ProSource, the industry’s biggest buying group for independent A/V dealers and integrators, has snagged an equally massive retailer.
Micro Center, the 25-store IT specialty chain and 11th largest tech retailer in the land, has become the latest — and largest — retailer to join the $4.5 billion group.
The privately held business, founded in 1979 and based in Columbus, Ohio, was looking to “further enhance our audio, video and integration offerings,” explained merchandising VP Kevin Jones.
“Micro Center always seeks to offer our customers the best selection of merchandise possible,” Jones said.
Commented ProSource president/CEO Dave Workman, “We are honored to have a dealer of Micro Center’s caliber and reputation join ProSource and look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship.”
The chain had been a past member of Specialty Electronics Nationwide (SEN), the former custom install wing of the Nationwide Marketing Group. SEN has since been superseded by Home Technology Specialists of Nationwide (HTSN), created in concert with Home Technology Specialists of America (HTSA).
Over the ensuing years Micro Center has survived CompUSA and TigerDirect to become one of the few remaining big-box PC specialty stores, and owes its success in part to an 18-minute in-store pick-up promise that’s fed by over 30,000 in-stock items.
The company ranked 11th on TWICE’s most recent Top 100 CE Retailers Report, with some $2.4 billion in tech sales in 2015.
It joins fellow heavyweight and ProSource member B&H Photo, which placed 29th in the rankings with some $393 million in annual CE sales.
ProSource, which is looking to add upward of 300 more members over the next five years, will convene the troops May 8-11 for the group’s annual Spring Meeting at the LaCantera Resort in San Antonio.
