Denton County Magazine • Nov

Since 1931, McNeill’s Appliance has helped Denton County households run more efficiently. Owned by a local family, it provides the latest appliances as well as delivery and service.

On Christmas Eve in 1960, a customer came into McNeill’s Appliance in Denton in desperation: Her refrigerator had stopped working. It was late in the afternoon and all the employees had gone home, but store owner Charlie McNeill told her not to worry -- he’d make sure she didn’t have to go without a refrigerator during the holidays. Charlie loaded one up and delivered it himself.

This is the kind of service that generations of customers have come to expect from McNeill’s Appliance.

Originally a grocery store -- one of 30 grocery stores in downtown Denton -- McNeill’s was facing both increasing competition and the Great Depression. It was reinvented as an appliance store in 1931. Founder F.C. McNeill would load up a Maytag wringer washer and go farm to farm, often receiving a pig or cow as part of the purchase price. His son, Charlie, often accompanied F.C. on these sales calls.

McNeill’s is a fixture in Denton history. When Charlie married Virginia Ball, the daughter of a store owner on the same block, the two shops merged. In 1964, McNeill’s Appliance moved to its current location on Oak Street on Denton’s downtown square in a building that once housed a funeral home and a furniture store. For warehouse space, the McNeills utilize a building that previously housed a post office.

Today, McNeill’s Appliance remains a family business. Charlie and Virginia’s son, Steve McNeill, devised the store’s computer system and their daughter, Pam McNeill Grimes, heads operations. Inventory has expanded greatly since the 1930s, with McNeill’s now selling washers, dryers, microwaves, ovens, ranges, cooktops, refrigerators, freezers, vacuum cleaners and more. Charles McNeill died in 1997 and Virginia recently retired after working at the store until she was 86 -- but the commitment to customer service remains.

“When you buy an appliance here, we have our own service team,” Grimes said. “We come and support you. That’s something you don’t get with big-box stores.”

McNeill’s also takes care to ensure that its competitively priced, quality appliances are ready to use. Washers come with hoses and dryers with cords -- something not all appliance stores will give to customers with their appliance purchase.

“Look at the bottom line and consider who will service it,” Grimes said. “It makes you think, ‘Who do I want to buy from?’”

McNeill’s Appliance 104 W. Oak Street on the downtown square in Denton 940-382-6932 McNeillsAppliance.com Hours: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday