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."

Comments

Meh.

[Vthornheart]

I never really liked them, personally. I don't know if it was different on other regions of the country, but in the Sacramento area the CompUSAs were always overpriced. I guess it's sad to see any store that sells computer products die on some level, but there's better stores still on the market.
That being said, if CompUSA was the only brick and mortar computer store in your area, I guess this would be a sucky development. Maybe a Fry's will move in. ;)

Re:Meh.

[astrotek]

EggHead 2.0, same shopping centers too :)

Re:Meh.

[zakezuke]

I never really liked them, personally. I liked them just fine, as much as one can like a big box computer store. They were somewhere between the big office stores and best buy, and actually did carry much in the way of essential hardware such as fans, heatsync compound, screws, and other misc things. It beats a trek to frys which for me is about 30 miles away.

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:Meh.

[Yehooti]

I'll miss them. When I wanted to find a store where I could walk in, select my software right there, then pay and walk out with it then and there, they were always there. Fry's is about the same distance from me as they were, but I've never felt comfortable with their wares. I could get in and out quickly, not like the long lines at Fry's. If I had a problem, they handled it smoothly, not like at Fry's. I paid more for this privilege I'll admit. When I'm not in a hurry I order from online sources.

Their selections were great, almost always having what I needed in a hurry. We need more stores like this, not fewer. Someone needs to come along and show the remaining stores how to do it right. They couldn't do it, Fry's, CC, and BB don't do it. Who is next?

Re:Meh.

[Anonymous Coward]

What the hell is Fry's?

And yes, CompUSA is the only computer store that I know of within my state.

Re:Meh.

[PopeRatzo]

What's the matter, you guys don't have MicroCenter over by dere? One of the nicest things about Chicago is the Microcenter Store.

That, Ozzie Guillen and Jimmy's Hot Dogs on Grand Ave & Pulaski. Don't ask for ketchup, though, or you might catch a beatin'.

Re:Meh.

[WindBourne]

Fry's is, what compUSA use to be. They are all store for electronics. Lots of low priced goods (same item at compUSA will be 50-100% more). The sales ppl are nowhere near as obnoxious as compUSA's. Sadly, they are not everywhere. Perhaps with compUSA pulling out, they will expand again.

Re:Meh.

[boredMDer]

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

Many times in my store, we'd have quite a few of an item, then the ad would come out, and they'd all be gone within two days, at most for the good items. The ordering system was such crap that it'd take maybe a week to order and get new product in, at that point the sale flyer would be over and since we didn't give 'rain checks'...

In some of the cases it was the fault of the ASM, most of the time it was completely unexpected demand, even when ordering more than normal for the ad. Even so, no one in the store but the ASM or GM could process the orders for new items.

Re:Meh.

[Gropo]

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

Last month I took a little bike trip to the CompUSA in midtown Manhattan looking for a simple HDD power line jumper. Zilch. SATA ribbons, ATA/IDE... No power cable supplies.

Re:Meh.

[aplusjimages]

CompUSA is overpriced here as well. They were cheaper on their printer ink than other places though. I wish a Fry's would open in Jacksonville, FL

Re:Meh.

[putaro]

Basically what you're saying in a more informed way is what the original poster said - they weren't able to manage their inventory. It's a basic part of running a retail business. Yes, it's hard. Those who are good at it (Walmart) succeed in the retail space. Those that are bad at it will close their doors.

Re:Meh.

[FlopEJoe]

We lost ours last year. The prices sucked and most of the staff were idiots though some exceptions to both complaints were a nice surprise like when you found a good sale or a helpful employee.

But... and it's a big but... the best thing about CompUSA was their parts section. There is absolutely no other place in my area where I can take in my a busted up connector or a too short cable, walk up to a shelf and look at the available parts to compare, and walk out with what I need. And, if it didn't work out, I can go back and try again that day. Now, if something goes wrong with a 'puter, I have to STFW to find what the part is called, compare fuzzy pictures and descriptions, order the part, wait a few days, and hope it works when it comes in. If it doesn't, start over with another part and a few days of a broken computer. Yeah, it's way cheaper from net-stores and it usually works out, but I miss the, "just get the damn part now," mentality of having a CompUSA around.

Re:Meh.

[zullnero]

Maybe a Fry's will move in. ;)

Fry's: Where you always know you can find the most substandard of substandard computer and consumer products!

The trick with Fry's, for those who don't know, is that the good quality stuff is priced roughly the same as any Best Buy/CompUSA/Staples/etc., but the absolutely crappy imported stuff makes it all seem cheaper. It's like WalMart like that.

Re:Meh.

[FateStayNight]

good riddance. After buying from them a few times and never hearing anything back after sending in my rebates, I can't say I am sad to see them go. A lot of their stuff can be found cheaper elsewhere so without the rebates I only went in there to play around with their stuff and check out the sales chicks.

Re:Meh.

[michrech]

In my view, Fry's is like Wal*Mart, but for electronics (with a few other items thrown in). The stores are absolutely GINORMOUS, usually very busy, and there is quite a selection.

What the hell is Fry's?

And yes, CompUSA is the only computer store that I know of within my state.

Re:Meh.

[houghi]

It depends on the product and the advertisement that goes along with it, but it often is used to get people in the store. People who just are interested to buy that one item is not who they are interested in, because margins on that product can be minimal.

What they could be interested in is people comming in the store and buying other things.

