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Saturday, February 4, 2023

[EXCLUSIVE] New BrandsMart USA Coming to Georgia

Electronics and home appliance retailer BrandsMart USA will later this year open its first new location in Georgia in more than a dozen years.  The new store, planned for Augusta, will open in Augusta Exchange, a large power center along I-20 and Bobby Jones Expressway which was originally developed in 1995.  BrandsMart will occupy a roughly 40,000 square foot space most recently home to Ashley Furniture.  

The new BrandsMart USA will not only be one of the first new stores in Georgia, but it will also mark one of the Fort Lauderdale-based chain's first new stores since 2018, when the company opened a 90,000 square foot store in Dania Beach, Florida.  BrandsMart was this past April acquired by Atlanta-based Aaron's Co., operator of Aaron's, the lease-to-own retailer of furniture, home appliances and consumer electronics.  

The opening of both an inline and much smaller format store seem to suggest that under Aaron's ownership the chain may look to enter new markets in a similar fashion.  Discount grocer Lidl made a similar pivot in their expansion, moving from expensive, large-format freestanding stores to second generation, smaller, inline locations.  (One of those such stores has already closed [Sandy Springs] with another in Dunwoody slated to close later this month.) 

BrandsMart USA operates a total of ten stores between Georgia and Florida including seven traditional and one "outlet center" in South Florida as well stores in Doraville and Stockbridge, Georgia.

The company first entered the Atlanta market in 2004 with their Doraville store which was later followed by additional outposts in Kennesaw (2005), Stockbridge (2006) and Buford (2009).  The company closed both their Kennesaw and Buford stores in 2014 with the former Kennesaw store sold to Kennesaw State University and the former Buford store reopening as Floor & Decor.

In Augusta Exchange, about two hours east of Atlanta, BrandsMart marks the return of a traditional electronics retailer to the center following the 2017 closure of hhgregg following their bankruptcy and complete liquidation.  (The former hhgregg is today home to Urban Air Trampoline & Adventure Park.)  A Best Buy is located in a smaller center across the street.  

Are you pleased to see BrandsMart once again expanding?  Where do you typically purchase your electronics?  What former electronics retailer do you miss most?

Please share your thoughts below.  

16 comments:

  1. Need one in the Cherokee county ga area.

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  2. It's a good store for those out in rural red areas and Trump country.

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  3. Lot of class there at 3:24, bless your heart

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  4. It's a great store for the broke ass ghetto junkies ITP.

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  5. Definitely do NOT need one in Cherokee County as the other poster mentioned. BrandsMart has always been trashy. Leave it elsewhere.

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    1. cherokee = trash

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    2. Now it is, cause of all the people who have moved in over the last two years and the new construction.

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  6. Not sure why all the hate. Not a horrible chain. They keep it clean, they have major appliances, good TV section, good computer supplies section, etc.

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  7. Might as well put one in Cherokee. The County is moving in the same direction as Cobb did.

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  8. That's a fair point Alex.

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  9. @Jay Damoli, last I checked, the people ITP are more highly educated (higher university degrees) with higher salaries than those OTP. Have fun in your trailer.

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    1. depends how far otp you're going. outside fulton/dekalb/gwinnett/cobb you are spot on but within those counties not so much.

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