Who Owns Mazer Appliance?

Ben Mazer started the business in downtown Birmingham in 1932, at the depth of the Great Depression, bidding on residential and commercial demolition jobs and selling salvaged building materials. The salvage operation became Mazer Lumber Company, incorporated in Delaware in 1947, which added new building supplies, roofing, and heating contracting to the reclaimed-materials trade.

The business moved to 41st Street South in Avondale in 1959, shifting its focus from contractors toward consumers. Ben's son J.B. Mazer became president in 1965, and the company gradually expanded into flooring, kitchen and bath, furniture, and appliances. In 1986 Mazer Lumber converted to a Subchapter S corporation, and in 1994 the store rebranded as Mazer's Discount Home Centers.

A second, much larger location opened in 1995 in a former Kmart on Green Springs Highway in Homewood, eventually growing to roughly 250,000 to 300,000 square feet of retail and warehouse space. At its peak, Mazer's was the largest independent furniture and appliance retailer in Alabama, with 2009 sales estimated at $30 million and a National Buyer Appreciation Award from the Tupelo Furniture Market.

The housing crash broke that model. The Avondale building-supply location closed in March 2009, and in June 2011 third-generation president Michael Mazer announced the Homewood superstore would liquidate, drawing 500 shoppers on the first day of the going-out-of-business sale.

The family did not exit retail. In 2014 the business re-emerged as Mazer Appliance Inc., a focused appliance dealer back at the 41st Street site in Birmingham. The stripped-down format, appliances only, has operated since, carrying major national brands and serving the Birmingham metro with sales, delivery, and service.