Electronics, appliance and furniture retailer hhgregg will close 88 of its stores, including in Dickson City and Wilkes-Barre Twp.
The stores are not profitable for the Indianapolis, Indiana-based company, according to a news release Thursday.
About 1,500 people will lose their jobs company-wide, the statement said. Closures include stores mostly along the East Coast and three distribution centers in Philadelphia, Maryland and Florida.
“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,” said company President and CEO Robert J. Riesbeck.
“In Indiana, where they’re from, they’re the major appliance retailer,” said C. Britt Beemer, a retail industry analyst. “It’s just hard to get people to go to your store for appliances unless they really know you.”
Opened in 2010
Hhgregg opened its
Wilkes-Barre Twp. and Dickson City locations in 2010, in two markets already saturated with electronics and appliance stores Best Buy, Sears, Target and Wal-Mart. Hardware giants Home Depot and Lowes, also nearby to both hhgregg locations, further chomp up an already limited home appliance market share.
“The management team has worked tirelessly over the past year to return hhgregg to profitability,” Riesbeck said. “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.”
Shareholders watched the company’s value sink precipitously since it last crested in September 2013. Then, it traded at more than $20 per share. Now, it’s less than $1.
The news bolstered confidence among shareholders sending the stock price up 13 cents, nearly double its opening price, in the hours following Thursday’s 10 a.m. news release.
Hhgregg will keep 132 stores open, the statement said. Closing retail locations will liquidate merchandise and expect to be shuttered by mid-April.
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