![[receiver of unknown origin]](http://wearehugh.com/public/2009/04/2735814739_4d6e1d08c8_m.jpg)
Jason Scott: Brick and Morte.
But honestly, I don’t know how someone says “the best way for me to sell this stuff is to go into a building, deal with the endless hassles in today’s over-licensed and over-regulated world, get everything working, go into debt, open the door and hope like hell I make more than $3000 in the next 30 days.” Like, now, in the present day.
2009 may not be the best year to complain about over-regulation, but that’s not what I want to talk about.
Two things happened recently at the local strip mall (Beaver Creek Commons): Circuit City closed and hhgregg built a brand new building and opened in it. My father and I like to lightly chatter about business stuff, and Circuit City has been going downhill for a while now. Every single time the topic of Circuit City’s imminent demise comes up in conversation, one of us will interject “NO ONE WILL MISS YOU!” before letting the other finish their sentence.
Still, having never been to an hhgregg, my wife and the boys and I sauntered in after a rare occasion of eating out. As it happens, we need a new very-low-end stereo receiver. Not a whole integrated system, mind you; just something that can sit between our SqueezeBox and the two speakers in our dining room so we can listen to music while eating dinner. This is not a difficult concept.
hhgregg does not sell receivers. Whole integrated systems, yes. Not parts.
But they do sell $10 cables… “on sale” for $100. (But they’re premium!) And $200 DVD players that play… DVDs (not even AVIs). And washing machines — I swear to God, over half the space in this brand spanking new store-in-a-box was devoted to refrigerators and washing machines — ranging from $1200 to $1700. Payment plans available. I asked a salesperson about the difference between a $1200 washing machine and a $1700 washing machine. He glanced furtively at the information card and mumbled, “More bells and whistles.”
Recession-busting pro tip: buy your $10 cables for $10 at Monoprice, buy your electronics at NewEgg, and don’t buy a $1700 washing machine from anyone.
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Dammit, you tease. I am *still* waiting for Dive Into Webcam. My $40 (which is about forty real pounds these days, as far as I can tell) is ready.
I do believe I have owned three cars which cost less than $1700. Two of them cost less than that when added together.
Then again, I send washing out anyway.
We have an hhgregg in our area and they actually are competitive (!) in some appliances to what Sears / Lowes offer. We ended up buying our refrigerator there because the same model was about $150 more at Sears. Like any other place, I think you need to look for bargains, weigh it against other non-price factors (warrantees, free installation, etc), and come out with the best purchase that works for you…
I wouldn’t buy electronics from hhgregg though – even in their Sunday circulars, they’ve always priced items over and above what Best Buy & Circuit City listed them for, let alone what you could buy the same product for on NewEgg or Buy.com.
— Ross 
“AudioSource AMP-100 2-Channel Bridgeable Stereo Power Amplifier” http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00026BQJ6/
It appears to have gone up in price since I bought it, but it’s still relatively inexpensive. It’s simple but not low-end and, if I remember correctly, uses about 13W of electrical power so I don’t mind leaving it on all the time.
— Alex
Was that $1700 washing machine eco-friendly, at least?
Hey there, buddy. Appreciate the link.
When I mentioned regulation, I didn’t mean stuff like credit default swaps, but more along the line of “I am opening a store that sells photos of goldfish and I am required to pay for a complete renovation of the non-public bathroom in the back because a retroactive regulation requires the mirror to be six inches longer than it is” and the like. There’s some crazy stuff out there, as I love to have people read about if they start out on this page and lose a few hours reading about all the regulations Jamie had to jump through (and they still want to close him down now, 9 years later!)
My Brick and Morte entry has gotten some interesting responses, and it appears that some of these little stores that are there out of sheer tenaciousness and skillset are going to survive as long as the owners, although I do believe there will be inevitable stories of them going out of business with nobody to pass the knowledge to. I still think there are some places that are totally deluded and I just don’t know how many of these stores that open up and sell, say, cereal in boxes and nothing else or a specific brand of watch, possibly survive.
