JOLIET, ILL. – Grant’s Appliances, Electronics and More has closed its doors without warning.
The move took customers by surprise, based on social network postings. “This is horrible,” one customer noted. “What a way to go out of business after 80 years … and we trusted them.”
Indeed, the privately held business had served the Joliet market for 82 years, first as a hardware and appliance store. It would later open upwards of 15 locations throughout Chicagoland, operating under the philosophy of “Turn shoppers into buyers into advertisers.”
The company was acquired from the founding family in 1993 and run by a management team led by president George Olsen. In 2003 it joined the NATM buying group but left the organization five years later.
More recently, the chain faced an influx of 17 hhgregg stores into its hometown market, along with stepped up competition from an evolving Abt Electronics. In 2012, Grant’s operated six stores and generated $70 million in majap revenue, a 2 percent decline, according to TWICE’s Top 100 Appliance Retailers Report, where it ranked 26th.
