Farmingdale,
N.Y. – P.C. Richard & Son will open its
first Philadelphia-area stores and may add upward of five Connecticut
locations this year as part of a planned expansion that could extend its reach
from Delaware to Massachusetts.
The family-owned CE and appliance chain plans to open seven to 10 stores in total this year, including two in the Philadelphia market and two in New Jersey.
It also opened seven stores last
year, including its first Connecticut
location, in Norwalk.
The Connecticut build-out will
continue with the opening in late March or early April of a former Linens n
Things store in Milford, followed by the opening of a former Circuit City site
in North Haven.
According to president Gregg
Richard, the company plans to have four stores in Connecticut
within the next four months and as many as six by year’s end. Although the
state-wide expansion was planned long before Bernie’s filed for bankruptcy, the
impending closure of the regional CE and appliance chain has accelerated P.C.
Richard’s timetable.
“We’re looking very hard at
Connecticut,” Richard told TWICE.
The chain is also scouting locations
for distribution centers that would support its Connecticut
and Philadelphia-area stores. The latter facility would also feed existing stores
in nearby Lawrenceville and Mt. Laurel, N.J., as well as a future expansion into Delaware.
In New England, the company is also
considering moving beyond Connecticut into Rhode Island and eventually Massachusetts,
Richard said.
“We’re in good position to take
advantage of opportunities,” he noted, after spending the last three years
fortifying the company’s systems and infrastructure, and remodeling all 57
stores. “We got our house in order and built a bench for the next wave.”