Re:Meh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Nooooo, they are the only retail store in my town that sells Apple Computers. We will have to order new computers on-line now. Another victory for the Microsoft Faschists.

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:Meh.

[Seumas]

What's stupid is that I'm told by an employee of CompUSA that they've been working on opening a new store in Colorado this coming week. Only, now instead of having a grand opening, the first day the store opens will also be a liquidation day.

It's kind of amazing how fast they did all this. Management got the news Friday afternoon, via telephone. Within a couple hours, there were a couple of guards on premises to make sure employees did not steel anything. Employees were forbidden from buying anything "at cost" which employees apparently have always been allowed to do. By the end of the night, liquidation guys had arrived from corporate and were going through the process of taking inventory and repricing so they could (presumably) begin actual liquidation sales this weekend.

It's just damn crazy. I've never cared for CompUSA except that since there are no longer any real mom and pop independent computer stores around, your choice is between CompUSA and Fry's. And Fry's isn't available in most places (which is a shock to those of us from the west coast when we visit other parts of the country). Without even a CompUSA around anymore, I don't know where you're going to pick up hardware in person? It was always nice to have a place you could go to as a last resort if you needed to replace a mobo RIGHT NOW.

Re:Meh.

[xeoron]

Yes, they were over priced in their brick stores, but the reasonable priced items CompUSA only sold through their website.

Re:Meh.

[Skater]

I love Microcenter. I used to go to the Fairfax, VA one, but now they have one in Rockville, MD that's pretty nice (and closer to my home). I don't think I've purchased computer components anywhere but Microcenter since I discovered them.

There was a CompUSA in the Alexandria area, near the Landmark Mall, but I think it closed a while ago. I hadn't been there in years, because I didn't care for their selection or rude staff.

Re:Meh.

[SciBott]

As a former employee at store 17 in Tempe Arizona, I can tell you that it is a mix between what Radio Shack used to be, Circuit City, Best Buy, and Sears. They sell everything from transistors to refrigerators and laundry machines. There are 2 stores in Arizona, 1 in Nevada, 1 in Georgia, 1 in Indiana, 6-8 in California, 2-4 in Washington and Oregon. It was started by the son of Fry's Food and Drug. Depending on the store manager, the way that schedules for the employees are handled are the most defining examples of inefficiency.

Re:Meh.

[Chris Mattern]

Yeh, I live right near where the old Alexandria CompUSA store was. It got closed in the first big wave of closings a few months back.

Chris Mattern

Re:Meh.

[Mr.Dippy]

True that. Micro Center took over the CompUSA space in Rockville. Thank God. I really hated CompUSA with a passion. You couldn't buy anything on sale in there without a mail in rebate. And the people who work in those stores seemed to be rejects from Best Buy. The best thing I like about Micro Center is that they have a whole Think Geek Aisle.

Re:Meh.

[russotto]

Yep. There was a CompUSA and a Microcenter close to me, the CompUSA a few miles closer. Almost every time I went to CompUSA, I'd either not find what I want, or find it in a locked cabinet where I could get no help, and then I'd kick myself and do what I should have done in the first place, which is go to Microcenter.

If you can't keep a computer store running in King of Prussia, PA, you've got to be doing something wrong. The area's lousy with geeks.

Microcenter is a little more expensive than NewEgg usually, but it's worth it for the instant gratification sometimes. E.g. getting that hard drive today means the Mythbox is back in operation THIS weekend rather than NEXT weekend.

Re:Meh.

[Windows Breaker G4]

Is that the one right off 270? I just got back in town (frederick) and maybe i'll go visit

Re:Meh.

[gEvil (beta)]

They were somewhere between the big office stores and best buy, and actually did carry much in the way of essential hardware such as fans, heatsync compound, screws, and other misc things.

What I find a bit odd is that this stuff has reached the point where even the big office stores carry it. The Office Depot down the street from me carries all of the above, plus more. I mean, I can go into OD and buy a tube of (overpriced) thermal compound if I needed to.

Re:Meh.

[Skater]

Yeah, it's in a shopping center on the Rockville Pike.

Re:Meh.

[Sgt.Modulus]

Well put... I know this first hand when I used to work in CompUSA in Tarrytown NY for about a year. When I was working there the store was the best in the region and we got free black 2g ipod nanos. Our stock was pretty available but it did have problems keeping track of everything. I worked at the tech services counter as a service writer. Basically that involves checking computers in and out. We used to use seibel 7x and it was such a poor system. Mistakes were easy to make and took forever to get finished with one customer. Was very agrivating to get anybody processed correctly. Eventually I followed suit with my other co-workers and did thinks half ass in order to keep up with customer flow. Besides I was getting paid $9/hour. What a load of shit for the amount of effort I put into this job. Not only did the job and pay suck they wanted you to work crazy hours. Things like the midnight madness deal never really made sense to me. After 11pm there were hardly any customers in the place. The prices were always higher than anywhere else. I felt bad for the customers so I started to fix small issues myself at the counter without writing their service tickets up. I got plenty of tips for that which could of got me fired. Then for items customers would ask from me I would redirect them to other places which sell items cheaper like newegg.com or somewhere else online. Eventually I got fed up with everything and left. The last straw was yet another angry customer coming in to yell at me for something my manager fucked up. So I picked up my belongings and left and never came back. No 2 week notice or anything. After that the place closed down in 30 days along with over half of the stores as mentioned in TFA. So to me I am FUCKING glad this horrible store shut down.

Re:Meh.

