ADI opening store in Hamburg
Appliance Distributors Inc., often called ADI, will soon open a location in Hamburg. The store is located in the former site of Capel Rugs, which moved back to the Southland Drive area. It features more than double the space of ADI's existing showroom on Jaggie Fox Way, which will remain open.
"We were primarily in an industrial setting, and we missed a lot of the retail walk-in and drive-by traffic," said ADI President Wade Kundinger. "That was the driving force to make the move to Hamburg.
"Not only do you get a lot of Lexingtonians, you get southern Kentucky as well as Eastern Kentucky coming."
The company's new showroom will be about 17,000 square feet and feature between 25 and 30 kitchens, including one called the Man o' War Kitchen that will be operational with 17 appliances. Cooking classes and demonstrations will be held in the kitchen, said Vice President Rebecca Kundinger.
The couple hopes to open the location this month, probably Aug. 29, and hold a grand opening in September.
The store also will include a showroom for Barney Miller's, a high-end custom electronics store based in downtown Lexington.
"Wade's got a lot of real high-quality appliance lines, and we thought our demographics might jibe," said President Barney Miller.
Miller said he's still finalizing how his showroom will work inside of ADI, but he said he expects there to be a technology design center featuring several displays. A Barney Miller's employee will staff the showroom.
Miller said it's an exciting opportunity that shows local businesses can partner together to grow.
"I think local businesses need to stick together, and this is an example of that," Miller said. "I think we can offer a level of service you're not going to find at the mass merchant."
The move marks another change for ADI, which was founded two decades ago just for builders. "With the housing market the last five years, we had to gear a lot more toward doing retail business," Rebecca Kundinger said.
The business spent a great deal on advertising, Wade Kundinger said, trying to drive traffic to the store on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
"Those turned out to be some of the three slowest days of the week for us," he said. "Our business is primarily done Monday to Wednesday, but if you ask other retailers when their biggest days are, it's Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We want a piece of that pie."
ADI's Jaggie Fox Way showroom will begin to sell discontinued and scratched and dented models.
Meanwhile, Capel Rugs has moved back to its former location of 25 years at 356 Longview Plaza, behind Winchell's Restaurant & Bar.
"We owned both buildings, and Wade wanted to rent that one from us," said Brenda Huff, who owns the business with her husband, Grover. "We had so many customers come in over there and say, 'We wish you were back on the other side of town.' It's good for us."
This story was originally published August 19, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "ADI opening store in Hamburg."