NFM redoing appliance/electronics store
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, January 29, 2006
Omaha, Neb. — Top 100 store Nebraska Furniture Mart has launched a multimillion-dollar overhaul of its Appliance, Electronics and Computer Store here.
The retailer, part of the Berkshire Hathaway furniture division, will redo the entire facility, integrating more home furnishings into the mix, and expanding it by 9,000 square feet to 142,000 square feet.
It also will add a 200-foot overhead connector with a conveyor and aisle from the store to the distribution center, and an elevator that will allow products to be more readily available in the store and for pickup.
Construction is expected to be completed, in several phases, by fall 2007. NFM Executive Vice President Bob Batt said the renovation work alone is an $11 million project.
The revamped store will have more cashier stations, an appliance and electronics clearance room, and more than 600 video displays, with big-screen monitors pitching various products.
"We're also working harder on cross selling" furniture with electronics and computers, Batt said, noting plans to integrate more home theater furniture, computer desks and other home office items into the displays.
He said the renovation is all part of an effort to be the "latest and greatest."
"You have to stay far ahead of all of your competitors — not just keep up, but stay miles ahead," Batt said. "You've got to keep reinventing yourself."
NFM opened the Appliance, Electronics and Computer Store as its Mega Mart in 1994 on its 77-acre complex in Omaha. It later changed the name to eliminate confusion, but the displays haven't kept up with design and other developments in the categories.
At the updated store, part of some 460,000 square feet of retail space in Omaha, NFM plans to have more hands-on displays, Batt said, allowing consumers to try out new products before buying them. The store will have three home theater rooms and two additional working kitchens, bringing the total to 11.
The exterior will match the look of the soon-to-be-connected distribution center.
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NFM redoing appliance/electronics store
Feb 3, 2006
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