Early Labor Day Sale Resembles Black Friday Frenzy at H.H. Gregg

Labor Day has come more than two weeks early at h.h. gregg, which launched a Labor Day sale Wednesday offering 30 percent discounts on electronics, appliances and furniture. As part of the company’s initiative to improve the integration between online and in-store shopping, email customers were encouraged to click a star on the weekly ad to save products to a list they could print and take to a store.

Furniture and mattress buyers can get a free ProScan 32-inch TV with the purchase of any piece of furniture or a Serta mattress priced above $999, h.h. gregg said. Tempur-Pedic mattress buyers have a choice of either a free unnamed 32-inch TV with a mattress purchase above $999 or a free twin Tempur-Pedic mattress, according to the ad.

Three TVs made the front page of the h.h. gregg weekly circular: a ProScan 24-inch 1080p LED HDTV discounted by 22 percent to $138 and a 39-inch ProScan 1080p model offering savings of 26 percent at $278. The middle 32-inch model was listed brand-free for $31 off at $198 with just a photograph of a TV with no brand on the frame along with the SE32HY10 model number. An Internet search for the SE32HY10 produced a 32-inch 720p Seiki TV, which we found selling at Amazon Thursday for $199. The discount at h.h. gregg may actually be 31 percent, not $31, since Amazon showed a discount of 31 percent for the TV, down from $289. Other ProScan deals include 19-, 24- and 32-inch combi TV/DVD players for $119, $169 and $229 ($20 off each).

Among higher tier brands, a Samsung 29-inch LED-lit LCD TV is listed at a $20 discount for $279 and a 32-inch 1080p LED model was shaved by $51 to $348. The retailer nicked $251 off the price of the 50-inch Toshiba 50L1350U, 120Hz 1080p model, bringing it to $598.

Big-screen TVs didn’t escape the price gun in the Labor Day sale. Sharp’s LC70LE650U is selling for $1,899 compared with the $2,499 price on the Sharp website. Panasonic’s TCP65S60, a plasma model -- although plasma is not mentioned in the product description -- was trimmed by $200 to $1,499, considerably more than the $1,288 price at Amazon Thursday. Seiki leads off the 60-inch pricing at $688 for a 1080p model, down from an MSRP of $999, h.h. gregg said.

Sony 4K Ultra HD TVs weren’t part of the Labor Day sale but the circular referred customers to the next-gen TVs, which show a savings of $200 on both the XBR65X9FMPX1 65-inch model and the XBR55X9FMPX1. The 4K models are shown at $7,500 and $5,500 with Sony’s FMPX14K media player thrown in. The FMPX1 lists separately for $699. The 55-inch and 65-inch 4K models sold for $6,999 and $4,999 at the end of July (CED July 30 p4).

In small electronics, a ProScan compact DVD player carries a Black Friday-like price of $9.99 after $10 rebate. HMDX wireless portable speakers were shaved by $10 to $39 and the Sony RDPM5IPB speaker dock for legacy 30-pin iPhones and iPods have taken a $30 cut to $49, according to the ad.