Recently, a friend and I have price shopped a couple of somewhat high-end electronics products, a Sony BDP S570 Blu-ray player and a Mitsubishi 40-inch LED TV (model # LT-40164) . He and I always check prices online first (Pricegrabber.com, for example) and then try to find a deal almost as good in local stores.

What amazed us is that Ultimate Electronics had great prices on both items. On Monday, we found the Sony Blu-ray player as low as $180 shipped from an unrecognized site. Amazon has it for $201 and Best Buy has it on sale for $210 (reg. $250). But Ultimate's price on Monday was only $189. The Edina store ran out, but other stores in the metro had several left as of Monday night. (Ultimate shows the player on its site but does not offer online ordering.)

On the TV, an employee of Ultimate told us when we looked at the $1,599 sale price that he could do better if my friend purchased that night. He and I ignored that challenge for a few minutes while we asked about the TV and watched the picture and listened to its 16-speaker internal sound system. When he was convinced it was the TV he wanted, he said, what's the lower price you were telling me about?

The salesman lowered the price to $1,325, which I thought was a serious offer. I jumped in on my friend's behalf and asked the salesman if he would be willing to lower the price another $70. After speaking to a manager, he agreed to the price. Later, someone in the biz told me that such price is only about $1 over its wholesale cost.

Anyone scoring great deals at Ultimate Electronics lately? Remember to look beyond the sale price for the best deal, no matter where you're shopping, including Best Buy. Keep in mind that my two price comparisons hardly show a trend, but it's worth a heads up.