[ischorr]

I remember shopping at CompUSA back when it was Soft Warehouse. In my area, for computer stuff, it was virtually the only game in town except a handful of mom and pop shops. Oh, and the bargain bin. I picked up Microsoft UFO (pre-Flight Sim) and 5 null modem cables for $1 each. Didn't know what I was going to do with 5 null modem cables, but who can pass up that kind of deal???

In the end, there was virtually no reason to shop there versus any of their numerous competitors, including Microcenter, Best Buy, Circuit City, Fry's(!), and, well, the Internet. They kept flirting with trying to do consumer electronics, and I had to wonder why they were intentionally trying to eliminate differentiators from, say, Best Buy. MP3 players and cameras were one thing, but when they started displacing computer stock with flat screen TVs (in their relatively tiny stores), I just couldn't understand the business plan. They were at a point where their only differentiating factor from the other (all larger) shops was as a niche "computer only" store. So why try to become yet another generic electronics shop, already an overly-congested market?

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.

Re:Meh.

[happyemoticon]

Sure, but perhaps the computing space doesn't lend itself to browsing or impulse purchases. On the one hand, what you can buy is limited by slots, ports and compatibility, so you really have to know what you want ahead of time. And on the other hand, guys stereotypically make a b-line for the thing they want, buy it and leave, and computing is still kind of a guy thing.

Re:Meh.

[Mr.Dippy]

Federal Plaza shopping center to be exact.

Re:Meh.

[Anonymous Coward]

So I picked up my belongings and left and never came back. No 2 week notice or anything.

I don't think it even matters whether you gave a two-week notice or not. Most, if not, all companies don't bother to give a two-week notice of your firing, do they? So, why should an employee ever give a two-week notice of their leaving?

Re:Meh.

[vapspwi]

2 Fry's in Georgia, actually - one in Duluth, one in Alpharetta.

It's basically a Wal-Mart-sized electronics store. They have a big section of "Radio Shack" stuff - resistors, soldering irons, heat shrink tubing - electronics hobbyist stuff. They also sell everything from TVs to vacuum cleaners, a la Best Buy, but with a lot more stock.

They don't carry the absolute highest-end stuff, but they have a good selection of a WIDE variety of stuff, and usually about the best brick-and-mortar prices you'll find anywhere.

JRjr

Re:Meh.

[Deadstick]

You couldn't buy anything on sale in there without a mail in rebate.

The FTC leaned on CompUSA pretty hard with regard to rebate ripoffs a couple of years ago, and they went to an online system where you just went to a website, entered a number from your store receipt, and everything was automatic from there. No cutting UPCs off the box, no rebate forms, no "submit it right the first time or take a hike" policies...you just got a printable page detailing your purchase, and the check came in the mail.

Of course, it wasn't any faster. Processing would not start until your free-return period ended, and then it was "Allow 6 to 8 weeks", which meant "Start watching your mail in 7 weeks and 6 days." I made use of this arrangement once, and it performed as claimed.

Naturally, rebates became much less common after CompUSA had to start actually paying them...today most of the ones you see are the occasional "instant rebates" that preceded the online system.

rj

Re:Meh.

[WhiteWolf666]

The thing is, though, that crappy, cheap, import stuff is often pretty good.

The issue is sorting the wheat from the chaff. When Fry's puts something on super sale, you've gotta do your research first. Often, you'll find incredible deals, such as their processor+halfwaydecent motherboard for less than the cost of the processor.

For example, right now they are selling a Core 2 Duo E6750 with an ECS motherboard. Are ECS motherboards crap? Sure; but you're getting this one free, even considering that the CPU is being sold at bargain basement prices (same price as the lowest price on pricewatch).

Also, they'll have reasonable prices on items not avaliable at BestBuy. Abit/ASUS/Kingston/eVGA; they have a great selection.

Some of their "standard" off-brands aren't bad either. They're the only place you can get Buffalo brand wireless gear in Chicago (not even Microcenter carries it anymore); hell, the only place you can get 802.11g/n equipment under $80.00. Airlink works ok, too.

*shrug*. I love Fry's. I don't think they're "normal" pricing is unreasonable considering the per-unit costs in run a B&M operation that isn't Walmart, and occasionally you'll find deals that are significantly cheaper than any sale you might see online (and not always on garbage-gear).

Re:Meh.

[Nozsd]

The CompUSA in my area didn't have stocking issues, but the few times I bought hardware from them it was clear that someone else had already owned it. Manuals were crumpled, things you'd expect to be shrink wrapped wasn't, that distinctive "new smell" isn't there, and some other give aways. After that I stopped buying anything from them except for things like blank media, and even then it's only if I couldn't wait for shipping.

Re:Meh.

[nate.mcalmond]

My experience with CompUSA has always been pretty good. If you are in their business sales program the prices are pretty good, comparable to CDW. There's also a store a few miles from our main office. If we don't have something on hand, say a sound card that needed to go in a computer at another location, I can call our rep. who will pull the item off the shelf and ring it up. Then the technician who's on their way to do the job can stop by and exchange my signed purchase order for the gear. It's also nice to be able to take stuff back to the store if you order online but don't want to deal with the hassle of shipping it back and getting a return authorization, especially since I'm going there a couple times a month anyways.

Re:Meh.

[Anonymous Coward]

It beats a trek to frys which for me is about 30 miles away.

Well, good for you. It's more like 300 miles for me. Fry's isn't exactly all over the country.

Re:Meh.

