Alan Wolf

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Independent Dealer Doc Needs Your Support

Documentary film producer Steve Kosareff is planning a chronicle of the demise of U.S. TV vendors as told through the eyes of independent dealers. The project, “TV Man: The Search for the Last Independent Dealer,” compares the extinction of American manufacturers like Motorola, RCA and Zenith to the struggles of independents like Poma TV in Ukiah, Calif., and Williams TV in... More

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Appliances Hit The Jackpot In Las Vegas

Move over CE and make room for major appliances, which will likely become a permanent fixture at International CES. After years of torch-carrying by Whirlpool, majaps were front and center at this month’s show thanks to attention-grabbing exhibits by GE and Kenmore at the first-ever Connected Home Appliances TechZone, and by major majap showings at the LG, Samsung and Haier booths.... More

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The Party’s Over In Appliances, For Now

Naysayers had said the $300 million in federal “cash for appliances” rebates was too little to stimulate sales, but the ebb and flow of factory shipments clearly jibes with the program’s state-level rollouts last spring. As AHAM’s data show, shipments returned to the plus column last March and hit a 12.3 percent growth peak in April before tapering off to flat... More

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Best Buy: Reports of PCs’ Death Greatly Exaggerated

Best Buy is stressing its commitment to the PC category after citing steep computer cannibalization by iPad. According to a story in last week’s Wall Street Journal, Best Buy’s internal estimates showed that Apple’s tablet computer had eaten into PC sales by as much as 50 percent, particularly for notebook models. The newspaper credited CEO Brian Dunn with the data,... More

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Bring It On Home

“Made in The U.S.A.” is apparently making a comeback, at least within the major appliance industry. After years of plant consolidations and outsourcing, GE and Whirlpool are bringing production and jobs back home. Incentives include tax and wage concessions from government and unions, but also labor, currency and shipping issues abroad. The latest show of domestic support... More