I remember when JCP sold appliances in competition with Sears. Sears was usually a bit better at it, tho, and eventually pushed JCP out...(JCP was generally better at clothing, bedding, drapery, ... soft goods....but never succeeded in pushing Sears out of those lines)
Many summers ago I bought a trailer house which contained an old Norge Washing machine roughly 20 some odd years old. I used that washing machine for another 10 years without issue. Finally, the water level sensor quit and I didn’t know it was fixable. I went to Penny’s and purchased a machine just like the one I had.
The new one had every single feature that the old one had, but I wasn’t happy that it had nylon gears instead of metal ones. Didn’t occur to me to see if they could be switched out at the time. Could have used the ones from the old machine. Come to find out, the machine was made for Monkey’s by...Norge. Not a name you see very often anymore, but their washer was not only durable, it did an excellent job.
That new machine lasted over 20 years. I gave it to a family of 7 so it got used multiple times, daily!
At the time, Sears wanted 6-800 bucks for most of their models, most were computerized and I didn’t buy into it.
Both stores were in the mall, so it was no big deal to check out Monkeys. They had the model I wanted for the price I was willing to pay and was less than $350 with tax.
I took it home and installed it myself...no big deal except for the fact that I dropped the old machine on my foot as we moved it, damaged the joint on that foot which still ails me from time to time to this day.
Most recent purchase was 2 years ago; a Magic Chef 2.2CF tub apartment size washing machine without the agitator. I love that machine! It’s little, but does one heck of a job, is fully automatic with tons of cycle choices. Bought it online, on sale and it was delivered for free. It was brought up a flight of stairs and right into my apartment. Thank you UPS for your good service! Got it only 2 days after ordering online for a whopping $5.00 for express delivery.
I used to love Penny’s. I don’t know what happened to them but back in the day I bought sheers and drapes from them, they cost a small fortune, but they lasted over 30 years! The drapes were supposed to be dry clean only, but I did a gentle/cold with them and they were just fine. The sheers simply never aged, and were beautiful. I lost them in a move.
I purchased a bed quilt from them for my daughter, and she still has that thing, and uses it still! It was purchased in 1987.
They used to have some good stuff, but I don’t know any more. Haven’t been in Penny’s for years, and I’m not much for browsing.
I do know I’m not impressed with some things I’ve seen at Sears..over priced for the quality as far as I’m concerned.
I was through their store daily all summer and wasn’t impressed.
Yes, privately owned hardware stores DO tend to give much better service than the big box stores. I stopped using HD for that reason several years ago...oh, I think I went to buy some lumber and I couldn’t get anybody to wait on me. And when I did, they did their darnedest to give me the warped out stuff.
So now, their CEO is in charge of Penny’s? :(