Appliance Factory & Mattress Kingdom, a TWICE Top 50 majap chain, celebrated its 17th new-store opening earlier this month. But this ribbon-cutting was different.
The Colorado retailer marked its first venture outside the state, choosing the Columbus, Ohio, bedroom burg of Dublin as its new beachhead. And to help ease the entrée, the company leveraged former hhgregg infrastructure and staff.
Appliance Factory selected the fallen chain’s Sawmill Road showroom to make its mark, and recruited an eight-person team of past associates, led by onetime hhgregg area manager Mike Haynam.
“I’m very excited to launch a new division of Appliance Factory & Mattress Kingdom here in Central Ohio,” said Haynam, who now serves as Ohio division director. “Bringing hhgregg’s best appliance product experts back into the business … is a great feeling.”
Added product expert James Barbier, “After working with hhgregg for many years and leaving to work for a competitor, it was very refreshing to be approached to help launch a new and exciting storefront in Central Ohio. The opportunity given to us to be able to fill the needs of our ever growing customer base is truly amazing.”
Appliance Factory kicked things off with a Jan. 5 ribbon-cutting ceremony and a grand-opening sale that promised savings of 30-60 percent on thousands of uncrated, special buy, scratch-and-dent, and closeout appliances and mattresses from brands like GE, Hotpoint, Jenn-Air, Kitchen-Aid, LG, Maytag, Samsung and Whirlpool.
“I am proud to bring real savings to Ohio consumers, unlike anything offered elsewhere in the United States” boasted CEO Chuck Ewing, who partnered with manufacturers for the opening sales event.
But Ewing has plenty to crow about. He began the business from his Denver garage in 1985, and built it into a 17-store chain that racked up some $76 million in white-goods sales alone in 2016, placing it on the TWICE Top 50 Major Appliance Retailers Report at No. 28.
Ewing further distinguished the company by adding Mattress Kingdom sleep centers and branching into contract appliance sales, in-house appliance repair, home remodeling, and digital signage.
More recently, Appliance Factory joined the prestigious NATM Buying Corp. as its 12th member, where it shares programs and best practices with the likes of P.C. Richard & Son, Nebraska Furniture Mart, Abt Electronics, Cowboy Maloney, and other leading tech and majap regionals.
TWICE suspects additional Buckeye State stores in Appliance Factory’s future, and awaits confirmation from the company of that and any other out-of-state expansion plans.
