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Post by Andrew G. on Jan 10, 2012 22:59:01 GMT -5
...Has officially gone the way of K-Mart.
A couple years back in 2006, my local K-Mart did away with its de-electrified fan display. The display fans and the mounting bits were discarded in a dumpster behind the store. I plucked a 30" hugger and one of those crappy 42" 4 blade SMCs with those fat oval blades. When I got them home, I soon discovered something highly disturbing.. the motors were just motor casings, THEY HAD NO STATORS (WINDINGS) INSIDE.
Fast forward to now.. I walk into a local Home Depot inquiring about the discontinued floor models sitting about. I asked the associate what they were going to do with the floor models.. the associate in the department was actually completely honest.. in a brutal way. Not only did he give me the answer I was expecting (dumpster-bound), he also told me that the floor models are, from mid-2011 on, going to be MOTOR-LESS.
This.. this is bad.
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Post by Adam D. on Jan 10, 2012 23:37:29 GMT -5
Really? I've heard of the cheap way, but nothing like this.. The factories must be sending them display models like this.. Just as well, it's 99.9% garbage to me anyways, and they don't have the setup the old fashioned way where there was an actual over hang and the fans were fully mounted with some running.. Boy do I miss those days.. The fan sections then felt like as if you walked into a totally different room in those days..
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Post by Andrew G. on Jan 11, 2012 0:00:51 GMT -5
Actually, it seems like new Home Depots now have the nice old-school flat displays and a good number of them have actually reverted back from the atrocious stepped displays. But alas.. it no longer matters.
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Post by fanman92 on Jan 11, 2012 9:21:09 GMT -5
I was there back in the Summer and they had corporate people there that were setting up new display models and I did notice they came in a different box that was plain and had all this writing on them about being set up, I believe one was the Hampton Bay Cherokee. I thought the box was different just to cut a few cents instead of having the print but I wouldn't doubt it is motorless.
I probably would go to Lowes if I was getting a Home Center Fan anyway besides 2 Hunter models at Home Depot that are decent and one Hampton Bay special order fan. I wonder if Lowes and Menards will go the same route?
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Post by Andrew G. on Jan 11, 2012 10:48:36 GMT -5
I probably would go to Lowes if I was getting a Home Center Fan anyway besides 2 Hunter models at Home Depot that are decent and one Hampton Bay special order fan. I wonder if Lowes and Menards will go the same route? I don't know about Lowes.. they are interesting in the sense that they actually sell their floor models for a fraction of the original price.. or at least, their special-order fans. I hope this continues.
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Post by jamiem on Jan 11, 2012 12:34:27 GMT -5
I probably would go to Lowes if I was getting a Home Center Fan anyway besides 2 Hunter models at Home Depot that are decent and one Hampton Bay special order fan. I wonder if Lowes and Menards will go the same route? I don't know about Lowes.. they are interesting in the sense that they actually sell their floor models for a fraction of the original price.. or at least, their special-order fans. I hope this continues. i personaly love lowes better than home depot IMO
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Post by Adam D. on Jan 11, 2012 18:53:48 GMT -5
You would think they would continue the old way, at least the display model would still be sellable for a Scratch-N-Dent sale.. Motorless fans would just be more for the landfill..
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Post by fancollector12 on Jan 11, 2012 19:20:33 GMT -5
That's funny, I just saw this past summer at a Home Depot they were selling a Lyndhurst (Huntington III replacement) for $39 (was $79 off the shelf brand new) and it was in the box marked 'For Display Only', so they wouldn't be able to sell it if it didn't have a motor. It was one of their display models.
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Post by fancollector12 on Jan 11, 2012 19:24:05 GMT -5
I probably would go to Lowes if I was getting a Home Center Fan anyway besides 2 Hunter models at Home Depot that are decent and one Hampton Bay special order fan. I wonder if Lowes and Menards will go the same route? I don't know about Lowes.. they are interesting in the sense that they actually sell their floor models for a fraction of the original price.. or at least, their special-order fans. I hope this continues. I agree. My local Lowe's just took down all of their HB Classic Style and Springfield I ceiling fans (the old builder-vent style, not the triangular-vent ones) and put up the new Classic Style and Springfield II fans in their place. I didn't see any of the display models for sale, of course, it had been a month since I had been there, and they may've sold them already. I'll keep my eye out. They usually set aside excess inventory of discontinued models, and they sell 'em for cheap. I got an originally $17 Armory (Armitage) for like $4.
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Post by fanman92 on Jan 12, 2012 8:32:35 GMT -5
I don't know about Lowes.. they are interesting in the sense that they actually sell their floor models for a fraction of the original price.. or at least, their special-order fans. I hope this continues. I agree. My local Lowe's just took down all of their HB Classic Style and Springfield I ceiling fans (the old builder-vent style, not the triangular-vent ones) and put up the new Classic Style and Springfield II fans in their place. I didn't see any of the display models for sale, of course, it had been a month since I had been there, and they may've sold them already. I'll keep my eye out. They usually set aside excess inventory of discontinued models, and they sell 'em for cheap. I got an originally $17 Armory (Armitage) for like $4. The one Lowes near me sold there Classics for $7, the Springfields either they sold before I was there that day or they threw out. The other Lowes near me which is way crappier took the blades off of the old Classics and springfields and put the new ones on. Its funky looking! And very misleading to the average consumer
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Post by fancollector12 on Jan 13, 2012 18:16:15 GMT -5
Ooh, I'd oughtta rush to Lowe's and see what price the old Classics are. Last time I was at Lowe's the old Classics were selling for $40.
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Post by Rick M. on Jan 13, 2012 20:25:14 GMT -5
I miss the good old days of REAL fan displays...
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Post by Cole S. on Jan 13, 2012 22:52:41 GMT -5
My gosh this is disturbing! I can't imagine the logic behind this, and it's just more junk for the landfill that nobody needs. Next they'll be putting up cardboard foldouts to hang on the display...
I am hoping that Menards will NOT be going this route anytime soon. From what I've seen they always take one of their own fans literally directly off the shelf and put it up, no specialty display crap or anything like that. Besides that, they usually have a few fans running and most of the others are functional if you want to try them. I just don't see them going motor-less based on that, but who knows?
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Post by Andrew G. on Jan 13, 2012 23:10:58 GMT -5
I am hoping that Menards will NOT be going this route anytime soon. From what I've seen they always take one of their own fans literally directly off the shelf and put it up, no specialty display crap or anything like that. Besides that, they usually have a few fans running and most of the others are functional if you want to try them. I just don't see them going motor-less based on that, but who knows? Well.. keep in mind, at least Menards still HAS a fully-functioning display. Around 2003-2004, Home Depot and Lowes began a light-only (more like "lamps with blades attached") policy of sorts, only wiring up the light circuits of the fans. Home Depot is the first one of the big-ish three to stoop to the level of 'pseudo bull$hit.' With Lowes.. every so often, you'll walk into a store and find one or two completely random fans fully-functional and running; this still sucks, though. Menards is also a MUUUUCH smaller chain, so they haven't become greedy/retarded yet.
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Post by fancollector12 on Jan 13, 2012 23:16:34 GMT -5
I remember when Wal mart had a fan display they always kept older models on display and running. Those fans were usually messed up. They just took the price tags off and left the fans up. They also never bothered to put up new fans. The newly built 24 hour Super Centers like the one near my house don't sell ceiling fans only portable ones when they're in season and galaxy box fans year round.
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