An Incredible Grand Opening!

Now that’s what I would call a busy night: 500 people through the doors in 5 hours! I’d like to extend a special thanks to everyone in LaSalle/Peru that supported our new store and attended our grand opening event. After the ribbon cutting, everyone had a nice time previewing the latest in electronics, appliances, furniture and mattresses while enjoying great food from Monari’s101.

The four lucky door prize winners were Margie Vandewyngaerde (42” LG TV), Kathy DeServe (Sealy Mattress Set), Steve Mobley (England Sofa), and John Wujek (GE Front Load Laundry Pair). Congratulations!

A $999 Hybrid Latex/Coil Mattress for only $599!

One of our best selling mattress sets this year has been Therapedic’s $999 hybrid latex/coil pillowtop. Some people prefer latex beds, and some innerspring. This bed combines the best of both; a traditional, quality innerspring support system with a thick pillowtop of pressure-relieving latex. Since we’re always trying to secure better and better deals for our customers, we went to Therapedic to see if they could create something like this bed for $599; and they came through for us! We made a special purchase of a bed that’s a near carbon-copy of the popular $999 model, with the same spring system and latex pillowtop. One of the keys to this special price is the fact that the color of the fabric will vary; we purchased the mattresses with high quality but discontinued covers. All are variations of the popular beige and cream colors, so you’ll never know the difference if it wasn’t for the extra $400 in your pocket. If you’re looking for a great value on a quality, supportive mattress, you won’t want to miss this $599 discontinued cover special!

Special buy on Sony’s latest 1080P 40" HDTV!

We just made a special purchase on Sony’s KDL40S5100, their new 1080P 40” HDTV. This is actually the brand new model; many stores still have the old 4100 series model in stock. Both Best Buy and Wal-Mart featured this set in their flyer last Sunday at $998. Sherman’s special price is only $899.99; we have 100 to sell at that price, $100 less than Wal-Mart (Wal-Mart did have the older 4100 series on clearance at $899 as of this posting, but who would want the old model when you can get the new one at the same price?). It’s a great value, and a great example of how Sherman’s Nationwide buying group helps us level the playing field with the national chains. And sometimes, like in the case of Sony’s new 40” HDTV, we can be substantially lower. Stop in this weekend while they are still in stock!

New Peru Store Opening Thursday

With just four days left until we open our new Peru, IL store, there’s a lot of work left to be done! We’ve been working day and night for two weeks filling our new store with the latest in appliances, furniture, mattresses and electronics. We have over 1,000 items in the new store; and every one needs unpacked, assembled, cleaned and tagged; and we’re certainly not done yet! We aren’t promising everything will be perfect by Thursday, but barring any major setbacks the new store will be open for business. Now you won’t see this advertised, as we have another month of work before our grand opening, including demolishing the old building to make room for our front parking lot. But if you’d like to be among the first to see the store, we invite you to stop in this weekend. We’re located at 3333 Frontage Rd in Peru, which is across from K-Mart on Route 251, just south of the Peru Mall.

High Efficiency Pays Off!

One of our most popular washers right now is GE’s WCVH6800; the February 2009 issue of Consumer Reports rated this front-load model a “Best Buy.” In addition to great wash performance, front-load units like GE’s 6800 will save you a LOT of money over their lives vs. a top-loader. Check out the link to EnergyStar’s site below, which gives more information about the savings these machines provide. It depends a bit on your usage and utilities cost, but it’s a safe bet that most front-load models will actually cost less to own over their lives than a less-expensive top load unit. And as an added benefit, they treat your clothes more gently, so you’ll get more from your wardrobe investment as well (have you every added up just how many dollars in clothing you own?) Stop in to your local Sherman’s today and find out more about all the benefits to owning a great high-efficiency washer like GE’s WCVH6800!http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=clotheswash.clothes_washers_save_money

Special buy on Sealy Pillowtops!

Sherman’s is bringing back two very special buys on Sealy pillowtop mattress sets. One with pressure relieving memory foam, regularly sells for over $1,000, is only $599, and a Sealy pillowtop without the memory foam is only $399. It took a lot of work for us to get the pricing this low again, and Sealy can only guarantee us availability through March 22nd. Stop in today to one of our three locations and take advantage of this really incredible pricing.

Plasma vs. LCD: What’s the best?

While there is no single answer to this important question, there IS a lot of misinformation out there about the pros and cons. To get the worst of them out of the way first, plasma never needs “recharged."It has an incredible life span, the most common plasma rating is 60,000 hours, which is 20 years at 8 hours per day! Reliability is not a reason to choose one technology over another; both plasma and LCD will last a long time.

LCD’s strengths include razor-sharp still images, and often a more reasonable price for the latest 1080p technology. Plus, plasma is just too expensive below 42”; so if you’re looking for a medium to smaller set, LCD is the only way to go. On the down side, the nature of how LCD reproduces the image can sometimes lead to a slight “blur” on very fast motion. This is more noticeable with larger screen sizes.

Plasma’s strength is rich colors, deep blacks, and excellent motion detail for fast-moving images like sporting events. For the bigger sizes like 60”, plasma is often the best value. If there is a down side to plasma it would be its slightly less crisp reproduction of still images like computer graphics, and the potential that a static image could “burn in” to the screen. While the “burn in” issue is a concern to some, it really isn’t a practical problem; TV images are constantly moving. You’d have to be using the plasma as a computer monitor, leaving still highly contrasted images on the screen for days on end for this to be an issue.

In my home, we have one large plasma, and several smaller LCD HDTV’s. They all look great; there really is no “one size fits all” answer to the plasma vs. LCD question. As you shop, you’ll find good and bad LCD’s, and good and bad Plasmas. Pay attention to the differences; you may have a strong preference one way or another. When you have questions, you can be confident the HDTV experts at Sherman’s can provide you with the right answers!