Retailing

While many consumer electronics specialty retailers are still finding their footing in this recovering economy, the top full-line mass merchants — namely Wal-Mart, Sears...

Best Buy customers can now activate digital cable and high-definition TV services before leaving the store, with the help of new kiosks available at...

With the holiday selling season rapidly approaching, TWICE wanted to find out what types of CE products might be on Santa’s list, but unavailable...

“Traditional car stereo sales are down approximately 13 percent in units and 18 percent in dollars through May, according to The NPD Group.” —...

In this second and final installment of TWICE’s virtual warranty roundtable, extended service providers address the impact of commodity pricing and non-commissioned sales staffs...

Hopes for a significant industry factory sales bounce back this year, and a push to the historic $100 billion level next year, as expressed...

Radio frequency identification, commonly referred to as RFID, is a groundbreaking technology about to revolutionize the way items are tracked from manufacturer to retailers’...

Assurant and GE are entering a strategic alliance. Under terms of the deal, Assurant will assume the underwriting, obligor and administrative duties formerly performed...

RadioShack held its first-ever Worldwide Innovation Conference (I-CON) here last week, designed to convince CE manufacturers to reconsider the chain when introducing innovative new...

For retailers, extended service contracts are an all-weather friend. When times are tough, as they had been during the first half of the year,...

GERS highlighted new technologies it is developing to enable retailers to respond more quickly and efficiently to changing business conditions during its annual Retail...

Like the resilient New Yorkers many of them are, members of the NECO Alliance — the Northeast buying group, which held its annual convention...

The recent round of second-quarter sales reports by publicly held CE retail chains provided a bird’s-eye view of product performance on store floors nationwide....

Despite a sluggish retail environment, plummeting price points and unrelenting pressure from the national chains, member/owners of the MARTA Cooperative of America are holding...

Leonardo da Vinci is often credited with having the greatest mind ever. Yet among his inventions, his tank never rolled, his air conditioner never...

My interest in supplier/dealer relations was heightened recently when I sat in on a meeting between a retailer and his manufacturer representative. Following the...

Warmer weather, easier comparisons and tax cuts and rebates from the President’s economic stimulus plan helped resuscitate retail sales in July. Ultimate Electronics, the...

CE retailers acknowledge that the advent of interoperability standards could eventually create a meaningful business model for the sale of cable subscriptions, hardware and...

Nationwide’s biannual meeting and convention, held here earlier this month at Caesar’s Palace, was a bittersweet affair as the industry’s biggest buying group bid...

AVAD Northeast/Custom Works A/V Supply will be relocating to a new, larger facility in Taunton, Mass., to accommodate for growth. Planned for late August,...

Upward of 40 vendors displayed their wares at D&H Distributing’s one-day Convergence Trade Show in late July at the Radisson Penn Harris Hotel and...

360 N. 48th Street, Lincoln, Neb. 68504 402-464-8888, www.schaeferstv.com Ron Romero, president Annual Sales (fiscal 2002): $13 million Number of Stores: 1 Product Mix:...

1208 4th Avenue SW, Spencer, Iowa 51301 712-262-2455, (No Web site) Michael Fischer, president Annual Sales: not available Number of Stores: 2 Product Mix:...

1600 Harbour Bay Parkway, Alameda, Calif. 94502 510-747-6000, goodguys.com Ken Weller, chairman/CEO Annual Sales (fiscal 2002): $750 million Number of Stores: 71 Product Mix:...

100 South Anaheim, Suite 250, Anaheim, Calif. 92805 714-502-9620, brandsource.com Bob Lawrence, executive director Annual sales: “around $4 billion” Number of members: 1,800 Number...

14123 Highway 281 North, San Antonio, Texas 78232 210-828-3237, bjorns.com (under construction) Bjorn Dybdahl, president/founder Annual Sales (for the fiscal year ended June 2003):...

2273C Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, West Palm Beach, Fla. 33409 561-478-3100, audioadvisors.com Jeff Hoover, president/founder Annual Sales (projected custom install sales only for fiscal...

4500 Perkiomen Avenue, Reading, Pa. 19606 610-779-2000, boscovs.com Kenneth Lakin, chairman/CEO, Boscov’s Department Store, LLC Annual Sales (CE and majaps only): $120 million Number...

1200 North Milwaukee Avenue, Glenview, Ill. 60025 847-967-8830, abtelectronics.com Bob Abt, CEO Annual Sales: $100 million Number of Stores: 1 Product Mix: Consumer electronics,...

7320 N. Mopac Expressway, Suite 309, Austin, Texas 78731 (512) 418-9293, customsounds.com Mike Cofield, President Annual volume: Over $10 million Number of stores: 17...

14303 Gateway Place, Poway, Calif. 92064 858-848-3401, Gateway.com Chairman/CEO: Ted Waitt Annual Sales: $3.1 billion Number of Stores: 200, plus online and direct sales...

205 Chubb Avenue, Lyndhurst, N.J. 07071 201-842-0078, harveyonline.com Franklin Karp, president Annual Sales (fis.i 2002): $41.5 million Number of Stores: 6, plus 2 Bang...

605 Main Street, Gregory, S.D. 57533 605-835-8711, Web site under construction Elmer Karl, founder/owner Annual Sales (fiscal 2002): $30 million Number of Stores: 16...

1412 North Moorpark Road, Thousand Oaks, Calif. 91360-5127 805-497-7536, wilshirehe.com Lyn Perry, president Annual Sales (fiscal 2002): $10 million Number of Stores: 1, plus...

20 West Galer Street, Seattle, Wash. 98119 (206) 443-0980, cartoys.com Dan Brettier, Chairman/CEO Annual Volume: $167 million Number of Stores: 57 Product Mix: Mobile...

6711 Ritz Way, Beltsville, Md. 20705 301-419-0000, www.ritzcamera.com David Ritz, Chairman Annual Sales (CE): $424 million Stores: 1,300 Product Mix: Film and digital photography...

That it’s tough out there in today’s rough-and-tumble retail environment is clearly an understatement. But despite price compression, discount competition and an economy stuck...

Whatever else Ken Weller accomplishes in his career he can always point to Good Guys’ financial performance in the fiscal year ended Feb. 28,...

This is the second part of a summary on the outlook for giant-screen color TVs (40-inch and over), as detailed in the recent industry...

Welcoming the heat of summer, while still feeling the heat from the lagging economy, retailers hoped to entice shoppers away from the beaches and...

Courting the elusive digital printing dollar, Ritz Camera has begun rolling out a new Internet print service, called Internet Xpress Prints (IXP), that lets...