GE Whiz, Wal-Mart Tries Again

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. opened a special 'Appliance Market at Walmart' section to sell General Electric Co appliances in its stores. Wal-Mart's initial rollout would hit 20 Texas stores in Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston areas by June in a new bid to compete with Sears, Home Depot, Lowes and other retailers. The special section will display 50 to 80 GE models of all price ranges (supported by catalog sales offering up to 1000 models) and be staffed by employees of Flexi Compras, a lease-to-own company. Wal-Mart will evaluate the effectiveness of this pilot program and decide whether to continue at existing stores, expand the program to all its stores, and add other manufacturers. Wal-Mart last tried to sell appliances in 2000.