[bzipitidoo]

Soft Warehouse was a great store with great prices, used to buy a lot from them. One of those small retailers was trying the old trick of luring you to the store with a cheap system and making it up on the peripherals, so I bought just the 286 and motherboard in a case from them, and the rest from Soft Warehouse. They didn't have good prices on quite everything, but most things. I recall one week at Soft Warehouse when 80387 prices crashed. $600 for the Intel 387, $500 for the Cyrix 387, one week later they were $200 and $190 respectively and still overpriced.

When they became CompUSA they were never the same. The prices especially shot way up. Little items was where they really tried to gouge you. $10 for a dual phone jack plug when the exact same item is $2 at the K-Mart next door? $62 for a SCSI cable that was already outrageously high at $25 at Computer City? $5 for a frickin mouse pad?! It almost got to the point where an IDE cable cost more than an IDE CDROM drive. It wasn't just high, it was an insult to your intelligence, rather like ink jet printer cartridge prices. It didn't take but a few visits to see this in the first months of the change, and in the years since, I've only gone a handful of times and never saw a change in their pricing philosophy. I miss Soft Warehouse. Won't be missing CompUSA.

Re:Meh.

[TomHandy]

Yeah, they closed all of the Northern Virginia area CompUSAs(the one in Fairfax, the one in Alexandria, the one in Vienna).

The closure of CompUSA actually worked out well for me; I used to primarily go to the Vienna CompUSA because it was closer to me, but its closure forced me to go to the Fairfax MicroCenter. It really is just leaps and bounds above CompUSA or Best Buy.

Re:Meh.

[Anonymous Coward]

You're complaining about CompUSA? What about Computer Whorehouse (Over at what is now 'CWNET Plaza' :)

Re:Meh.

[Ephemeriis]

CompUSA used to be the only halfway-decent place to buy computer hardware and software for miles around. Best Buy had some...Circuit City had some...but CompUSA was about the only place where I could routinely find what I wanted/needed. These days more and more hardware and software is being stocked just about everywhere - Best Buy and Circuit City have much better selections, Office Max and Staples are carrying some, even Wal-Mart sells some basic stuff. And for anything I can't get locally I can get it in just a couple days from any number of on-line retailers. CompUSA's niche has shrunk or vanished, and they haven't changed to fit the market.

Re:Meh.

[Z00L00K]

Compared to alternatives Circuit City or Best Buy they were acceptable... Compared to online stores - not that good... It all comes down to what you compare with.

The real problem you run into is that computers are going so mainstream and with so low marginals it's impossible to make profit from them. You have a higher profit margin on vacuum cleaners... The only way to gain a profit on computers is to sell additional insurances and accessories.

Maybe Media Markt will move in instead? :-|, but it seems to be more likely that the place will be taken by a shop selling some cheap chinese-made clothes.

My personal favourite would be Clas Ohlson (founded 1918), not so much about computers, even if they have some parts but because of the range of products for the DIY-person.

Re:Meh.

[c6gunner]

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

When I go into a store, I'm not looking to buy an excuse, I'm looking to buy an advertised item. If you can not provide me with that item, you have failed to live up to your promise. If this happens on multiple occasions, I am going to come to the conclusion that you habitually break your promises. No amount of excuses is going to change the fact that you can't give me what I want, and I am going to find someone who can.

Re:Meh.

[FlatEric521]

I liked them just fine, as much as one can like a big box computer store. That is something I agree with, and a part of the reason I fail to understand the reaction that people see to be happy they are going away. It seems to me that they were just another place to look for the best deal when you decide you want to buy something locally rather than online. I think the loss of competition and selection is unfortunate, but doesn't bother me too much as I don't go there often.

The other part of of why I don't understand the reaction is: if you have already stopped shopping there because of a bad experience, how does their going away now make your shopping experiences better now. If its a store you don't go to, it shouldn't matter if they go out of business or not. I suppose if you are trying to snag a few things at "going out of business" discounts, then it makes a slight bit more sense. Most of my dealing with CompUSA did not require me talk to sales people. I went in, found what I needed, bought it and got out. Maybe if I'd dealt with salespeople more often I'd be happier about their closing, but I can't say I am at the moment.

Re:Meh.

[Lord Apathy]

This rebate bullshit was one of the reasons I stopped buying shit at compusa. I bought a shit load of crap to build a system, including a 1000 for my first 19" lcd. Grand total of about 2,000 bucks. I had over 300 bucks worth of rebates coming to me. I got ziltch, butkuss, the big fuck off.

I should have sued the fuckers.

Re:Meh.

[BulletMagnet]

Frys DID move in - or as close as you can get...The CompUSA that was in Roseville has the Roseville Frys about 4 blocks away on North Sunrise across from the AutoMall.

Re:Meh.

[Anonymous Coward]

If not a Fry's, I hope the Orange (Milford) Connecticut store will become AN APPLE STORE! YAY!

Re:Meh.

[letxa2000]

I don't know why, but I stopped shopping at CompUSA probably a decade ago. I can't even remember why. Maybe it was just too far away. But for the last few years, there's been CompUSA across the street from Best Buy which is a few blocks away from Circuit City. When I need something, I'll check Circuit City and Best Buy but virtually never stop by CompUSA. It's not an intentional decision or bad blood, just somewhere along the line I stopped thinking they'd have what I need or that their price would be any better.

Re:Meh.

[Anonymous Coward]

So, why should an employee ever give a two-week notice of their leaving?

