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. "
It's about time... and only the beginning. (Score:5, Interesting)
I have 2 CompUSAs in my area, close to clients that my company still maintains. They're both depressing -- too many workers, but no one with knowledge. I hear a lot of lies, get pushed on extended warranties that don't work, and have to deal with waiting and waiting when I need to find something that their website shows as in-stock. The company is inept because the company is trying to compete in the wrong market.
I honestly see a lot of retail collapsing because the time is getting close that the manufacturers can sell products cheaper, and at a higher profit for themselves, directly or through direct-partners. I can't imagine a Luddite like my father trying to buy something at CompUSA when the typical sales person there is no different than Best Buy's brilliant teen workers. But that's the end problem: CompUSA is still trying to be a consumer store rather than business-oriented.
CompUSA has a much wider inventory than Best Buy or Circuit City, but they obviously can't compete with those power houses who have more stores and also have a lot of value-added items they can sell to make up for what they don't make on popular laptops and LCD monitors. Yet the typical business that I deal with still prefers solid advice over bottom-line price. Consumers want it cheap, and they tend not to have long-term relationships with a particular sales person or a store. CompUSA dropped the ball when they started to lose to CDW and MacWarehouse -- the corporate clients of mine haven't used CompUSA in years because of their change from business-focused to consumer-oriented and cheap.
Even on price CompUSA doesn't compete -- often times when I need something I am shocked at the prices. Sure, we're all familiar with the $6-USB-cable-that-sells-for-$39, but even basics such as a stand IEC power cord are overpriced. Their selection is decent, but they are trying to compete in a market that they can not penetrate, especially with Amazon and eBay destroying the price competitiveness of the big box PC store.
This is a good thing for CompUSA, but I don't see them lasting. Every CompUSA near me has both Best Buy and Circuit City nearby, and I admit that I've had more intelligent sales staff at the big box store than at CompUSA. If they want to save their business, they have to focus on local businesses rather than trying to be the answer man for people who want cheap prices and sales. Without the business customer (who tends to accept a higher cost in exchange for GOOD advice and support), their business is heading to the toilet.
Half of CompUSAs closing? (Score:1, Interesting)
Half of nothing... (Score:2, Interesting)
Then I heard they merged with Good Guys, and now all those stores are gone too. At least the folks at Good Guys were friendly and knowledgeable even if their stores and selection was small.
Between its crummy customer service, bad sales people that make Frys employees look like geniuses, terrible prices and even worse selection, does ANYONE actually shop at CompUSA anymore?
Count yourself lucky you have a retail store. (Score:4, Interesting)
It's the closest thing we have to Best Buy or CompUSA.
It's called PC World, and it's run by a company called the Dixons Stores Group.
Let's just say: £80 network cards (that was apparently the cheapest), £20 USB cables (again, the cheapest), £1,200 PCs. They stock cheaper ones but I've never met anyone who ever bought one - I suspect those who are savvy enough don't go there in the first place, and those who aren't are generally told "You want to send email? Well, in that case you'll need this...". And extended warranties which cost 70% of the value of the PC, yet are serviced by spotty 16 year olds who wouldn't know a PC if it dropped on their head.
Small Business Rejoice. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:It's about time... and only the beginning. (Score:4, Interesting)
Then one day CompUSA decided that their main competition wasn't the local computer shops (which are a much better resource for the SOHO buyer) or CDW or MacWarehouse, but Best Buy, Circuit City and OfficeMax. For crying out loud, I shouldn't get more knowledgeable sales staff out of a freaking office supply story than I do out of a store whose main goal is to sell computers and accessories!
I don't think retail will entirely go away: Office Depot and OfficeMax make quite a hefty sum selling routers, network adapters and notebook computers. Especially in the SOHO market, where people like the convenience of walking into a store and walking out with a computer. And in the SMB market, CDW and MacWarehouse will continue to reign supreme. Dell works for the larger corporates who have in-house IT, and while some SOHO and SMB people get their PCs from Dell, many are finding Dell support to be too poor to be useful. Many SOHO and SMB folks are turning to outside services to handle IT issues, and Geek Squad, 1-800-905-GEEK and other companies are making money hand-over-fist selling services to them.
