Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/143040
people here are very friendly, which I'm sure was comforting. In those days, there was a lot of prejudice in the U.S. against immigrants, so I'm sure El Paso felt like home and he never left." The same can be said for Joe's dad, Ciro, who took over the family business in 1947. That was the same year the grocery store chain Safeway came into town and forced most of its smaller competitors out of business, including Caldarella's. According to the local paper,it was Ciro who decided to divide the store in half and start selling hardware prior to Safeway's arrival. Be it luck or foresight, or most likely a mixture of both, that move allowed the business to pivot quickly and resurface as a hardware and sporting goods store. Ciro is also credited with introducing the business to used foodservice equipment as well as keeping Caldarella's afloat when yet another national chain, Western Auto Supply, stormed into El Paso in 1962 and threatened the livelihood of the store for a second time. "That's how we wound up in the foodservice equipment business," says Joe. "Having worked many years at the meat market with his father, meat markets were something my father knew a lot about. He knew the equipment and he knew what it was like to be a customer, so he began reaching out to store owners in Mexico, where these markets are found." Today, Caldarella's still caters to the niche and carries a huge supply of knives, sharpening tools…everything that you would find in a traditional meat market in Mexico. "Our customers still have meat showcases where a butcher stands behind the counter and prepares the meat for the customer,"says Joe,who assumed the role of president in 1988 after Ciro retired."That's the kind of customer my father catered to when he started this business after the hardware store." As far as customers go, El Paso is a good fit for Caldarella's, which markets itself in the local paper and via billboard as a one-stop-shop for everything an independent needs, including a large selection of used equipment and repair parts. The larger competitor in the area handles the chain accounts and bid When the chain Safeway came into town, Joe Caldarella and his sons were forced out of the grocery business. Years later, the store made the transition from hardware to E&S when another major chain entered the El Paso market. work, whereas Caldarella's has always been a cash-and-carry operation with an affinity toward mom-and-pops, although several of its customers have small restaurant chains. Other customers include local grocers, meat markets and bakeries in El Paso and neighboring cities in New Mexico and Northern Mexico. "El Paso is kind of isolated,so there are a lot of little family restaurants here," says Joe."They come into our store with their grandmother's tamale recipe in hand and they look to us to help them get started. It's a real nice customer base." "In order to make a profit, you have to be very selective.…." When 30-something Tessa Caldarella hears about a family-owned business in the E&S industry selling out, or simply giving up, she takes it personally. "It makes me sad that they didn't have a next generation that wanted to go into the business," says the fourth-generation Caldarella. I love being a part of a family business and all of the challenges that come along with it." After earning her accounting degree and CPA certification, it was the challenge of laying the foundation for the next 115 years that initially lured her to the family business,much like her father, Joe, did when he spearheaded the move to a more spacious 21,000-square-foot location—allowing for more parking, more customers and more room for reconditioning equipment."I've learned so much from my father," says Tessa. "One of the reasons why I believe we've been in business for 115 years is that he leads by example. Every transaction, every sale is handled with good intention and honesty." Integrity aside, the Caldarellas have proven that they're a tenacious bunch with a knack for outmaneuvering everything from the highly publicized civil unrest in Mexico to staggering market conditions. Their response to the economic downturn: Provide hard-hit customers with more low-cost alternatives by expanding its used equipment line. It's extremely labor-intensive work, says Joe, but that part of the business has continued to grow because of the obvious demand and profit potential, which is far greater than new. On average, Caldarella's has anywhere from 150 to 200 pieces ready to sell and, as a value add, a large parts department open to the public. "We have such a large reconditioning facility and we're constantly buying parts, so going into the parts business was a natural progression," says Joe, continued on page 12 July/August 2013 11