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Market Square Draws New Retailer

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By LAURA KINSLER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 28, 2007

Updated: 11/26/2007 08:55 pm

TAMPA PALMS - Electronics and appliance retailer hhgregg will open its first Tampa store at Market Square.

The company operates 79 stores in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee. It went public this summer and is expanding rapidly.

The company will enter the Florida market in the spring with its first stores in Jacksonville and Daytona. It also has leases pending at shopping centers in Clearwater, Lakeland and Spring Hill. Jeff Pearson, vice president of marketing, said the company is considering several locations in the Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville markets.

The Market Square shopping center, near the Interstate 75/Bruce B. Downs Boulevard interchange, has become an entry point for retailers in the Tampa market. It was the site of the area's first BJ's Wholesale Club and also will be home to Tampa's first A.C. Moore, an arts and crafts superstore.

"That wasn't the master plan," developer Warren Kinsler said. "It just worked out that way."

The center also will house familiar names such as PetSmart and Ross as well as Bed Bath & Beyond.
Kinsler said the first stores should be open by spring. After the first of the year, he will start leasing the six "mom and pop" spaces to restaurants and other smaller retailers.

Founded in 1955 in Indianapolis as an appliance store, hhgregg soon began selling color TV sets and other home electronics. That product mix continues today. The company carries more than 100 flat-panel TV models and 400 appliance models, most of which are featured in the stores. It also offers same-day delivery for no extra charge.

Reporter Laura Kinsler is not related to Warren Kinsler. She can be reached at (813) 865-4844 or lkinsler@tampatrib.com.

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