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Jack Baillio may seem a David among retail Goliaths, but he doesn’t see it that way.
“If we give the best price and we give service on top of that, the customers will come back. It’s proven that way over a period of years,” said Baillio, president of Baillio’s Electronics & Appliance Connection.
Baillio’s has thrived in Albuquerque since 1966. These days, the family-owned-and-operated business is slugging it out with National chains like Best Buy, Circuit City and Sears – and more than holding its own.
“We just closed out the fiscal year on June 30, and we had a really good year,” Baillio said.
Unlike its mammoth competitors, Baillio’s has no presence outside New Mexico. But on the local level, it can throw it's weight around enough to make the big boys take notice.
The company’s annual revenues are closing in on 30 million. And its stock – from refrigerators and freezers to computers, stereos and televisions – is dazzling.
“We have the largest display of appliances between Dallas and Los Angeles,” Baillio said. “We stock a lot of merchandise so the customer doesn’t have to wait.”
For example, the Albuquerque store has about 2,000 refrigerators in stock, Baillio said. A fraction of those are on display in the company’s sprawling warehouse/showroom, alongside washers, dryers and other major appliances.
The rest are stored upstairs in the company’s big, blocky white building at 5301 Menaul NE with giant Baillio’s signs painted on it – a Northeast Side landmark.
Such old-fashioned roadside advertising is one way Baillio competes against the chains and their jumbo advertising budgets.
“We don’t even try to compete with this stuff anymore,” Baillio said, lifting a Circuit City advertising circular. Baillio’s compensates for its lack of advertising clout with a friendly and informed staff, Baillio said.
The company’s hiring philosophy, he said, is simple but effective: Hire nice people.
“It’s a lot easier to hire people who are nice than to hire people and train them to be nice,” Baillio said. “You can’t do that. They’re raised a certain way and their character is formed by that time. And the customer associates Baillio’s with whoever he’s talking to.”
The company also makes sure salespeople understand products.
“The more that they’re in here, the more people see that we can do a better job because you can talk to someone who know's what they’re talking about and who really cares,” Baillio said.
He claims that “95 percent of the time we’ve get the best price” on comparable items, a situation made possible by ongoing research of competitors’ prices and Baillio’s membership in a powerful national buying group.
Despite the company’s careful hiring and methodical marketing, Baillio attributes his success to a more profound influence.
“People tell me all the time, ‘You must be a really smart guy.’ I’m not that smart. Things just seem to work for us. I’m not dumb, but I do believe the Lord watches our business,” he said. Baillio is frank about his faith and said church activities occupy much of his scarce spare time.
Grandchildren also snare a lot of his attention, and much of the rest of his family he can see at work: His brother Jeff Baillio is in charge of advertising; son Jack Baillio Jr. is the warehouse manager in Santa Fe; son-in-law Rob Kujath is the Santa Fe store manager and computer/home office buyer; daughter Shawn Baillio is a bookkeeper; daughter Renee Ellison does payroll and bookkeeping; and nephew John Baillio Jr. is a sales representative.
Another brother, Johnny Baillio, sold out his part of the business and bought a ranch.
As competition has increased, Baillio’s has expanded to meet the threat. The Baillio’s complex in Albuquerque covers 63,000 square feet. Baillio’s plans to keep doing what has worked in the past and will offer special promotions when it benefits the customer, Jack Baillio said.
At the beginning of football season last year, the company teamed with Hitachi to offer an enticing deal to buyers of big-screen TVs: If the Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl, all those buyers would get their money back and would get to keep the TVs.
Denver won in January, the money (about $250,000) was distributed, and Baillio said he hopes to do it again next year.
“That was one of the best promotions we ever did, plus it made me feel good,” he said. “Some of the people, you could tell, needed the money.”
That promotion cost the company very little, but Baillio’s is known for contributing generously to causes it deems worthwhile – from donating a refrigerator to a Santa Fe amateur baseball team to giving new computers to the state’s top school teachers.
“I believe you’ve got to give back. You just can’t take all the time. Life’s too short to just hoard everything,” Baillio said.

John Kent – Journal Staff Writer
Albuquerque Journal – Business Outlook - (Modified for accuracy)