So pretty much the only thing left is online? (Score:3, Interesting)
From a Compusa employee (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:It's about time... and only the beginning. (Score:3, Interesting)
That section exists, but it is online only! Talk about frustrating:
14 foot patch cable, pick-up, $34.99 [compusa.com]
14 foot patch cable, delivery-only, $6.00 [compusa.com]
Re:How many locations does Fry's have? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Count yourself lucky you have a retail store. (Score:5, Interesting)
Depends on whether it's a corporate store or not. It used to be that you could tell the difference pretty easily because the non-corporate stores looked pretty different. Now, it's hard to tell except by the service. With the corporate stores, you get some random manager who has training as a manager. With the non-corporate (franchise) stores, you often have a manager who is a hobbyist him/herself.
My home town RS back in Martin, TN has a manager who knows the stuff cold. "I'm looking for something to do X," usually gets an "I'm not sure. Let me ask Jeff." I wish he were managing a store here in the Silicon Valley; most of the stores here seem to exemplify the "We have blank stares" problem in my experience. The point is that it varies a lot from store to store.
At least it isn't Fry's, though. I went in to buy potentiometers. They only had long shaft pots, so I had to saw the shaft, which was obnoxious.... Then, I asked where the knobs are. "Knobs?" "Yes. Knobs for pots." "Aisle 3." "I just looked there." "I saw pots, but no knobs." "Oh, knobs. We don't sell those." "What!?! If I have to go to Radio shack for something as basic as knobs, why the *&^%^& am I wasting my time coming here at all?" Yes, this was a real exchange, minus the last line, which was my muttering as I walked out to the car.
Fry's seems to be good at carrying the really obscure stuff, but they seem to have a complete lack of common, basic parts... like I couldn't find a 555 timer IC. Had to buy it at the Rat Shack. Knobs for pots. Rat Shack. Decent soldering gun that wasn't obscenely priced. Rat Shack. Copper shielding tape... the garden section of Orchard Supply Hardware. Yeah. That one was weird.... CD markers? Fry's was out of stock. Grocery store. Dr. Pepper? Albertson's was out of stock. Fry's.
Clearly, we live in a world where stores can't be bothered to give a rat's ass about customer satisfaction, sensible stocking, or generally knowing anything at all about the products that they carry. Were it not for the shipping, I'd even order my groceries online---not because it's cheaper, but because it would save me from having to deal with incompetent people. :-)
Good Freakin' Riddance (Score:4, Interesting)
The location in Manhattan in 57th and Broadway is a perfect example. All the businesses and corporations in the world within 5 blocks' walk and yet the place is always empty. You ask an employee an incredibly simple question like, "where are your flash drives?" and the answer you get is a surly, "what's a flash drive?"
Contrast that with the Apple store in SoHo, which is crawling with people every second of the day they're open. After many years of dealing with CompUSA for PC parts I went to the Apple store to check into buying an iBook for my girlfriend running the spiffy new OSX OS (yes, a few years ago). I dubiously asked a salesperson, a random salesperson, how to open a terminal to work on the command line. He did so and wrote a quicky little PERL one-liner to demonstrate that, yes, the kernel really was *NIX.
I nearly wept.
Re:Why shop there? (Score:3, Interesting)
You touched on the primary issue. When I was helping my brother with a drive install, I noticed it didn't come with a serial ATA cable and so I set out on an adventure to find one. CompUSA was one of my first stops, what with Comp in the name and all, but it was out of stock. When you are a "computer" store and you are out of stock of items that you definitely should carry and have enough of for no apparent reason (I bet they had two cables and sold 1 of them last month and one last week and forgot to order more, it's not like there was a rush), you have lost. I found the cable at Best Buy for a premium. It was for these last minute purchases where you don't want to wait 2 - 3 days for something that computer stores should exist, but CompUSA was insufficient in these cases. It's pretty bad when Best Buy keeps more basic cabling/computer accessories in stock than you do when you are supposedly primarily in the computer business. Everytime I go in there you can almost hear a pin drop, kind of like radioshack seems to be too nowadays. This doesn't come as a surprise at all. Get back into what you should be there for, the crap we don't have the time to order online and need last minute.
Re:Nothing to do with the internets... (Score:1, Interesting)