Might also be worth taking a look at the Sonic Impact T-Amp, it garnered rave reviews when it first came out and deservedly so, you get an amazing considering it was a ridiculous $30USD. There’s a second generation “gen 2″ one out now with a better quality chassis and a supplied PSU, should be able to find it for $50-60 without too much trouble – I’d imagine it’d make a perfect companion to a Squeezebox.
— ManxStef
My mom used to run a small sandwich shop in an office building. They also sold things like cigarettes, newspapers, aspirin, etc.
The thing that I always found amusing is that New York State requires that people selling milk purchase a $50 license and fill out a form every year. There was also another license for selling eggs (egg salad), cigarettes. She finally gave it up when she was randomly selected for an anal-probe audit of her tax records that required her to close the store for two days. (You don’t make the money for tax attorney’s selling egg-salad sandwiches)
— Duff
When building-out our house in DC a few years back, my wife and I realized neither of us — despite being 35+ — had ever owned washer-and-dryer, which meant endless uses of coin-op’d machines, hunts for quarters, etc. This is a complete PITA. So we decided to get a nice W&D setup — Bosch, stackable unit — but it was nowhere near $1700 for the washer only…That’s crazy!
Recently my now very pregnant (with our 2nd daughter) wife told me that if there were a house fire, she’d save our 18-month old first, then she’d run back into the house to save the Bosch W&D, because neither of us has ever had such clean clothes, such low-$$ laundry bills, or such little impact on the environment.
Bosch FTW! (But it still wasn’t even close to $1700!)
hhgregg does price match though…just something to keep in mind. I like them.
— Dodge
@Dodge: yeah, price matching on Monster cables. Gee… thanks. The problem isn’t the price, it’s the brands they choose to stock in the first place. Like a pharmacy that only stocks name-brand drugs but no generics.
Again, I might be willing to pay extra for the opportunity to engage an expert 1-on-1, if they showed the slightest bit of competency, but they didn’t. I’m not sure what they think the going rate is for overpriced know-nothing service, but I’m pretty sure they’re doing it wrong.
— Mark
The story I heard about the “Crazy Eddie” chain of stores (in the NY-CT-NJ area) was that they would also price match, but if you DIDN’T price match, the in-store prices were actually rather high.
In other words, if you DIDN’T haggle, you were going to get screwed. A neat trick.
“Shop around, get the best prices you can find, and then go to Crazy Eddie’s and he’ll BEAT ‘EM” wasn’t just a slogan – it was the only way to GET the lower prices.
Reading the comment about HHgregg was interesting that someone would rant and rave about something without doing appropriate research before posting inaccurate statements. HHgregg does carry receivers they have a Sherwood and Onkyo for about $100. Next if you were educated on what different types of cables do you would understand that you get what you pay for. For example the $130 2 meter cable that HHgregg sells comes with a lifetime warranty that states if the cable breaks or becomes outdated in any way then bring it back and you will receive a new one that will replace it or upgrade , the cheap crap you buy online does not have that same warranty and is sold strictly to cheap ass morons that just buy inexpensive crap that will not work appropriately. HHgregg is also a small FAMILY run operation with only 110 stores, they are the small guys in the electronic/appliance business. I live in Tennessee and HHgregg has the best prices and knowledgeable sales staff i have ever encountered. They also carry just about all MAJOR NAME BRANDS not shitty off brand crap (viso,insignia,sanyo,rca,polaroid,sylvania,etc.) that is made in some dirt floor sweat shop in some poor third world country.
And to touch on the comment made on the washer and dryer that was $1700, obviously when you talked to the sales person he could tell you had no intention of purchasing that particular item and did not want to waist their time with someone like you. and to answer your question the front load washers on the market today sold for that much money use 1/3 of the water and energy, also have a lager capacity for washing more clothes in less water while getting them cleaner, and help keep your clothes looking new without beating your clothes up like a conventional top load washer and will end up paying for the difference withn the first 5 years of owning them. i could go on and on about this but i will end this post for now with some words of wisdom… Know what your talking about before you say it.
— Travis
“Know what your talking about before you say it.”
Hah.
— Aaron
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