Hhgregg to close 88 stores, including all Richmond-area stores and 12 elsewhere in Virginia
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch
Hhgregg to close 88 stores, including all Richmond-area stores and 12 elsewhere in Virginia
By TAMMIE SMITH Richmond Times-Dispatch 11 hrs ago
Customers trickled into the Hhgregg store near Short Pump Town Center on Thursday afternoon, some aware and some unaware that the store was one of 88 locations the Indianapolis-based retailer is closing as it tries to return to profitability. ... I actually like Hhgregg, said Jamal Coles of Richmond, who stopped by the store to look for a PlayStation 4 video game console. They have good stuff, he said, adding that he still has the TV he bought from the store three years ago.
But there apparently havent been enough customers like Coles for the financially struggling electronics, appliances and furniture retailer. The company announced Thursday that it was shutting down more than a third of its 220 stores. ... All three Richmond-area stores are closing the store at 11732 W. Broad St. in Short Pump, plus stores at 1321 Huguenot Road near Chesterfield Towne Center and at 820 Southpark Blvd., near Southpark Mall in Colonial Heights. ... In addition, Hhgregg is exiting all of Virginia, closing its 12 other stores in Newport News, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Fredericksburg, Fairfax, Falls Church, Woodbridge, Roanoke, Sterling, Manassas, Winchester and Springfield.
We are strategically exiting markets and stores that are not financially profitable for us, Robert J. Riesbeck, Hhgreggs president and CEO, said in a statement. ... This is a proactive decision to streamline our store footprint in the markets where we have been, and will continue to be, important to our customers, vendor partners and communities. We feel strongly that the markets we will remain in are the right ones for our customers and our business model. Our team is dedicated to moving forward and being a profitable 132-store, multiregional chain where we will continue to be a dominant force in appliances, electronics and home furnishings, Riesbeck said. ... According to the company, current inventory in the affected stores will be sold over the coming weeks, with final closings expected to be complete by mid-April. About 1,500 jobs will be lost when the stores close.
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Hhgregg, founded in 1955, entered the Richmond market in November 2009, moving into buildings in Short Pump and Chesterfield that were formerly occupied by the defunct consumer electronics chain Circuit City. In March 2010, Hhgregg continued its expansion into Virginia, opening stores in Colonial Heights, Newport News, Virginia Beach and Roanoke. ... The company recruited many former Circuit City employees to fill positions. Circuit City at one point was the nations largest retailer of brand-name consumer electronics, but the company began losing market share to rivals Best Buy, Walmart and others. Circuit City filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2008 and closed its last stores in March 2009. .... Hhgregg reported a 22.2 percent drop in sales at stores open at least 14 months mostly due to weak consumer electronics sales during the fiscal third quarter that ended Dec. 31. Its loss for the quarter was $58.3 million. .... Hhgregg officials also announced Thursday that it will close its distribution and delivery centers located in Brandywine, Md., Miami and Philadelphia. Those facilities will continue to support customer orders of all products sold in the closing locations until all products have been delivered.
TLSmith@timesdispatch.com
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Read more: http://www.richmond.com/business/local/hhgregg-to-close-stores-including-all-richmond-area-stores-and/article_859403b9-7295-5893-8b8a-7c14c77c7d3f.html
There goes another one. The store said to be in Falls Church is actually in Baileys Crossroads. It's on Columbia Pike, just before it crosses under Route 7. It opened up on the site of a Circuit City. I've been in there, but I've never bought anything from hhgregg. I did buy something from Circuit City when it was that building's occupant - my first two digital-to-analog coupon-eligible converter boxes, for the conversion to digital TV broadcasting. That was back in June 2008. For once, I did something ahead of time.
Retail consumer electronics is so brutal. It might as well be coal mining.
Full disclosure: I bought a second Kindle Fire tablet last month when Amazon knocked $10 off the price. I got it from Toys R Us. I was going to go out to the store and buy it, just to be traditional. (The Toys R Us store is a fifteen-minute walk from the aforementioned hhgregg, if you don't get run over crossing the street.) The traffic was so brutal that I said to hell with it and turned around. I got it online. Free shipping, same price, Virginia sales tax added either way I get it. Go to the front door, and there it was.
= new reply since forum marked as read
And you can be fired at any time for any reason. To them, we're as disposable as the shit we buy. 
I'm doing these because I find that making fun of Trump and his cohorts is the only thing that keeps me from going insane!
Wood console with 12 channel plus UHF changer knob. Had to get up and walk over to tv to change channels. We had 3 (ABC, CBS, NBC). One baseball game per week but we thought that life was good.
Their salespeople must all work on commission. I was only in there a couple of times and I felt like I was on a used car sales lot.
