Appliances discount: big box or small family location

[Kar-Ming Lo]

Lurked a bit but not sure where to post my question as this is my first post ever.  Am very excited to partake from the collective wisdom.  My question is re: appliances.  My partners and I have sold our first property and are hooked.  We are knee deep into a second projecxt and recently won a bid for a third and are looking for a 4th.  Our hope is to flip approximately 4-5 projects for our inaugural year.  THe houses that we buy have pretty much nothing in them so we need to place washer, dryer, refrigerator, oven, and dishwashers in each.  I have 2 questions:

1.  Since we are buying several of each item (we need 2-3 sets now) and hopefully will be rehabbing 8-12 by year 2/3, has anyone had success negotiating a bulk discount with either the big box brands or with a smaller family owned appliance store or even a retail distributor.  Anyone have any preference for one or the other.  Just trying to find ways to save money.  

thanks in advance

KL