Owners of Big George's in Ann Arbor open new West Bloomfield store
The grand opening for the new Witbeck store was last week in West Bloomfield.
Photo from Mark Bishar
The new showroom, which is located at Orchard Lake and Maple Road next to Plum Market, replaces a less visible store that was located one mile south on Orchard Lake.
That store — which opened in 1991 as a builder’s supply house — transitioned into selling directly to consumers when the building market took a dive, said Mark Bishar, vice president of marketing at Home Appliance Mart.
But the location was inconvenient and lacked accessibility, he said. The solution: Move to a highly visible intersection in a newly remodeled shopping center.
“(At the old location) we had a restaurant next to us that gobbled up all our parking,” he said. “People would say they didn’t know who we were and where our store was. It was going downhill, and this was a great opportunity for us.”
The new location also has a “lifelike” showroom, which has the appliances in kitchen settings featuring local companies. This allows the customers to visualize how the appliances will look in their homes, Bishar said.
“By featuring local cabinet makers we want to show our customers the true commitment we have to Michigan companies,” he said in a release.
Since having a grand opening celebration last week, Bishar said customers have been positive about the move. They’ve also hired three additional staff and plan to hire five more.
“People tell us how happy they are we moved, how easy it is to get to the building and they love the mall,” he said. “Everyone says it’s been a good thing for us and we just hope it will be.”
Lizzy Alfs is a business reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at 734-623-2584 or email her at lizzyalfs@annarbor.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lizzyalfs.
Comments
Dave
Thu, May 31, 2012 : 2:54 p.m.
I went to look at dishwashers and they had one for $600 more than another place. I'm not sure how these guys stay in business because they can't compete selling at MSRP.
Honest Abe
Thu, May 31, 2012 : 9:21 p.m.
MattP- I asked them would they match the competitors price, for the EXACT same item. They gave me the run around and declined. Do not sit here and tell me this and that. I have tried to buy from Big Georges numerous times, and never have closed a single deal with them. Glad to see they have a lobbyist out here though.
Dave
Thu, May 31, 2012 : 5:30 p.m.
Sorry, but $600 is a lot when that is 30% of the price. And no, they would not match. I gave them the opportunity. They told me it was the cost that they buy it for and they would not make any money.
Matt P
Thu, May 31, 2012 : 4:16 p.m.
To my knowledge, Big George's has always matched competitor prices. They also have people that are willing not only to speak to you (unlike a lot of the big box stores), the people are generally pretty helpful. Perhaps their sticker prices might be a little higher than a store that can order 10,000 units of something, but they've always had wiggle room in their prices and the ancillary benefits of shopping local make it a no-brainer for me to shop there over the big, national chains.
Honest Abe
Thu, May 31, 2012 : 3:40 p.m.
I Agree. They are overpriced on EVERYTHING!! I priced out a TV from them and it was $300 MORE than any other competitor.