CompUSA Closing More Than 50 Percent of Stores 423
Zurbrick writes to tell us that CompUSA hs announced that they are closing the doors on over half their stores over the next three months. "CompUSA said in a statement it would close 126 of its stores and would receive a $440 million cash capital infusion, but it was not specific as to the source of the cash. The company also said it would cut costs and restructure. The company operates 225 stores, which its Web site says are located in the United States and Puerto Rico. "
Not the end of retail -- just economic Darwinism (Score:5, Insightful)
15-20 years ago, the big box discounters were putting the smaller mom and pop retailers out of business. Now, the better managed (Wal-Mart, Target, Fry's, OfficeMax, IKEA, BestBuy) big box stores are putting the lesser managed (K-mart, Toys'R'Us, Circuit City, CompUSA) stores out of business. Retail is obviously still strong for even the smaller players. Apple and HP are doing well with consumers via retail. Dell and Gateway? They are both in a small funk right now.
CompUSA would be better off emulating Fry's. K-mart is one retailer that as proven that one can't shrink it's way back into the hearts of consumers. (Note to those in the Bay Area: The Fry's in Austin, TX actually has competent employees!)
NewEgg 1 CompUSA 0 (Score:2, Insightful)
Anyone know when NewEgg is going public?
There was a middle ground, and they were it. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the point was that CompUSA was one of the few retail stores that didn't gouge like that. Sure, they weren't as cheap as mail-order, but they didn't try to screw you the same way that Best Buy, Staples, and the rest of them do.
I have a very nice CompUSA down the street from me, and I tend to go there whenever I need something that I either don't want to wait for, or don't want to pay the shipping on. I've gotten some great bargains off of their clearance table over the years, too. I'll really miss them if the store closes.
For me, if I want a cable, going down to CompUSA and paying $8 and having it in my hand immediately is a no-brainer, compared to having to order it online, pay perhaps a dollar or two less when you factor in shipping, and waiting three days, or going to Best Buy, being assaulted by the noise and idiot salesdroids there, and paying $30 for a sub-$1 part.
If they go under, at least I still have a MicroCenter in my area, which is decent, but it's a heck of a drive.
There is a market for a store that's in between the Best Buy big-box stores, and the mail order IT supply houses, so if CompUSA fails, I think something must have been wrong with their management.
Deja Vu (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:The End of the Customer Appreciation Bat? (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm not suprised at all (Score:4, Insightful)
The thing I always was frustrated with was we were threatened into selling warranties that would not cover anything other than factory defect. For each warranty we sold we got anywhere from $1-$4 on cameras, peripherals and $5-$10 on computer warranties.
We almost never had anything in stock. Probably 50% of the questions we got we sent to other nearby stores.
The other problem I had was the amount of time it took for people to be able to buy laptops. Somebody would pick out a laptop, then I would need to check the stock on the item, then go back up to the front of the store grab a UPC sheet for that laptop for the person to get checked out, and we could only ring the person out through the tech shop, so I would need to page a manager to unlock the register and check them out. Usually it takes at least 5 minutes for the manager to come over, then the manager would raz you for not selling warranties as we walked over to laptop lockup. We had to Find the matching UPC laptop, which generally we could not find because somebody took that one already (in which case we would have to return and re-ring the poor guy's laptop), but if we do find it, we fill out a checkout form. walk out and hand it to the guy. This process usually takes 30 minutes if the store is at all busy.
The other thing was the stores stocked so much shit in them. Paper.. landscaping software.. desk gadgets..lame PC mod stuff & lame cases... off brand overpriced external drives.. offbrand networking devices.. Video Games.. Books.. We spent more time moving old shit around than we actually spent on the sales floor. They should should have less selection.. more stock. They needed to go through with a fine tooth comb and fix that.
It was a great job in the summer because it was indoors, pretty easy, the hours were flexible, the people were okay, but I have seen a big decline in the last few years.
Why shop there? (Score:5, Insightful)
Since they've lost their focus, things that they used to do well have suffered. They used to have a wide variety of computer parts and accessories. Now it seems they've opted for the "thousand types of the same item" style over the "thousands of options". If you want a wireless router or a video card, sure, you've got a huge selection. Otherwise, sorry... Best to shop online. In the new areas they've pushed into, they are only making a token effort. Why would you go to CompUSA to look for video games? Sure, they sell Video Games, but they only have a few titles, and low stock levels, so chances are you're not going to find what you're looking for. Same goes for TVs, or Cell Phones.
They should pick something and do it well, or they should go out of business.
Re:It's about time... and only the beginning. (Score:4, Insightful)
Believe it or not not all big box sales people are idiots. Some of them are actually computer geeks in college getting their computer science degrees, or programmers that want a part time job. I think the stereotype of the idiot salesmen is a huge over-generalization. In fact I worked retail while I was in college and I often ran into assholes who thought they were so much smarter than me because they had "real" tech jobs, not knowing that I was just paying my way to a computer science degree. I've found that a lot of customers who claimed to be techies were actually not that intelligent at all. So it works both ways. You have some extremely intelligent sales people and some clueless ones. It's just as common in the tech world. Some of my colleagues are on the same intellectual level as the generalized sales people you speak of.
I'm gonna miss the sales....weekly. (Score:5, Insightful)
One of my favorite things is to look in the Sunday paper for the CompUSA sale ads and see what I *need* to buy. Between them and Office Max, I've stocked up over the years with tons of 'free' with rebate blank CD's, $0.50 DL DVD's....250G and 300G drives for about $100...and 4-5 Haupauge PVR x50 cards for Mythtv boxes...etc.
Damn..I'm gonna miss all that cheap stuff...Best Buy simply does not have the inventory or prices you can get from CUSA.
Guess I need to stock up on what I can next few weeks.
An old customer (Score:4, Insightful)
I stopped shopping there mainly because of their damned rebates.
I live in a small town. To shop at CompUSA, I had to drive about 125 miles round trip. I can drive a few miles further and shop at a Fry's and get both better prices and (usually) not have to deal with a fucking rebate to get it.
When I shop at a brick and mortar store, I want the best price when I walk through the door. Not 8 to 12 weeks later. And if you want my business, then you're going to offer your best price when I walk through the door.
Re:Nothing to do with the internets... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:NewEgg 1 CompUSA 0 (Score:1, Insightful)