Growing Grand Appliance Chain Opens Greenfield Location

A new appliance store opened its doors in Greenfield last week, but it's not the one you’re probably thinking of.

Grand Appliance and TV, 6531 W. Layton, is open to the public in advance of its grand opening June 13, just a few months before the across 76th Street from .

And though competition will be steep, Jeff Clemens of the Grand sales management team isn’t shaking in his boots.

“We understand strong pricing is of key importance to the vast majority of our customers and we are more than capable of competing with the competitors you mentioned,” said Clemens, whose great grandfather started the Grand chain. “Although we’re smaller … we’re still a 13-store — soon to be 14-store — chain. As a result, we have fairly strong buying power with the manufacturers we represent.”

Grand quickly replaced Appliance World, in , Brookfield and Germantown on Jan. 28.

The Greenfield location is Grand Appliance and TV’s 13th location in the Chicagoland and southern Wisconsin, and the seventh location in Wisconsin. The others are in Brookfield, Genesee Depot, Kenosha, Madison, Mount Pleasant and Wauwatosa.

Clemens believes Grand Appliance and TV can compete with the national big-boxes in Greenfield by providing a more enjoyable shopping experience. He said Grand’s showrooms are focused solely on appliances and televisions, “allowing us present a wide selection of products in a more inviting atmosphere despite a smaller retail footprint.”

Clemens said Grand Appliance’s staff will have four full-time sales associates, some of whom are former Appliance World employees, and that the retailer’s professional delivery and installation is done by Grand employees rather than outsourced crews.

And Clemens said being “small” can have its advantages. He said large regional or national chains often don’t get offered closeout or special buy opportunities on smaller quantities of goods like Grand does.

“If Whirlpool has 250 units they’re closing out at a very low price, we can make the buy and pass the savings on to our customers,” Clemens said. “A deal that size would never be offered to Best Buy because 250 units wouldn’t be enough product to display on the floors and satisfy a national advertising campaign.”

Clemens added that being a comparatively smaller chain allows Grand to respond more quickly to market changes and customer demands.

Store manager Todd Beier said the store's computer system was just installed Friday, but that he and his staff have been selling appliances for a few weeks. The store's hours, even during its soft opening before June 13, are: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Friday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

According to the company’s website, Grand Appliance and TV started in 1930 as a retailer of electrical supplies, light fixtures and appliances. In 1966, with the company now focused on larger appliances, the company moved to Waukegan, Ill., where it’s only location remained until 1992, when Grand Appliance opened another location in Kenosha.

The company is still family-owned and operated by third generation owner Mark Reckling.