Queen City, Bernie’s Join Nationwide

By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 5/17/2010

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Former NATM Buying Corp. members Queen City and Bernie’s have joined the Nationwide Marketing Group.

For Bernie’s, the move represents a rebirth of the 63-year-old Connecticutbased business which shut its doors in February.

For Queen City, the 11-store CE and appliance chain based here, the change marks a return to Nationwide, where it had been a buying group member through much of the 1980s and 1990s.

Queen City CEO Roddey Player said the return was prompted by Nationwide’s enhanced marketing programs and its warehouse distribution system. The latter will provide it with Samsung inventory after Queen City’s volume requirements fell below the vendor’s direct- ship minimum.

The chain continues to receive most of its inventory in container shipments direct from manufacturers, Roddey told TWICE, although high unemployment within Charlotte’s banking industry and the consolidation of four stores have impacted sales.

Robert Weisner, executive VP of member services at Nationwide, said Queen City joined the group’s Brand Builders division, comprised of its 60 largest dealers. Nationwide provides special programs for Brand Builders members that support their multi-store operations, he said.

Separately, Weisner confirmed that a reborn Bernie’s will formally join the group with the opening of its first Bernie’s Home Central store on June 1 in Manchester, Conn. Bernie’s principal Milton Rosenberg will likely draw inventory from warehouses operated by Nationwide’s local NECO chapter, and is planning additional locations, Weisner said.

According to a report in the Hartford Courant, Rosenberg received bankruptcy court approval last month to buy the chain’s name for $150,000 from Citizen’s Bank, its largest secured lender. Rosenberg said the new store will stock brand-name appliances, TVs and bedding, and that a second location will open later this year.

Calls to Rosenberg’s attorneys seeking comment were not returned at press time.