AUBURN – The Agren brothers figure it’s a combination of their employees and their commitment to service that has kept their appliance business humming.

Now in its 25th year, Agren Appliance has developed customer loyalty that keeps a steady flow of people coming through the Minot Avenue store.

“We got a call just the other day from a woman who bought a dishwasher from us 20 years ago,” said Doug Agren, who owns the appliance store chain with his brother, Don. “She lives in South Portland now. But she told us to just bring a new one down and put it in.”

And they did.

Both brothers are proud of the fact that when you call one of the five Agren Appliance stores throughout the state, you’ll get a human being.

“None of that ‘press one,’ ‘press two’ sort of thing,” said Doug.

And proud that they respond to calls for service regardless of whether it is after hours, on the weekend or on a holiday.

“We always got calls on Thanksgiving Day, people saying their stoves weren’t working,” said Don. “Hundreds of people know who we are. We’d do our best to fix the problem.”

It’s that kind of dedication to service that gives the company an edge against the big box stores, and helped it grow from a small store at 277 Turner St. in 1978 to a chain of five stores with locations in Auburn, Brunswick, Damariscotta, South Portland and South Paris.

In need of more retail and warehouse space, they moved from that first store to their current Minot Avenue location in 1988, where the headquarters remains. The brothers did between $50,000 and $60,000 in sales that first year; this year they expect to top $8.5 million.

“Trends help drive the number up,” said Doug, citing $10,000 refrigerators and $7,000 ranges among the stores’ inventory. In fact, he said it’s not unusual for new homes to come with about $45,000 worth of appliances in today’s market – some of it just for show.

“Fads drive those things,” he said. “Some people get an $8,000 range but don’t know how to cook. They don’t need that kind of range. … It’s kind of overkill.”

Auburn natives, the Agrens applied that same kind of Yankee sensibility to their business plan. Doug managed an appliance store in New Hampshire for several years before returning to Maine in the late ’70s and joining with his brother, who repaired appliances. When they opened the first store, they dealt with used appliances, had one employee and two trucks.

Then they began to sell new Whirlpool appliances. They soon added other lines. As business grew, they looked for locations to expand.

Doug would get the telephone books from various communities and track residential growth by the number of white pages.

“If a community has 20 more pages than the previous year, that community is growing and we want to go where the growth is,” he said. Then he’d go to the community and check out traffic on Main Street. If the bulk of license plates were Maine, it indicated a steady, working population.

Agren still uses that technique; plans are under way to open a sixth store soon.

Today the company employs 35 people and maintains a fleet of 14 trucks. The Agrens say they credit much of the company’s success to their employees, who exemplify commitment to service. And they’re planning to celebrate their silver anniversary by holding promotions through October, including special sales events and door prizes.

Neither plans to retire soon. They’re still enjoying their jobs and each other.

“Sometime we just sit down and laugh,” said Doug as Don nodded in agreement. “We’ve always gotten along.”

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