Because you are going to need a new job and your prospective new employer might call your old workplace. Duh..

Re:Meh.

[letxa2000]

Best Buy and Circuit City do fine in my area. They always have what I need and when I've had to return something, they've never had a problem.

Heck, at my wife's request when we happened to be in the area of a Best Buy, I tried to return an iPod radio transmitter thingy that we had bought about a month before but that had been flaking out ever since. I didn't have the receipt with me and I didn't have the box. The guy looked up my receipt based on my credit card number and found that I had bought it 35 days ago (instead of the 30 or 31 that they technically accept returns). The guy told me to get another one off the shelf and bring it up. He just scanned it, took back our broken unit, and told me to have a nice day. We got a brand-new one, boxed, and out of the 30-day in-store exchange period.

No complaints about Best Buy from me!

Re:Meh.

[cayenne8]

"That, Ozzie Guillen and Jimmy's Hot Dogs on Grand Ave & Pulaski. Don't ask for ketchup, though, or you might catch a beatin'."

Why would they get mad if you asked for ketchup on a hot dog? That's the natural thing for me...in addition to mustard, kraut or slaw, chow chow, etc....I like mine loaded down. I don't usually have ketchup on then only when I have chili on them. So, why would they get mad at you for ordering ketchup...?

Re:Meh.

[cayenne8]

"In my view, Fry's is like Wal*Mart, but for electronics (with a few other items thrown in). The stores are absolutely GINORMOUS, usually very busy, and there is quite a selection."

Wow...sounds cool. Wish they had some in my part of the country. I'd never heard of them except for /. references.

Looking it up online...they seem to be mostly in the west of the US. The fartherest south is in TX I see....

Re:Meh.

[DavidTC]

No shit. There are people here saying that CompUSA has the same selection as Frys. Ha. CompUSA doesn't even Best Buy's selection around here.

I used to always shop at CompUSA. Then I was basically forced to switch to Best Buy and Office Max because CompUSA seemed determined not to actually carry any actual computer parts. Office Max has a horrible selection (Although still better than the absurd disappointment of going a fricking computer store and not finding computer parts.) and Best Buy, is of course, completely evil, so I was immensely grateful when a Frys opened up, but if they were to vanish, CompUSA still would be my last choice.

CompUSA, like Radio Shack, is notable for being a store that will always fail to have what you need when they logically should have it. They're both too busy selling cell phones and overpriced printer cartridges and overpriced audio cables and lights you can plug into a USB socket.

All of which, I should point out, I can buy at Wal-Mart, which is probably why CompUSA has failed.

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:Meh.

[DavidTC]

They have a big section of "Radio Shack" stuff - resistors, soldering irons, heat shrink tubing - electronics hobbyist stuff.

And, not to cause confusion, they actually have useful stuff in it, instead of selling five hundred overpriced resistors in individual wrappers or whatever current absurd product selection your local Radio Shack has.

Re:Meh.

[MobyDisk]

I worked at CompUSA 10 years ago, and employees do get items at cost. The problem is that CompUSA's "cost" is often higher than what it costs to buy it online (including shipping, retail box, and warranty). I'm sure their cost includes lots of other overhead, but to me it was always a sign that they just weren't making smart buying decisions.

Re:Meh.

[Just because I'm an]

Looking it up online...they seem to be mostly in the west of the US. The fartherest south is in TX I see....

How much farther south can you get without crossing an international border?

Re:Meh.

[Urza9814]

Meh. Only large computer store (well, I guess you could call it that) within at least 50 miles of me is Staples. And all they've got in terms of parts are hard drives and maybe a modem or two. But right downtown we've got 'EZ Webz 4 U' (actually much better than it sounds, trust me), Richard's Enterprises (They're mostly for businesses, but they've got nothing against selling a kid a single stick of RAM), and a couple other small local shops. And this is a pretty small town. Anyways, point is, there are gonna be other stores there if you look. Might be hard to find them (Who would think a small house on main street would actually be a computer store), but they're there. Though it's still probably best to just order online.

And just for the record, I've never even seen a Fry's. Not even a picture of one. So yea, they're definitely not so big on the east coast.

Re:Meh.

[sconeu]

You live in Woodland Hills?

Before the Canoga Park CompUSA shut down last year, within a 3 block radius we had:

* CompUSA
* CircuitCity
* Staples
* OfficeDepot
* BestBuy
* Fry's

When I needed something *NOW* (as in I couldn't wait for NewEgg), I'd wander into all 6 and find the best price. Actually, I'd check their websites, and then go to the store with the lowest price...

Re:Meh.

[sconeu]

They're what Radio Shack *USED* to be.

Re:Meh.

[PFAK]

You guys don't have local computer wholesalers in the 'States?

In Vancouver at least, we're crawling with them. We have stores that all they do is sell computer parts (and for reasonable prices, not like CompUSA or Staples).

Re:Meh.

[Seumas]

I dunno, I got an Antec 900 case for $80 (goes for about $150 on newegg) and a 500gb drive for $65 (goes for about $100 in most reliable online sources) through someone who has an employee discount. That's a pretty sweet deal.

What I wonder is, what happens if you bought an actual computer or other serviceable item from them? (I don't know why you would, but whatever). If you bought a $2000 laptop at CompUSA last week, are you screwed now? Even if you paid the $300 or whatever for the extended warranty BS? Or are those warranties and product services provided through third party contracts?

Re:Meh.

