Many appliance shoppers face long lines but say rebates worth the wait

Dick Kessler of Antioch was first in line at 4 a.m. Friday at Gurnee's Sears Grand to up his chances to snag federal funds for a new dishwasher.

At 6 a.m. the doors opened and Kessler's name was placed on top of a waiting list as, under restrictions of the program, retailers could not begin ringing up sales for the Cash for Appliances rebate deal until 8 a.m.

Kessler walked out of the store at 8:10 a.m. with a smile on his face, extra money in his pocket and a new Kenmore Energy Star dishwasher on its way to his home.

"It was worth it. I gave up a couple hours of sleep for an opportunity to keep a few extra dollars in my pocket. In this day and age, money is too hard to come by," Kessler said.

Kessler is the type of shopper the program aimed to lure in an effort to help struggling businesses pull out of the recession. The state of Illinois is handing out $6.5 million in funding to shoppers buying refrigerators, dishwashers, clothes washers, dishwashers and room air conditioners.

The program offered a 15 percent rebate, up to $400, when shoppers bought a new Energy Star appliance.

"It's an exciting time for the retailer," said Dan States, manager at the Gurnee Sears Grand.

Rich Lindblom, a sales manager at advanced Maytag in Schaumburg agreed, as he expected the store would see the equivalent of one month of sales in one day.

The store saw a "steady flow" of customers throughout the day, Lindblom said, adding that customers were orderly and relaxed.

The same was true at Plass Appliances in Naperville.

"It has been smooth. It wasn't overwhelming," said Bill Burn, director of sales at Plass, which has other area locations in Addison, Arlington Heights and Geneva.

At Sears in Gurnee, about 100 people on the waiting list sat on patio furniture inside the store or checked out appliances before the 8 a.m. start of the sale Friday. Free bottled water and candy bars were available to patiently waiting shoppers.

Vern Witkowski of Lake Villa drank his coffee while waiting Friday morning. He said he bought a dryer, not included in the rebate, earlier in the week and came back Friday to save money on the washing machine.

"It's a good deal," he said of the appliance that is marked 30 percent off as part of a sale. "That's about half price," Witkowski said.

Most shoppers who hit suburban stores early Friday had done their research and were ready to make their purchase.

Retailers report waves of shoppers have been arming themselves with information throughout the past week to prepare for the program.

As part of the Illinois rules, shoppers were not allowed to earn the rebate if they made the purchase online.

The state also set a deadline that appliances had to be delivered by May 28. Paul Campbell, director of green leadership for home appliances at Sears, said he believes this was done to create a sense of urgency and "to give a boost over a short period of time."

Retailers did not feel the deadline would be a problem because manufacturers have had time to pad inventories.

In addition, Illinois is one of the few states where shoppers receive rebate dollars upfront. Retailers will be reimbursed by the state later, similar to the Cash for Clunkers program.

And as with the federal funding for the cars program, which ran out almost immediately, retailers wondered how long the stimulus funds would last. Sears had extra security on hand, just in case the dollars run out. To help the funds last longer, the state of Illinois capped rebates at $400.

The funds seemed to hold out at least for the day. By midday Friday, about half of the funding was expended, Lindblom said.