Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
hhgregg closing several area stores
Electronics retailer to shutter 3 distribution centers, 88 stores nationwide
Hhgregg Inc., a seller of appliances and electronics, said Thursday it is closing stores, including ones in the greater Philadelphia region, as part of a restructuring.
Included in the closings are stores in Downingtown, King of Prussia/Berwyn, Wilmington, Montgomeryville/North Wales, York and Whitman Square in Philadelphia. In Delaware, stores in Newark, Dover and Wilmington are slated to close.
The closings are part of a restructuring as part of its turnaround efforts, hhgregg said in a statement. The company plans to close three distribution facilities and 88 store locations across the country “in order to reallocate resources to align more closely with its strategic goals to improve liquidity and return to profitability,” the company said in its statement.
“We are strategically exiting markets and stores that are not financially profitable for us,” said Robert J. Riesbeck, hhgregg’s president and CEO. “This is a proactive decision to streamline our store footprint in the markets where we have been, and will continue to be, important to our customers, vendor partners and communities. We feel strongly that the markets we will remain in are the right ones for our customers and our business model. Our team is dedicated to moving forward and being a profitable 132-store, multi-regional chain where we will continue to be a dominant force in appliances, electronics and home furnishings.”
Riesbeck went on to say the stores being closed were not
performing well enough to keep open.
“We have determined that the economics of the affected locations will not allow us to achieve our overall goal of becoming a profitable company again,” he said. “After scrutinizing our real estate portfolio, we
have identified a number of underperforming stores, as well as store locations that are no longer strong shopping destinations due to changes in the local retail shopping landscape.”
Current inventory in the affected stores will be sold over the coming weeks, with final closings expected to be complete by mid-April. The closings will result in the elimination of approximately 1,500 positions.
As a result of the store actions, hhgregg will close its distribution and delivery centers located in Philadelphia; in Brandywine, Maryland; and in Miami, Florida. Those facilities will continue to support customer orders of all product sold in the closing locations until all product has been delivered, the company said.
Company officials did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday. Several
workers at the King of Prussia/Berwyn location confirmed their store was slated for closing but declined to speak for the record because they were not authorized to speak to the press.