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"America Wins With Trade" Tour Makes Its Only Virginia Stop in Charlottesville

Event host Crutchfield exemplifies the value of trade to the local economy

For Immediate Release

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (July 24, 2008) — The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® brought its nationwide pro-trade tour to Charlottesville with a stop at Crutchfield, whose 560 employees count on free trade for their livelihood.

CEA's pro-trade branded tour bus stopped Crutchfield's Distribution Center, where this year alone Crutchfield's 68 Distribution Center employees will process more than 950,000 outbound shipments. The bus is on a road trip that includes visits to the Republican and Democratic national conventions. The Crutchfield event is the only stop in Virginia.

The event included remarks by Bill Crutchfield, founder and CEO, and by Gary Shapiro, President and CEO of the CEA. Mr. Shapiro is the most visible person in the $161 billion dollar consumer electronics industry. He has appeared on all the major news networks and recently debated Lou Dobbs on network television regarding free trade.

"CEA has devoted a tremendous amount of financial and intellectual resources to outfitting the tour bus, which cleverly displays the beneficial effect that free trade has on the consumer electronics industry," Mr. Crutchfield said. "That CEA has picked Charlottesville as its only stop in Virginia is a tremendous tribute to our community, Crutchfield Corporation and its 560 employees."

Nearly 370,000 Virginia jobs are driven by the Consumer Electronics sector, according to a CEA-PriceWaterhouseCoopers study. That is 8 percent of jobs in Virginia. The Consumer Electronics industry also contributes 8 percent of the total Virginia state economic activity – over thirty billion dollars of value added to the GDP, according to the study.

About Crutchfield Corporation

Crutchfield Corporation, which celebrates its 34th anniversary in 2008, is one of the nation's leading catalog and Internet retailers of consumer electronics products. Crutchfield has its headquarters and a retail store in Charlottesville. Since its introduction in 1974, the Crutchfield catalog has been a respected authority on car and home entertainment products, winning many awards for quality, design, and usefulness. The people who staff Crutchfield's call centers are noted for their high integrity, product knowledge, and technical expertise. They are available by phone, e-mail, and live online chat. Crutchfield.com offers a convenient, full-service shopping destination to buyers of car and home audio/video products. Crutchfield was the first vendor-authorized audio/video retailer on the Internet and is one of only two retailers to have won BizRate's coveted "Circle of Excellence" award eight times.

About CEA

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $161 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. More than 2,200 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA membership, including legislative advocacy, market research, technical training and education, industry promotion and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA also sponsors and manages the International CES. Find CEA online at www.CE.org.

About the "America Wins with Trade" tour

The tour is a nationwide educational initiative to help Americans understand the importance of trade to creating jobs and driving U.S. economic growth. The 28-state bus tour launched Monday in New York City, with help from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. On Thursday morning, the tour stops on Capitol Hill before departing for Charlottesville.

For more information, press only:
Jim Richardson/Crutchfield Public Relations
434-817-1000, ext. 2809
jrichardson@crutchfield.com

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