By Matthew Henry
SYDNEY: Bing Lee has opened its 33rd store at the Carlingford Court shopping centre in Sydney’s north-west which will house the retailer’s first dedicated coffee machine display where customers can try before they buy.
The 1,800 square metre store, located at the corner of Carlingford and Penant Hills roads, has been trading for a week now but will celebrate its official opening next month with $39,000 in prizes and giveaways.
A highlight of the new store will be the dedicated coffee machine display, similar to the one installed in the Bing Lee Alexandria store during a recent fitout, which will allow consumers to use the machines and taste the coffee before they buy.
According to Bing Lee general manager, Phil Moujeas, early signs from the first week of trading have been positive. Bing Lee is the only major electrical retailer in the Carlingford Court complex.
“The mix of retailers in the shopping centre is mainly food and small businesses like dry cleaners and chemists. There are big supermarkets and a Target, which may be a competitor in small appliances, but there is no other electrical store with the kind of product range we are selling,” Moujeas told Current.com.au today.
“This is a large store and has the full product range including plasma and LCD TV, a digital imaging kiosk and a FujiFilm printing kiosk, a large IT products range, whitegoods and a smaller range of cooking appliances being a shopping centre store. We are also stocking seasonal products, such as air conditioning and heating.”
The grand opening sale will run from Thursday 5 July until Sunday 8 July. Consumers who spend more than $50 during the opening weekend will go into the draw to win a $24,000 home and lifestyle package, which will be given away during the sale.
On the Thursday night, Sydney radio station 2UE will broadcast its Sports Today program live from the store between 6pm and 8pm, during which Bing Lee will give away an additional $15,000 worth of prizes. A number of NRL rugby league stars will also be in attendance for the broadcast.
Big-spending grand openings are becoming commonplace for Bing Lee, which is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year since the company began as a small, family-run electrical sales and repair shop in Sydney’s western suburbs.
At the retailer’s last store launch in Port Macquarie on the New South Wales mid-north coast, Bing Lee gave away around $25,000 worth of goods over the opening weekend.
“We have done [a big opening event] with every new store we have opened in the last two or three years and they have been very successful,” said Moujeas.