Electronics chain hhgregg prepares to open Cranberry store

A Midwest specialty electronics and appliance retailer is poised to enter the Pittsburgh market, and is expected to provide competition for the country's largest electronics retailer, Best Buy Co. Inc.

Indianapolis-based hhgregg Inc. will open its first area store in Cranberry Commons Mall, along Route 228 in Cranberry, a municipal official said.

Hhgregg is filling a void created several years ago when national electronics retailers including Circuit City and CompUSA went out of business.

Hhgregg filed an application in late May with Cranberry for approval to make interior alterations in 31,296 square feet of space at Cranberry Commons. It listed 30 employees for the store. The estimated cost of the work was listed at $550,000 on the application, according to Ron Henshaw, the township's director of community development.

"We don't have anything to share at this time regarding our plans for the Pittsburgh region," said Kristina Jorge, an hhgregg spokesperson.

"Hhgregg stores are typically located in key retail areas as either stand-alone sites or adjacent to other big-box retailers. We choose these spaces based on believing they are first-class retail locations that will help drive brand awareness by offering many customers the opportunity to see and visit our store," Jorge said.

Industry experts said hhgregg definitely is looking to expand in areas that have lost major electronics chains. "Hhgregg has done a superb job running its business. It's a formidable competitor to Best Buy and regional electronics retailers," said retail consultant Burt Flickinger III in New York.

It's highly unlikely hhgregg will open a lone store in the Pittsburgh region. The retailer recently opened six stores in the Philadelphia area, three locations in nearby New Jersey and six stores in Central and Northeast Pennsylvania. The company has eight stores in Northeast Ohio, and is opening a handful of sites in Western Maryland/Northwest Virginia.

Dominant electronics chain Best Buy has 10 stores in the Pittsburgh area, including locations at Century III Mall, the Pointe at North Fayette, North Hills Village, The Waterfront in Homestead, South Hills Village, near Monroeville Mall, in Cranberry, at Pittsburgh Mills in Frazer, and in Hempfield and Center, Beaver County.