Some regional appliance and electronics retailers are flourishing despite intense competition from national chains, thanks in part to a retro retail concept: commissioned sales staff, trained to explain increasingly complex televisions and washing machines to customers.

These smaller retailers such as publicly traded hhgregg Inc. of Indianapolis and Conn’s Inc. of Beaumont, Texas, as well as closely held P.C. Richard & Son of Farmingdale, N.Y., are pursuing ambitious store expansion plans. They are aiming to capitalize on the slumping commercial real estate market and the collapse this spring of Circuit City Stores Inc., once the nation’s second-largest specialty electronics chain after Best Buy Co.

Though large retailers such as Best Buy, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. are widely viewed as the biggest beneficiaries of Circuit City’s liquidation, analysts said that regional chains stand to make sizable gains. Deutsche Bank has estimated that Circuit City had $11.1 billion in annual revenue that is now up for grabs.

Customers such as Enora Tucker, 79 years old, said they prefer a knowledgeable staff. She visited a Houston Conn’s store Tuesday to make a monthly payment on her refrigerator. “I like the fact that I can go in there and talk to someone who knows what they’re talking about,” she said.

Hhgregg, which operates 111 stores mostly in the Midwest, opened 20 stores in its fiscal year ended March 31, up from the 15 to 18 it had originally forecast. It is accelerating previous plans to reach 400 stores in the next decade, said Chief Operating Officer Dennis May, who is set to take over as CEO in August

Mr. May said hhgregg’s commissioned sales staff is an advantage over national chains with young, lower-paid hourly workers that tend to stay for shorter periods. “We have sales people that have been with us 10 to 20 years, and customers who come in and ask for them by name,” Mr. May said.

Hhgregg reports fourth-quarter earnings June 2, but said based on preliminary results, it expects earnings between 39 cents and 42 cents a share, up from 32 cents a year ago, on a 13% sales increase. By contrast Best Buy reported a 23% earnings drop to $570 million for its quarter ended Feb. 28, on a 9.7% sales gain.

Best Buy and Wal-Mart dismissed the suggestion that the regional firms have a sales edge. “Our employees are exceptional at demystifying complex technology,” spokeswoman Kelly Groehler said.

“With electronics data so readily available online today, many customers come to us looking for a particular brand or item, knowledge in hand, and may not want or feel comfortable shopping with a salesperson,” said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien.

Hhgregg has successfully expanded outside its Midwest base into states such as Florida and Georgia by blitzing new markets with numerous stores, instead of tiptoeing in with one or two. “In a lot of these markets, there is room for a second consumer electronics retailer beyond Best Buy,” said William Blair & Co. analyst Jack Murphy.

Conn’s, which operates 75 stores in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, has opened seven since February 2008, and has hired former Circuit City managers. The retailer said it has navigated the recession better than some rivals because it owns its financing business. It has been extending credit to customers cut off elsewhere when larger chains tightened requirements.

“When credit gets a little bit tougher, like it is now, it is an advantage,” said Timothy L. Frank, who takes over as the chain’s chief executive next month, replacing his father, Thomas J. Frank.

Conn’s said earlier this month that sales for its quarter ended April 30 rose 2.6% from the year before, to $200.1 million. Mr. Frank said the gain was aided by a 35% April increase in television unit sales.

Sales clerks who earn commissions have an incentive to understand products, he said. “Is your mother going to want to buy a washing machine from a 19-year-old with a pierced eyebrow?” asked William C. Nylin Jr., the chain’s executive vice chairman.

P.C. Richard, which began in 1909 as a hardware store in Brooklyn, doesn’t release its financial results, but President Gregg Richard said it was taking advantage of commercial real estate vacancies to expand. It has acquired six former Circuit City sites in the New York City region, bringing it to a total of 56 stores.

Write to Miguel Bustillo at miguel.bustillo@wsj.com

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page B1

From premium contemporary labels…to emerging designers & artist-driven lines…to the industry’s largest kids & maternity showcase…to fine accessories, stylish gifts, and home décor…find it all under one roof at the CMC.