[Wdomburg]

Bet the cables and consumables weren't cheaper though. :) I used to work at Ingram Micro, so I knew what they paid for product; most cables had 1200-2000% markup on them.

Re:Meh.

[cayenne8]

"How much farther south can you get without crossing an international border?"

Hahah...well, when I talk about the south, I kinda mean the whole southeast region...the 'dixie' area. I'm looking for them in AR, LA, AL, MS, FL....I think I saw one in GA, but, that's a bit far from me down here in NOLA.

Re:Meh.

[OldManAndTheC]

to make sure employees did not steel anything

I'm confused. Is steeling related in any way to ironing?

Re:Meh.

[The Spoonman]

CompUSAs were always overpriced

Hence why we called them Comp-U-Overpay. Silly, but accurate. :)

Re:Meh.

[jedidiah]

Anymore, with people as litigious as they are, it's difficult to get
companies to offer up any more information than the fact that you
worked there and when. In some companies, things might be beaurocratic
enough that the company asking for the reference will need to find
"the right person" or they won't get any response at all.

It can be dangerous to badmouth someone in general.

Re:Meh.

[chicagotypewriter]

I have seen several times that the prices on Fry's website don't match the prices in the store, and have been told several times that they don't even honor web prices in the store. I admit to not having read the fine-print anywhere, but this was just asinine to me - maybe it is this way with other stores, but I haven't seen that when checking Best Buy or Circuit City specifically.

Fry's had a video card for $X on the site, then I went into the store and it was $X+75...and the salespeople thought I was crazy to think I would get it just for $X. They also thought I was crazy for leaving the store to go home and order it online.

Re:Meh.

[NMerriam]

So, why would they get mad at you for ordering ketchup...?

Because putting ketchup on a hot dog after the age of twelve is considered a culinary no-no in most regions, particularly in Chicago/NYC and other places that take hot dogs seriously. It's about as acceptable as putting ketchup on a steak, which some people insist is perfectly reasonable.

Re:Meh.

[jedidiah]

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

Re:Meh.

[TheLongshot]

I've never cared for CompUSA except that since there are no longer any real mom and pop independent computer stores around, your choice is between CompUSA and Fry's.

As someone said above, there is Microcenter, which has always been miles better than CompUseless. Also, there are a ton of "Mom & Pop" computer places. You usually see them at computer shows, but I definitely know of one that has a nice B&M presence.

Re:Meh.

[ncc74656]

Fry's is about the same distance from me as they were, but I've never felt comfortable with their wares. I could get in and out quickly, not like the long lines at Fry's.

"Long lines?" Checking out there is usually faster than just about anywhere else, since they have just one line that gets fanned out to all of the open registers and you get directed to the next available register. Even this past Black Friday, it didn't take more than a couple of minutes to get through the line. I don't know why more businesses don't operate this way; the only other place I've seen it is in commissaries on military bases. It beats taking a gamble on which register is going faster.

Re:Meh.

[zakezuke]

Last month I took a little bike trip to the CompUSA in midtown Manhattan looking for a simple HDD power line jumper. Zilch. SATA ribbons, ATA/IDE... No power cable supplies. This has not been my compusa experience. Last year before my local compusa store closed they carried
(note I'm not sure what a "HDD power line jumper", and power supply cable is rather cryptic)

1. Sata cables
2. ATA cables including the round ones
3. 20 pin to 24pin power supply adapters
4. 10 jumpers in a box (granted jumpers I've always gotten for free, either from a repair shop who didn't know what to charge for them, or from defunct equipment).

Also... they carried some really nice socket 7 heat syncs rated for the higher end (400-450mhz) chips, various high end 939 syncs, aluminum face plates for older nec drives, 3 prong power cables (aka mickey mouse) like on acer laptops, male to female & male to male power supply adapters/cables so you actually could jack your monitor into your PC power supply, assuming you had one of those jacks onboard.

Perhaps they ditched their useful but slower selling stock in the past year. CompUSA was never supergreat, but in my experience they were better than bestbuy or the super office stores.

Re:Meh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Same thing in Austin Texas. A Fry's openned nearby and CompUSA went from being a busy story with very rude staff to being pretty much empty with staff as friendly as a lapdog.

Re:Meh.

[LoRdTAW]

I am one of the lucky ones that live within a 20-30 minute drive of a Microcenter. I used to buy some computer accessories at CompUSA on Queens Blvd here in NYC but it was impossible to find parking and the prices were high. I then discovered Microcenter and have never been to any other computer store since. Very knowledgeable and friendly staff and the prices aren't much higher than newegg. Plus they have a huge parking lot.

Re:Meh.

[notamisfit]

We had one in Oklahoma City, but I'm not going to miss it. In OKC, all the "techie" type stores are within about a 5 block strip on May Ave, and both CompUSA and BestBuy had the misfortune of being almost right next to PC Club. Judging by prices, stock (for such a small store!), and the people who work there, I'll honestly be surprised if PC Club doesn't take over the world in a few years. Then again, some losers like to buy the cases that already have all the stuff in them.

Re:Meh.

[pipingguy]

...if you needed to replace a mobo RIGHT NOW.

Sheesh, just buy a Mac laptop as a backup machine. Doesn't everyone do this?

Re:Meh.

[zakezuke]

I have seen several times that the prices on Fry's website don't match the prices in the store, and have been told several times that they don't even honor web prices in the store This is true. In fact for a long time Frys didn't have their own website, but rather bought out Outpost.com. I know other retailers have their inventory connected to their website, but not everyone is that advanced.

