Appliance retailer expanding in Hampton Roads, Fredericksburg

An appliance retailer is undergoing what it’s billing as the company’s biggest expansion in more than a decade.

East Coast Appliance has acquired the 45,000-square-foot former Toys R Us property on N. Military Highway in Norfolk. East Coast announced the expansion in a press release and did not say the sales price in the deal.

Plans for the new Norfolk property call for adding 40,000 square feet of space on the 4.5-acre site. The property will become an East Coast Appliance Superstore, corporate headquarters and warehouse and distribution center.

“The retail appliance business is changing rapidly,” Rob Nicholson, the owner of East Coast Appliance, said in the release. “With the demise of Sears and others in this market, we see greater opportunity for growth.”

Further north, East Coast Appliance has bought another 30,000-square-foot former Toys R Us retail store at Central Park in Fredericksburg. Rob Heavner of Retail Advisors represented East Coast Appliance in the two deals.

East Coast Appliance is a large retailer of household appliances based in Virginia. It currently has five open locations, according to the company’s website.