But the company hopes to soon observe a growing association between it and direct-to-consumer selling, as it offers select secondary market goods through NoBetterDeal.com.

Once the company’s Marketplace Direct, which sold goods in smaller quantities than its typical truckload, NoBetterDeal.com is the end result of a brainstorming session that Bob Auray, president and CEO of the GENCO Marketplace, had with summer interns.

“Maybe rename the site to something catchier,” one had suggested.

The prices, low since the products are either returned or surplus, remain that way because of a survey Auray and the company conducted with thousands of Marketplace Direct customers, to find out what they liked about the then-current version.

“A really pretty consistent theme was that, there were surprisingly good deals,” Auray said. “They felt like they got good deals from the site, that the merchandise was fairly advertised, the price was very competitive.”

And so the appeal of its rebranding is not a new concept, Auray said, “but I do see it as evolutionary.” By that, he means that the online marketplace is a venture for him as well as the rest of the company.

The creation of NoBetterDeal.com – a full-fledged effort for about six months – became the first time Auray has led one of a direct-to-consumer business. Before directing GENCO Marketplace, he founded one and led two total logistics companies, ATH Logistics Solutions and USCO Logistics.

Regardless, NoBetterDeal.com is still a natural extension of the company and what Auray has visualized of its future, he said.

“We bring the higher value captured to the source of the goods, and we bring good value to the buyer of the goods,” he said. “We definitely see it as consistent with our mission in being the most robust and effective network for buyers and sellers of secondary inventory.”

Inventories in December 2008, totaling $427.5 billion, fell by 1.4 percent from the previous month, according to the Commerce Department. Analysts predicted a decline only about half as big, with predictions ranging from 0.7 to 0.9 percent, according to the Associated Press and Wall Street Journal.

“This is the latest evidence of the difficult environment for business spending in the fourth quarter,” said Tim Quinlan, economic analyst at Wachovia in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Reuters.

Even as overall inventories declined for the fourth month in a row, some levels remained higher than they had been in the previous year. For example, while inventories of durable goods experienced a 1.4 percent month-to-month decline, they still ended up 6.8 percent higher than in December 2007. On the other hand, levels of non-durable goods dropped by 1.5 percent, to levels 2.0 percent lower than last year.

Wholesale sales also dropped by 3.6 percent over the course of the month, to a level 10.7 percent lower than seen in December 2007. But then retail sales – excluding that of automobiles, gas stations and restaurants – increased by 0.5 percent in January, according to the National Retail Federation.

General merchandise sales led other categories, with a 1.1 percent seasonally adjusted increase from last month and a 3.5 percent unadjusted increase from 2007. Meanwhile, health and personal care sales remained flat from last month, though they still stood at levels 3.5 percent higher than last year.

Overall, the surprisingly positive news still serves as notes of caution for economists. They realize that while retail sales are rising, they are still lower than they were last year. Furthermore, the still-high ratio of sales to inventories indicates how the retail environment is still trying to recover from a slow holiday season.

“While 2009 got off to a surprising start, it’s going to be difficult for retailers to maintain this momentum,” said Rosalind Wells, chief economist at the National Retail Federation, in a statement. “We expect the first half of the year to present challenges while giving way to sustained growth in the fourth quarter.”

Total spending may also reach up to $14.7 billion this year, compared to $17.02 billion last year, according to the National Retail Federation. 

Last year, consumers spent slightly less money on traditional gifts than in years past, opting instead for a night out. But now, with the current economy in mind, these couples simply just want to save, as president and CEO Tracy Mullin realized. 

“A bad economy won’t stop Cupid this Valentine’s Day, but it might slow him down,” she said in a statement. “This year more than ever, consumers will look for creative and inexpensive ways to show those they love how much they mean to them.” 

But as they plan to spend less, the traditional Valentine’s Day gifts remain the most popular: candy, flowers and jewelry. More people also intend to buy the standard greeting card compared to last year – specifically 58.0 percent, up from 56.8 percent.

For such gifts, consumers plan to spend an average of $102.50, down from last year’s total of $122.98. Consumers ages 35-44 plan to spend the most, $119.19, followed by those ages 18-24, with $113.68.

