Price Tag Seen Hindering Sales in Orange County

Electronic stores in Orange County report little or no movement of the new wide-screen televisions.

“I haven’t seen us sell any,” said Rurairi Mckeagney, a salesman at the Huntington Beach Good Guys who believes the sets’ $4,500 price tags have been prohibitive.

Tustin Good Guys manager Glenn Hansen says customers have been curious but he expects that, as with other new technological products, the sets “will take a while to catch on.”

Paul’s TV, a store in La Habra that specializes in conventional big-screen TVs (and anticipates sales to reach $20 million this year), doesn’t carry wide-screens. Owner Paul Goldenberg--who plugs himself as “The King of Big Screen” in ubiquitous advertisements--thinks it doesn’t pay to spend so much for a wide-screen when consumers can get a conventional model comparable in screen size for much less money.

“Ultimately we will stock the wide-screens,” Goldenberg said, “but they are just not a very good value now.”