ELYRIA, Ohio — Here’s an upside to the pandemic: looking for a bargain on a big flat screen TV is pretty easy to find right now.
“TV’s are selling because people are staying home,” said Ed Stewart, owner of Stewart’s TV and Appliance in Elyria.
Stewart and his family have owned and operated the store since 1946. Stewart said people can expect to pay less than $1,000 on last year’s big flat screens.
Industry experts expect larger flat screens will take a big chunk of the sales and force prices to shrink on TVs smaller than 65 inches. According to Consumer Reporters, new manufacturing plants have optimized the way TV display panels are cut so the process has been the big driver for the drop in price.
And people are investing more into electronics as they’re staying home. The U.S. Census Bureau calculated a spike in retail sales in June as lockdowns began to ease up. A large chunk of the sales were electronics, which saw a more than 37 percent increase in purchases.
Shopper Brian Crawford is taking advantage of the prices, even though he has some doubts.
“You still have the TVs that are really expensive but then the average TV is a decent price,” Crawford said. “You are going to get what you pay for, for a $600 70-inch TV.”
Stewart hopes shoppers continue to invest in the industry.
“(We are) extremely busy. Our deliveries, we are scheduling out into September right now,” Stewart said. “We can’t keep up.”