This is my biggest bitch about Frys. The only way to find out their prices of things is to either go in the store, or catch their weekly insert in the newspaper, which is often limited to one city. Those who put the flyer online have stopped.

Re:Meh.

[kklein]

It's true. People 'round here bag on CompUSA all the time, but in Colorado, that was the only brick-and-mortar option, and I actually had to drive there (usually the Westminster one) for about 30 min or more if I needed something right away.

I've lived in S. Cal for awhile, too, and again, even though people bag on Fry's as well, the first time I walked into one, my jaw dropped. I'd never seen anyplace with that much actual hardware before, at prices comparable to buying online with shipping.

Now that I live in Japan, I actually know of two so-so, overpriced places nearby, but other than that, it's a trip to Akihabara, and putting up with all the goddamned otaku.

Re:Meh.

[Selivanow]

Where I am all we will have left is Circuit City and Best Buy. CompUSA was at least good for selection and odds 'n' ends (fans, etc)
It is too bad that prices were/are so high. The same DVD recorder was $25 higher in CompUSA (yes, it was a retail box online)
It is sad any time a competitor closes its doors; Always bad for the consumer.

Re:Meh.

[okmijnuhb]

Fry's are geek heaven, and I'm always envious when I visit the West Coast.
They even have electronics type parts, for the electronics tinkerer.
45th Street in NYC used to be the block for electronic parts and such, but seems to have gone by the wayside.
When the hell are they gonna open in the region?

Re:Meh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sink. The word is "sink". Sync is short for synchronization, and has nothing to do with what the little metal blocks do with heat.

Re:Meh.

[macdaddy357]

No one in this thread, ones at Fark, Digg or anywhere else seems to be saying that they are sad to learn that CompUSA is going away or that they will miss it. Considering that, it is a wonder they lasted this long.

Re:Meh.

[Windom Earle]

They even have electronics type parts, for the electronics tinkerer.

Well, they do sorta.

It's a deteriorating part of our local Frys. There really isn't a strong enough market for cash-n-carry electronic parts, so not much gets restocked regularly.

I buy out several categories of parts each time I visit the store.

Best just to pull up DigiKey's website.

Re:Meh.

[cthulhu11]

I've had similar experiences, though the boot disk on my desktop machine did come from there once when they had a fairly decent special going. What I often also see in CompUSA, Circuit City, Best Buy, Office{Max, Depot}, Staples etc. as well is that they'll have lots of low-end / entry-level items but don't even stock the more-capable product I'm really after. I remember when I was shopping for an 802.11g AP/router a while back and all they had were 802.11b. "We can special order that for you". Yeah, and in half the time and without blowing another hour and a half for a round trip I could buy it online. Now, if Newegg would just fix their @#$@!#$#% broken credit card system.

Re:Meh.

[PopeRatzo]

That's the natural thing for me...in addition to mustard, kraut or slaw, chow chow, etc....I like mine loaded down. I don't usually have ketchup on then only when I have chili on them. So, why would they get mad at you for ordering ketchup...?

Why? Because it's simply not done. Here in Chicago, incest is more acceptable than having ketchup on a hot dog.

And I'm not even gonna ask what "chow chow" is, so I googled it. You guys put dogs on your wieners? No wonder you're so willing to use ketchup. Monster.

Re:Meh.

[Anonymous Coward]

CompUSA is a lesson in what not to do. CompUSA killed the goose that layed the golden egg, because the customers' well-being was not one of their primary concerns, and it showed.

CompUSA went under because they ignored their customers, and put their own convenience ahead of that of their customers. Shopping there was not a pleasant experience because of their attitude.

They concentrated commission sales people in the back, or around the customer service desk, and help wasn't available on the floor when needed. The store was sloppy and at times, unkempt, pricing was missing at times, and no one seemed to care. Help was not technically competent, and would simply "make stuff up".

They assumed their customers were trying to cheat them when they returned unwanted merchandise. They repackaged brand name and imported products, and offered reduced 3 month warranties on hard drrives, etc. The prices they charged for house branded products did not adequately reflect the reduced warranty period, and represented no particular value. Prices on some items like cables, were a multiple of what was reasonable.

Problems took forever to resolve, and the process was not easy. Store amangers took a hard line to complaints, ad misprints, etc. They did not back up what they sold if they could avoid doing so. They were always right when it came to the customer and his problems. Employees were more interested in talking among themselves, than taking care of business - unless there was a commission involved. Then the customer was "surrounded or snowed under".

What they eventually did do, was to make the rebate process easier. That was a positive. The web site is also easy to use, another positive.

Too little, too late. Eventually, customers "catch on", particularly the more sophisticated computer types. Those who work on computers skimmed the specials, and spent the bulk of their money elsewhere, because they did not like or trust CompUSA. CompUSA had a way of aggravating anyone who walked in the door.

The opposite exampler is Newegg.com, or Fry's, perhaps.

This is what happens to companies who put themsellves in front of their customers. Eventually they "break the code", and avoid such companies.

Re:Meh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Serves 'em right!

That'll learn em for firing me. I chose to go to a college final that they scheduled me to work over. (Yes I told them over 2 months in advance, no I didn't lie and say I was sick.)

Needless to say that the compUSSR was not looked upon favorably in the community by my family, friends, and anyone else that solicited my opinion.

Re:Meh.

