WARNER ROBINS – The Flint Appliance Center at 924 S. Houston Lake Road in Warner Robins will be closing, before Apr. 30 or when the existing inventory is gone.
“Flint has been providing appliance sales as a member service since 1998,” said Sr. Vice President Jimmy Autry. “But we’ve made the decision to exit the appliance business this spring.” Autry said that Flint’s Appliance Center had weathered the economic downturn for more than four years, but that closing the store was the best decision for members in the future.
“We had some very good years serving our members in the decade of the 2000’s, peaking in 2006,” said Autry. “But the market has not rebounded enough for us to continue.”
Autry noted that the Flint Appliance Center market was constrained somewhat by a legal ruling that dictated the store only sell to members of Flint Energies. For this reason, the Reynolds location of the Flint Appliance Center had closed soon after it opened in 1998.
“Houston County has been very good to the Flint Appliance Center,” said Autry. “Many of our members have taken advantage of the retail store, and even more new members walked into brand new homes outfitted with GE, Frigidaire and Samsung appliances because their builders chose the Flint Appliance Center.”
A retail “Store Closing Sale” will be announced shortly as the store offers its final inventory at reduced prices to Flint Energies members, Autry added.
After the Appliance Center closes, Flint will be repurposing the building for other Flint Energies activities, but not as a retail business, said Autry. The electric cooperative will be offering support to the Appliance Center employees as they seek other employment in the community.
Retail appliance sales were a service to members of Flint Energies. Autry said the closing of the Flint Appliance Center would have no material impact on the finances of the not-for-profit Flint Energies and its members.
About Flint Energies
After celebrating its 75th year of service in 2012 (incorporated in 1937), Flint Energies flintenergies.com is a not-for-profit member-owned electric cooperative that provides energy services to residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural members in parts of 17 central Georgia counties. Flint has 240 employees and serves more than 85,200 meters. Flint’s physical plant consists of more than 6,490 miles of distribution line and 50 substations located within Bibb, Chattahoochee, Crawford, Dooly, Harris, Houston, Macon, Marion, Monroe, Muscogee, Peach, Schley, Sumter, Taylor, Talbot, Twiggs and Upson Counties. The system also includes the Museum of Aviation at Robins Air Force Base and the Fort Benning military post. Flint is the eighth largest of Georgia’s 42 EMCs and the 37th largest of the nation’s nearly 1,000 rural electric cooperatives.
Flint Energies is also a Touchstone Energy Cooperative, part of a nationwide family of electric cooperatives exhibiting the core values of integrity, accountability, innovation and commitment to community. Flint’s members give their cooperative an American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) score of 85, which rates higher than most investor-owned utilities in the country.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a uniform and independent measure of household consumption experience. As an economic indicator, the ACSI tracks trends in customer satisfaction and provides benchmarking insights of the consumer economy for companies, industry trade associations and government agencies.” The ACSI is produced by the Stephen M. Ross Business School at the University of Michigan, in partnership with the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and the international consulting firm, CFI Group.
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