Appliance World Stores Remain Closed

By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 2/1/2012

Greenfield, Wis. - Independent majap dealer Appliance World appears to have closed shop.

The three-store chain, headquartered here, closed its doors Monday without notifying customers and has remained shuttered since, according to local news reports.

Owner Edward Aumann informed employees on Sunday that he was closing the business and its assets were being seized by a lender, salesman Mike Whittaker told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

According to court documents retrieved by The Business Journal, several cases were filed against Appliance World by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue in 2010 and 2011 for delinquent taxes amounting to tens of thousands of dollars.

Signs on the darkened stores indicated that they were closed for inventory and would re-open on Tuesday, but local TV station Fox6 reported that the locations were still shut as of Tuesday night.

Phone calls placed to each of the stores on Wednesday went directly to voicemail.

The family-held business, founded in 1956, ranked 76^th on TWICE's Top 100 Major Appliance Retailers report with about $15 million in majap sales in 2010. The company, a member of the Nationwide Marketing Group, opened its second and third locations that year, which boosted sales 3 percent, the TWICE report shows.