But with its second-generation ownership came a wholesale line now bringing in more than half of its current business, in addition to Modern Baking’s 2004 “Bakery of the Year” title.

Founded in 1946, the Cold Spring Bakery began offering a wholesale line in the late 1980s. At the time, the economy seemed to favor small family-owned businesses, giving owners Dale and Lynn Schurman reason to plan an expansion.

Between adding more retail locations and a wholesale line, “it just seemed to make more sense to do wholesale,” Lynn Schurman said, “so that we could still continue doing production, but then we didn’t have to worry about renting spaces, filling them with employees, and all the other hassles of dealing with multiple locations.”

Between local restaurants, sandwich shops, and 17 grocery stores, the bakery now takes in 40 to 50 wholesale and retail orders a day. While a few of these clients – including one grocery store just down the street – bought wholesale before operations began, the rest simply came to the bakery via word-of-mouth in the town of 3,733.

The bakery added production space in 2000, though that construction has not been its biggest overhaul. Lynn Schurman admits that increasing production “was the easy part of adding the wholesale business,” in comparison to installing invoicing software and standardizing the ordering process.

And as their wholesale line continued to develop, the Cold Spring Bakery also had to adopt a new type of cost efficiency. To businesses thinking of going wholesale, Lynn Schurman recommends that they consider all possible costs attached to every step of the ordering process.

“You can pick up a lot of small orders, but it doesn’t pay to drop off a $5 order at some place, then another because of the cost of processing,” she said. “That drop, stop, and going in may not cover it.”

But even with the extra considerations in mind, Lynn Schurman appreciates the financial stability that a wholesale line can offer a growing business.

“The nice thing about the wholesale business is that it is [sic] more steady year-round, while retail has its ups and downs,” she said.

Cold Spring Bakery, 308 Main St., Cold Spring, MN 56320. Call 310-685-8651 or visit www.coldspringbakery.com .

In addition, the trade group expects a 6 percent drop in yearly retail cargo traffic – 2 percent more than its prediction made less than two months ago.

For U.S. ports, October is traditionally the busiest time of the year, as store owners stock up for the holiday months. It is also when the National Retail Federation usually expects to see year-to-year growth. The D.C.-based trade group even predicted in August that October traffic levels would not fall below that of last year, despite month-to-month decreases reported since May.

The National Retail Federation has since released a report estimating that 1.4 million TEU (20-foot equivalent units) of cargo will flow through ten U.S. ports this month – a 2.9 percent decrease from October 2007.

“Retailers are tightening up their inventories to reflect what they expect to be able to sell during the holiday season,” Jonathan Gold, the group vice president for supply chain and customs policy, said in a statement.

In January, the National Retail Federation forecasted for the year a mere 3.5 percent growth in retail sales. In September, the group also predicted that holiday season sales will rise by just 2.2 percent from last year. Both estimates are the lowest increases predicted since 2002.

Article Source: http://www.nrf.com

This year will be no exception to the rule but there IS one crucial difference with this year’s show.  Shop.org is introducing a new event called Critic’s Corner which features "two speakers in a Siskel and Ebert type format that debate the effectiveness of real-life examples on a variety of topics."  This new format is unprecedented and expected to deliver an informative and entertaining look at some of retail’s hottest topics including ‘08 merchandising trends, the latest digital retailing technology, and the customer experience.

Shop.org’s annual summit is next week (September 15-17) at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada but it’s not too late to register .

If you’re still not sure, check out their Top 10 Reasons to Attend .

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s true. The recession-proof shopper is here and she’s here to stay. A new study commissioned and soon to be published by Elle magazine concludes that 8% of U.S. women are still shopping up a storm and show no signs of slowing down. (for full stats check out this article)

So what do you think? Do you think these ladies have what it takes to keep the economy (and businesses) afloat this year? I for one think that it certainly won’t hurt…but it’s not going to come anywhere close to how well those stimulus checks worked-wait….

If nothing else I suppose retail businesses can cater their advertising to focus more heavily on this demographic.