TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

HHGregg Comes To Tampa As Circuit City Leaves

Tribune photo by JAY NOLAN

Last week, HHGregg created a buzz at a Tampa convention of retail real estate brokers and shopping center landlords, who are keen to land an HHGregg in their strip malls.

ADVERTISEMENT

By MICHAEL SASSO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 11, 2009

TAMPA - Just as Circuit City shuts down, a rival electronics retailer is preparing to enter the Tampa Bay area and challenge Best Buy.

The Indianapolis-based appliance and electronics chain HHGregg is finishing its first local store in the Market Square shopping center near Interstate 75 and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in New Tampa. It's also scouting other potential store sites around the Bay area, but hasn't yet committed to any other new stores other than one in Sarasota. Its closest store to the area at the moment is in Lakeland.

For those used to gadget-heavy Best Buy and Circuit City, HHGregg might seem like an odd mix of home goods and electronic gadgets. For example, its Lakeland store has a big selection of refrigerators, washer-dryer sets, vacuum cleaners, food processors and even mattress sets. But roughly half the store is devoted to tech gear including two walls full of big-screen TVs, cameras, MP3 players and laptop computers. Unlike Best Buy, HHGregg doesn't sell CDs or DVDs.

HHGregg creates an open airiness in its stores by limiting the height of its shelving to eye-level or shorter, which allows customers to see from one end of the store to the other. It is the same design that drugstore chain CVS Caremark uses. HHGregg prides itself on customer service and pays its salespeople on commission, rather than by the hourly wages that some of its competitors use, said HHGregg marketing Vice President Jeff Pearson.

The closure of Linens 'n Things and Circuit City are leaving gaping holes in many local shopping centers. So, HHGregg should be able to snap up some good store locations at below-market rent, said J.R. Dupell, a partner at the commercial real estate firm The Shopping Center Group, which helps Best Buy and other retailers find store spaces. HHGregg's stores are 30,000 square feet, which is about the same size as Circuit City and Linens 'n Things stores.

Last week, HHGregg created a buzz at a Tampa convention of retail real estate brokers and shopping center landlords, who are keen to land an HHGregg in their strip malls.

For now, the company is expanding cautiously. HHGregg doesn't have an opening date yet for its first store in New Tampa, Pearson said. It needs a certain number of stores in a market such as Tampa to make its advertising cost-effective. It is deciding whether to open the New Tampa store soon or keep it dormant for a while until it has more stores in the local market, Pearson said.

The company gets its name from its founders, H.H. and Fansy Gregg, who opened an appliance store in Indianapolis in 1955. It started expanding around the Midwest and more recently has expanded into the South. Today, it has 108 stores around the country including 13 in North and Central Florida. It is far smaller than Best Buy, which has more than 900 stores in the United States, and Circuit City, which had more than 700 stores before it began shutting them last year.

Like other retailers, HHGregg has been hit by the recession. Its sales at stores open for at least 14 months - a key measure of retailing called comparable store sales – fell by 13.2 percent in the three months ended Dec. 31 when compared to the same quarter a year ago. However, the company managed to turn a profit of $17.1 million on sales of $416 million in the quarter.

Tribune researcher Michael Messano contributed to this report. Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at (813) 259-7865.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT