CompUSA To Close All Stores

An anonymous reader writes "Mexican telephone and retail magnate Carlos Slim, in a rare defeat, will exit the US consumer electronics market, shutting the last 100 CompUSA Inc. stores after sinking about $2 billion into the business. Gordon Brothers Group, a Boston-based retail store liquidator, will oversee a piecemeal sale of the Dallas-based business, the company said in a statement. Financial terms were not disclosed. Stores will remain open through year-end under the supervision of Gordon Brothers, which will also negotiate the sale of real estate and other assets."

That sucks

[ragnarok]

CompUSA is the only real computer store near me (in Rochester, NY). Of course there's Best Buy and Circuit City (etc) but the selection was always a lot better at CompUSA. When I needed a hard drive or something in a hurry that was always where I went.

When is Fry's going to make it to the east coast?

The good old days

[davmoo]

Back in the day, CompUSA was a decent place to buy computer parts. They had a good selection, knowledgeable sales people, and good prices. Those days have been gone for some years now. It got to where their prices were so ridiculously high without a sale, and the "sale" required a rebate to get a decent price, that it was no longer worth shopping there. Especially when Fry's opened. I haven't been in the local store in 4 or 5 years.

Re:Meh.

[flyingsquid]

What I remember about CompUSA is that on multiple occasions, when I went into the store looking to buy an item, they were sold out of it. It's like it didn't occur to them, "hey, we're sold out of this. Obviously it's popular. We better buy more of it, and put it on the shelves, so we can make more money". After that happened two or three times, I got tired of dealing with them, and would go online or to a different store. So I'm not that surprised to hear that they're going out of business.

Re:That sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

You could always try Rochester Computer Recycling and Repair if you need parts fast. Otherwise I would suggest Pricewatch.

Re:Huh?

[dotancohen]

We don't have CompUSA in Israel, either, but the name is as familiar to me as McDonalds or Coca Cola (both of which we do have). That may be because I spend just a bit too much time online...

I'm also surprised to see that they have but 100 branches. The fact that I am familiar with them shows how influential they are. I suppose though, that influential != [ big || successful ].

My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[Futurepower(R)]

"... actually did carry much in the way of essential hardware such as fans, heatsync compound, screws, and other misc things."

In Portland, Oregon [slashdot.org] the closing of CompUSA stores will mean that the retail Fry's [frys.com] store has no competition in selling the more unusual items. Since Fry's is very adversarial toward its customers, in my opinion, that will mean prices will rise.

My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible, though.

Both stores sell cables for more than $20 that cost less than $2 wholesale.

Re:EggHead became NewEgg dummkopf

[bwd234]

Newegg, and sometimes Amazon, are the only places I buy any electronics anymore. Circuit City has hardly any selection, Best Buy and CompUSA are too expensive and Radio Shack is well, utter crap and too expensive. Newegg has never let me down!

Re:That sucks

[transer]

You can always try Microworx. They don't have as big of a selection, but for the "gotta have it now" parts, those they generally have.

I'll agree on Fry's, though...wish they'd make it out this way....

Re:Meh.

[Anonymous Coward]

I suppose you don't consider that sometimes stock just flies off of the shelves after a day or two?

How about flying off the shelves before the store opened the day the ad came out? This happened all the time. The last time this happened my buddy needed an HDD and CompUSA had one on sale in their ad with a mininum of 10 per store. We met up at a local restaurant for breakfast, then went to the store. We got there 15 minutes before they opened and there was 1 person waiting outside. When the doors opened there were 5 of us waiting and we all went in different directions. My buddy and I went back to the counter were they kept the HDD's and he asked for one, only to be told by the clerk that they were out. Out? The store had just opened and we were the first ones there. The clerk wouldn't answer why they were out, but the answers are obvious:

• The store forgot to order them. I can't see how this could occur. If I can find out online if an item is in stock then corporate can too.
• The employees bought them before the store opened. This should never be allowed.
• An eBay scalper bought them the night before. This also should not occur, because they should put some aside for the sale.
• They never intended on selling any at that price and were just trying to get people to come to the store.

As we left the store empty handed we came across 2 other guys who were outside when the store opened and neither of them got what they came for either. Needless to say neither my buddy nor I have been back since.

Re:Where will I buy quad slim cases?

[korbin_dallas]

Wow, use the internet.

These folks have more kinds of cd/dvd holders than you could possible need.
And thousands of other things CompUSA never even thought to carry.
http://www.cyberguys.com/ [cyberguys.com]

Oh and heres the 4up in flexible polypropelene so it wont shatter like the styrene ones
And color coded to boot. And cheaper.

http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/SearchDetail.asp?productID=2794 [cyberguys.com]

Where they went wrong

[LaughingCoder]

I personally will miss CompUSA. In our area they are in the same shopping center as Best Buy, and it was very common for me to park midway between them and get prices from both stores before buying. And contrary to most folks' comments, our local CompUSA was always very well-stocked. If both Best Buy and CompUSA had a good sale, we would be almost guaranteed of getting it at CompUSA, and almost guaranteed of NOT getting it at Best Buy. Of course you had to pick-and-choose what you bought there, like any store. Their cable prices were ridiculous (I buy all my cables from newegg), but they often had really good deals on hard drives, memory, video boards, keyboards, mice and such. And they always had a much broader selection of computer stuff than Best Buy.

Anyhow, where I think they went wrong was getting into consumer electronics like big screen TVs. Their prices were outrageous and their store displays were woeful. And the thing that drove me the most crazy was they never even bothered to properly set up the TVs. They would always be running noisy content with maladjusted displays in the wrong aspect ratio, in a bright environment. I was actually embarrassed for them. In all my years of going there I never, ever saw anyone in a checkout line or leaving their store with a TV in their cart, as contrasted with Best Buy, where it was commonplace.

Re:EggHead became NewEgg dummkopf

[jht]

Actually, Newegg and Egghead had nothing to do with one another. Amazon bought what was left of Egghead back in (I think) 1999 or so when their online-only strategy failed. Newegg was a separate startup that was started down in California (Egghead was based in the Seattle area).

Re:That sucks

[north.coaster]

J&N in Fairport, NY, is a great source for computer components. Plus their assembled systems are good deals (I'm typing this message using a computer that they built for me). They don't carry as many brands as CompUSA, but their prices are good and their staff is very knowledgeable.

Also, Circuit City is not bad if they have what you want in stock. When I buy stuff from them, I always order online and then pick up at the store.

Re:Meh.

[R2.0]

":The employees bought them before the store opened. This should never be allowed. "

Likely it was this one. My wife worked as security at Sears for a span, and it was routine to allow associates to purchase items at sale price (minus an employee discount) before the store opened.

Fair? No.

Did I tell her to grab an Xbox 360 for immediate resale on eBay? Betcherass I did, but they were all gone by the time her shift started 1/2 hour before the store opened. Other employees came in early.

Don't wait for Fry's, find a small store/chain.

[Jesus_666]

Have you tried looking for a computer store that isn't part of a big chain? I generaly prefer small stores because there you find people who know what they're selling and who can give you decent advice on what to buy, decent hardware at usually decent prices and service that the big guys just can't match.

Example: I needed some thermal grease for an emergency repair. I drove to a small local store and asked for some; what gets handed to me is a small tube that they just happened to have lying around, free of charge. They didn't need it and couldn't sell it, so I could have it.

Example: Another time, my graphics card became screwy and I didn't have a second PCIe card to replace it with. It was 17:40, twenty minutes before the store closes. I call them and ask them if they can close a bit later as I need to make an emergency purchase. No problem at all, they tell me. 18:05 I walk into the store and buy "the cheapest NVidia PCIe card you have".

You don't get that kind of service with the big chains. Sure, they might have a bigger selection, but the independent/small-chain stores generally have everything you might need in a hurry and can back-order stuff they don't have. And even if they can't always match the big players' prices, the service is in an entirely different league.

Re:That sucks

[guruevi]

Circuit City in Rochester, NY sucks. Went there to buy a printer for my Apple and Linux-based systems. The box said it was supported, but after a day or two with HP support they (HP) came to the conclusion they didn't have scanner drivers (yet). I went back to Circuit City and they didn't want to change or take back my printer. They would take it back if I went more expensive, otherwise there was a 15% restocking fee, said it was store/corporate policy. I said forget it, took the thing home and gave it to my parents who are running Ubuntu, a few months later the drivers for the scanner came. Never went back there again.

I went to Best Buy for some USB A-B cable. Best Buy wanted to charge me $25 for a 3 foot cable. Yeah but they're gold plated... I don't care, the signal isn't going to work any different. Well, it gives better quality prints... I said OK, now you're going too far, I'm outta here.

Radio Shack is just as incompetent. Give me a powered UHF/VHF antenna. Yeah right, 5 antenna's later (still in the shop, they gave me FM antenna's even a HAM-radio antenna) they said: this one is powered. Came home: no it isn't. Same thing for a simple power supply, how difficult is it to find a 9V, 1,5A power supply? I only have this 1500 Amp one "Uh, let me see, yes, 1500mA is 1,5A, thank you, I'll go with that one"

Ever since, I've only been shopping online. If I need something really bad, I'll do overnight shipping, saves me a lot of time, gas and headache.

Re:As an ex employee...

[AFCArchvile]

Same here (327, worked during the dot-bomb days of 1999-2000). All the "down to earth" coworkers were great colleagues, but there was a big rift between the red-shirts and most of the white-shirts. At times, it felt like working at a car dealership, since the push to sell TAP and replacement plans was never-ending. If a store can't be profitable by selling its product, and certain services with legitimate value, what kind of a store is it? In the case of CompUSA, a dead store.

The key to shopping there was to either do your homework first, or to be lucky and find one of those with genuine technical experience (I made sure to keep learning and experimenting with new stuff, and to use that knowledge). Unfortunately, CompUSA gained a bit of a reputation for not adequately helping the customer. After Slim's acquisition and taking the company private, things only got worse. When their selection and prices deteriorated over the years, it became a place to visit only when you needed something NOW; otherwise, just order it from an online retailer once you've determined what to get.

So passes CompUSA, son of Soft Warehouse.

Re:fare thee well

[Jesus_666]

I guess BB/CC will be taking over the world now.

You mean the USA and maybe Canada, right? Other countries have their large chains, too, and as Wal-Mart's failure in Germany shows, being a large player in the USA doesn't neccessarily mean squat elsewhere.

For those who don't follow German supermarket corporation politics: Wal-Mart pulled out of the German market in 2006 after losing ~$3 bn and sold their local assets to the Rewe corporation, one of the big players in the German supermarket business.

If BB/CC expaded to Germany they'd meed stiff resistance from firmly entrenched players like Media Markt (which should have a near-100% brand recognition) and Saturn, which both belong to the Metro Group, which is one of the big players that Wal-Mart lost against. Hardly a good way go gain foothold.

I don't know how it is in other countries, but in Germany, the big brick-and-mortar chains are firmly entrenched with the trenches in question being nuke-proof bunkers.

Re:That sucks

[joggle]

I second this. I've ordered several motherboard combos over the years from them. I once had a problem with one motherboard combo they mailed me. They mailed me a new one without requiring me to mail back the old one first (I live in Boulder, CO so it's nice to have this service) and they payed for all of the postage. They have one of the highest ratings at resellerratings.com for a reason.

Re:I like going to the tigerdirect store in Chicag

[Anonymous Coward]

I ordered a video card from Tiger Direct. Later on I started receiving emails from them with subject lines like "Important info about your recent order" but the emails were just advertising and had nothing to do with my order. To me that is dishonest and underhanded. I will never buy from Tiger Direct after that.

Re:Meh.

[drew]

Without even a CompUSA around anymore, I don't know where you're going to pick up hardware in person?

MicroCenter?

I know they aren't available everywhere, but those that do have them, I would take them over CompUSA or Fry's. These days I usually go to Best Buy, as I've been rather unimpressed by the CompUSA near me, and there aren't Fry's or MicroCenter around here, but I can't help feeling a little dirty when I do.

Re:They Screwed Radio Shack

[Watts Martin]

I always wondered why Radio Shack didn't turn into a huge computer retailer, which was a perfect growth for the only store like that...

They tried.

It's been lost to the mists of time now, but Radio Shack was doing the equivalent of the Apple Store a quarter-century ago, with the "Radio Shack Computer Center" stores. They were not only huge in the pre-PC days, they were the leader in "PC clones" for a while.

In the early '90s, though, they decided the Tandy Computer brand just wasn't making it anymore, and they decided to go all-out for retailing. They sold their computer divisions (which included Victor and GRiD) to AST, spun off other brands they owned that were marketed through non-Tandy stores (like Memorex), and opened Computer City, Edge in Electronics, and Incredible Universe. They also bought a couple other chains like McDuff's and Video Concepts.

What killed that path, basically, was in part what just did in CompUSA: Best Buy and Circuit City, combined with bottom-barrel retailers like Wal-Mart. The other part was Incredible Universe itself: picture stores that were 150,000+ square feet, had child care centers and restaurants, and were consciously patterned after Disney theme parks in terms of style and customer service. Basically, Fry's with ten times the dazzle and ten times the overhead.

By the late '90s Radio Shack decided to concentrate only on the little mall stores. I'm not sure how they're doing these days, but a few years ago, at least, this strategy seemed to have worked out pretty well for them, even though old fart TRS-80 users like myself miss the old chain.

Re:EggHead became NewEgg dummkopf

[Thrymm]

You are correct:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egghead_Software [wikipedia.org]

"Egghead was hurt by a December of 2000 revelation that hackers had accessed its systems and potentially compromised customer credit card data. The company filed for bankruptcy in August of 2001. After a deal to sell the company to Fry's Electronics for $10 million fell through, its assets were acquired by Amazon.com for $6.1 million."

Re:Meh.

[jedidiah]

Texas was part of the confederacy you know. It doesn't get much more dixie than that.

Re:Don't wait for Fry's, find a small store/chain.

[Jesus_666]

I didn't think of that. Over here, credit cards aren't as popular as in the USA, so it doesn't matter whether most small stores take them at all or charge extra. (It's understandable that they do; supporting CCs is expensive.)

Re:A Question....

[BubbaJonBoy]

A couple of things. In Europe land is scarce and expensive - even if someone wanted to build a specialty "super-store" they'd have a hard time trying to figure out where to put it and pay for it. Not to mention people over there have enough sense to treasure what they have and not tear it down when they decide something bigger is called for. Quite frankly we have a tendency to build shit that is more utilitarian than aesthetic so it's not too hard to decide it should go ;-). Second, gas is cheaper here and the distances between cities large enough to support a super-store are greater. In Europe things are closer together and gas is so much more expensive that it has fostered a shop near home mentality. Don't take this as a put-down - I love the way Europe has maintained a village style community for the most part, I'm simply trying to explain.