appliance Service and the mall itself has been sold to the owner’s of PJ’s Deli.

Meanwhile, Walker and his family have moved on. He hopes to see Newton bounce back especially on the local retail end of things. He believes Newton can.

“I look at some of the positives we have in Newton and I just see that we can make it a lot better,” he said. “As far as retail goes, we’ve got to look at some of the other communities that have strong downtowns and maybe model after those and market toward the younger generation.”