Our History
Jo-Di's opened for business in October of 1970 on New Park Avenue in West Hartford Connecticut, by myself, Joseph DiFazio. I began installing FM converters and under-dash 8-track players in people's vehicles. The technology of the seventies left a lot to be desired, and left a lot of customers with equipment that needed frequent repairing. I hired a graduate of a nearby technical school, and that was the beginning of the Jo-Di's Service Center. During the slower months of winter I would approach the local car dealers about pre-loading some of their vehicles with 8-track players and speakers as a way for them to make extra money and better serve their customers. News of this way for car dealers to add-on extra profit to their sale spread like wild fire. I began investigating other accessories we could add to the vehicle for the dealer and branched into rear window defoggers and seat belts. Dealers were driving their vehicles from everywhere to take advantage of this selling opportunity and one of them questioned if I had ever thought about opening up other locations.
The late seventies and early eighties was a period of tremendous growth, both in our industry and for my company. We were now adding cruise control, air conditioning, alarm systems, radar detectors ( or fuzzbusters as they were known back then) and full car STEREO systems to people's vehicles. My little one-man-show company had now turned into 8 locations with over 40 employees. Finding our way through the 80's would introduce us to the cellular phone, cassette decks, car amplifiers, subwoofers, CD players, car stereo competitions, 2 more locations, and my 20th year anniversary. The last few years have been incredibly difficult in our industry. Giant super-stores fighting for market share, many vehicles coming from the factory with our electronic goodies already on them, and a sluggish economy, made many question how we could still be adding on more locations.
Today Jo-Di's has five locations throughout Connecticut, the largest service department in New England, and employs over 30 people. I've watched us move from the FM converter to GPS vehicle navigation systems, and have been fortunate enough to succeed in an industry where many have failed. I attribute our success to loyal and dedicated employees, and always specializing in ONLY mobile electronics. Rest assured, Jo-Di's will continue to offer Connecticut only the finest in mobile electronics products and installations.
Thank you for visiting our website, and we hope to help you in one of our stores soon.