Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Region’s hhgregg stores will close in about a month
Those looking for going-out-of-business deals at hhgregg have about a month left to act.
Chantal Kowalski, communications manager for the electronics chain, said the stores slated for closing would do so when their inventory is sold, which is expected to take a little over a month.
She said hhgregg’s manufacturers will continue honoring the warranty on purchases.
“Also, the extended warranty purchased is administered through a third-party company, Warrantech,” Kowalski wrote in an email. “These extended warranties will also be honored for the life of your contract. The store closure will not affect the manufacturer’s warranty or the extended warranty purchased.”
Those with questions should visit http://www.hhgregg.com/ customer-service, Kowalski said.
Indianapolis-based hhgregg
announced last week it is closing 88 stores
Included in the closings are stores in Downingtown, King of Prussia/Berwyn, Montgomeryville/North Wales, Lancaster, York and Whitman Square in Philadelphia. In Delaware, stores in Newark, Dover and Wilmington are slated to close.
“Unfortunately, hhgregg will no longer have store locations in the mid-Atlantic,” Kowalski said.
Some 27 employees in the Wilmington location as well as 12 in Downingtown and 14 in Valley Forge will lose their jobs as a result of the downsizing.
After the closings, there will be four hhgreggs remaining in Pennsylvania, all near Pittsburgh: Cranberry, Robinson, West Mifflin and Monroeville.
The company said it is taking the action to strengthen its overall bottom line.
“We are strategically exiting markets and stores that are not financially profitable for us,” said Robert J.
Riesbeck, hhgregg’s president and CEO. “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 said 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.”
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.