NEW YORK —
CE retailers of all stripes continue to extend
their turf with new locations.
The latest wave includes Huppin’s first satellite showroom,
set to open next month in the Pacific Northwest; a
crop of new stores from Ultimate Electronics, Sixth Avenue
Electronics and P.C. Richard & Son in the East; and
two forthcoming storefronts from computer competitors
Apple and Microsoft in the Midwest.
Huppin’s second showroom is a new 8,000-squarefoot
construction located in North Spokane set for a Nov.
5 opening. It represents the A/V specialty dealer’s first
satellite location in its 102-year history, and effectively
doubles its retail selling space.
First announced last May, the showroom was presciently
designed to emphasize Internet connectivity and
interactive displays. Its sales staff will demo and explain
IPTV, PC-to-TV connections and other examples of web
and CE integration. The store will also feature a 3D showcase
with 3D TV displays and related products.
On the East Coast, Ultimate backfilled its Massachusetts
foothold with a new store in the Boston suburb of
Danvers last month, bringing its statewide store count to
four. The Colorado-based CE and appliance chain also
operates one store each in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania,
and has two locations in New York State with a
third on the way, bringing its nationwide store count to 50.
Boston may also be an ultimate destination for P.C.
Richard & Son, president Gregg Richard told TWICE.
The Long Island-based powerhouse is opening its seventh
store in nearby Connecticut this month — in the former
Bernie’s headquarters town of Enfield — along with a
regional distribution center to support them.
Further south, New Jersey-based Sixth Avenue Electronics
has opened its third Philadelphia-area store in
Deptford, N.J. The 35,000-square-foot site occupies a
former Office Depot, and raises the heat in a long-overlooked
market that’s now ringed by six hhgregg stores
and the first of two planned locations by P.C. Richard.
Meanwhile, in America’s heartland, vendors Apple and
Microsoft continue to roll out new company stores. Apple’s
is a relocation within the Galleria mall in St. Louis
to a new 6,000-square-foot space. Microsoft’s fifth retail
location, an 8,600-square-foot showroom in Mall of America
in Bloomington, Minn., will open directly across from
an existent Apple Store on Nov. 6.
