Best place to buy Appliances? (Long Beach, Torrance: home, work, service)

[singlus]

Hey everyone, I'd like to ask local Los Angelenos if there is an appliance superstore where you can get the best deals and possibly even get a discount by haggling and buying several large purchases at once.

When I first came here to Chicago, I learned about ABT Electronics (Abt - Consumer Electronics & Appliance Store for Home, Portable & Mobile Electronic Products), a local electronics store that grew into an appliance mainstay here in Chicagoland. For those of you who don't know, ABT is a monster store that is very competitive with all of the superstore chains. ABT itself is not a chain, it's a single brick and mortar store; but they have salespeople who work on commission and thus they will haggle the price down with you - especially if you buy several appliances at once. We bought several large purchases from ABT (washer dryer, Weber grill, Sony TV) and saved hundreds of dollars.

Now that we're moving to LA, we will probably need to find someplace similar... I know there is Directbuy and BuyOwner, but I hear they are very high pressure and you have to pay a several thousand dollar membership fee. At ABT there is none of that, and I'm wondering if I should just buy my appliances out here before leaving.

Any advice would be great... thanks!

[Charles]

Try Fry's, Sears, Circuit City (?).

[JTGJR]

Pacific Sales has a wide variety of appliances- not electronics. But I don't believe they haggle. EXPO (upscale Home Depot) also carries a large inventory but, again, it's not a negotiating type of place.

[LArenter]

I actually am buying several appliances as well shortly. And everyone at my office told me Pacific Sales is the way to go. There is a huge showroom in Torrance.

[DaBeez]

I bought pretty much my entire kitchen (wall oven, cooktop, island fan, washer/dryer)from Pacific Sales in Woodland Hills.

They have other stores in Burbank and Thousand Oaks.

[singlus]

So what is the benefit of buying with Pacific Sales? Is it just that they have good prices? Are they a chain? The thing about ABT is that they're pretty flexible with their prices, especially if you buy in bulk... at this point, I'm thinking of buying before we leave - but the downside is that unless you're within a 100 mile radius, they just deliver and don't do the install for you.

[DaBeez]

I thought that Pacific Sales had better prices than the Best Buys, Frys, Home Depots of the world. Plus, they had a larger variety to choose from. They even had better prices on HDTVs but I got mine elsewhere. The main reason I bought from them is because of the prices and they had brands that were not available at the "big" stores.

Here is a link to their locations:
Pacific Sales - Find a Showroom

[NaplesRes]

If you're buying high end stuff, like a Viking stove for example, there is no haggling anywhere. At that point you're choosing a store for customer service. To that end, Friedman's in Long Beach is great. Pacific Sales is an option as well.

If you're buying the mid level stuff you can probably haggle anywhere you go.

[JTGJR]

When you're buying at Pacific Sales or a Friedman's you're dealing with people who actually know what they're talking about. Your paying a good price for comparable products. But I think that you're paying for better customer service, regardless of the cost of the product. I've had only good experiences with the service techs that Pacific Sales sources to.

[singlus]

Thanks for the Pacific Sales and Friedman's info... I checked out their sites and they both look pretty good! I suppose I am a little biased toward ABT because I've shopped there before - plus right now, they have an automatic 12% anniversary sale - I have bought during this time and I don't think they let you haggle any more off of that discount... but I'm sure if you found the right salesman, you might have a chance!