[letxa2000]

I do the same thing but always have found the prices at the store (Best Buy and Circuit City) DO match their website. I use their websites both to check prices and to check inventory. I then walk in, pick it up, and walk out in less than 5 minutes. That way I don't have to drive to each store and then, potentially, back to the first store that had the better price. Usually the price differences aren't that huge anyway so the only way to make it worth your time is to do your comparison shopping online.

Re:Meh.

[Gropo]

note I'm not sure what a "HDD power line jumper", and power supply cable is rather cryptic

Pizza Box form factor Dell, PS cable cluster only had 1 plug available for HDD's, floppy's power cable was far too short (and non compatible maybe?). Simply needed a female->male->male(->male) ecksten-sor. The drive chassis even allows for a second HDD by design. Was fairly certain a place with the prefix "Comp" would carry something like I described, but yeah retail space is at a premium in midtown. Radio Shack probably does *shrug* I wound up buying it online.

Re:Meh.

[zakezuke]

Pizza Box form factor Dell, PS cable cluster only had 1 plug available for HDD's, floppy's power cable was far too short (and non compatible maybe?). Simply needed a female->male->male(->male) ecksten-sor. The drive chassis even allows for a second HDD by design. Was fairly certain a place with the prefix "Comp" would carry something like I described, but yeah retail space is at a premium in midtown. Radio Shack probably does *shrug* I wound up buying it online. I would just call what you are talking about a Y-cable. Molex is kind of the defacto name for pin in socket connectors, though both Molex and AMP made them. "Power Y-Cable" or "Power Y-Adpater cable" are typical. These were more common place in the age of exteral drive cases, esp when you had MFM to SCSI controlers. Radio Shack's catalog still states for use on two 5.25 inch floppy drives. Expect them to be really dusty.

That is something my local compusa DID carry and is listed as a local $5.00 item. This is something I was able to buy at radio shack 20 years ago, and is available at 9 radio shacks in a 1.15mile radius from 10018. The more spiffy/garish/spendy Catalog #: 28-1209 is only sold at the WEST 57TH store.

I am far from a grammar nazi, but correct terminology is rather handy to communicate what you need. "HD Power supply jumper" threw me for a loop.

Re:Meh.

[otopico]

When I go into a store, I'm not looking to buy an excuse, I'm looking to buy an advertised item. If you can not provide me with that item, you have failed to live up to your promise. If this happens on multiple occasions, I am going to come to the conclusion that you habitually break your promises. No amount of excuses is going to change the fact that you can't give me what I want, and I am going to find someone who can. It isn't an 'excuse', it's a reason. They aren't trying to lie to make you happy, they might, just might, be telling you the reason they don't have what you wanted to buy.

So, the reason an item isn't there, no matter how insanely crappy from a customer point of view, doesn't matter to you? The fact you go somewhere else to get what you want isn't some keen shopper skill, it's what you should do, unless a person is just a moron.

Re:Meh.

[cayenne8]

"And I'm not even gonna ask what "chow chow" is..."

No...not a dog, it is basically a pickle relish with mustard type thing. SOmething like this (click the picture to enlarge) .

But, WOW...I've never heard of someone getting mad about ketchup on a hot dog before....must be a northern thing.

:-)

Re:Meh.

[cayenne8]

"Because putting ketchup on a hot dog after the age of twelve is considered a culinary no-no in most regions, particularly in Chicago/NYC and other places that take hot dogs seriously. It's about as acceptable as putting ketchup on a steak, which some people insist is perfectly reasonable"

Taking hot dogs seriously?? Really? I mean, I never thought of hog dogs as anything other than junk food, in the same vein at hamburgers and I've never heard anyone bitch about putting ketchup on a burger. Interesting.

As for ketchup on a steak...not my style, but, I usually like Heinz 57 or A1 on one....or bernaise sauce on a good filet. I mean, most meats take a sauce...who cares what type sauce you like? I rarely eat anything plain....it has to be well seasoned and usually has some type sauce on it.

What do you eat on your steak/hot dog?

Re:Meh.

[Raenex]

Fair? No. And probably illegal. I know there are laws that say if you advertise a product at a certain price, then some number must be available at the store. My guess is letting employees buy the products before the store opens would be seen as a violation, since the general public being advertised to weren't given a fair chance to buy the item.

Re:Meh.

[hawk]

*sigh*

Don't they show Dirty Harry movies in the schools any more?

Failing such basic education, try the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council's page on hot dog etiquette at http://www.hot-dog.org/ht/d/sp/i/1679/pid/1679

bawk

Re:Meh.

[Orange Crush]

I believe the term you're looking for is Bait & Switch. I don't know if it counts if the store lets the employees buy them before the general public tho since they sold actual items at the advertised price . . . just not to the right people.

In any case, it's still bad policy and a good way to p*ss off paying customers.

Re:Meh.

[hawk]

I was once buying a stack of their cheap CD's. The sales droid warned me that they only worked well on cheap drives . . . OK, so the problem is?

[But then, I've recently discovered that you can't actually use the full nominal capacity if you want to actually read the CD again . . .]

hawk

Re:Meh.

[DCMonkey]

"That is something my local compusa DID carry and is listed as a local $5.00 item."

The last time I ever considered buying a cable at CompUSA (several years ago) was when they wanted $12 for one of those.

Re:Meh.

[DCMonkey]

For the last several years of our CompUSA's life, they never had more that one checkout lane open (usually at the "customer service" desk) even though they had at least 4 physical checkout lanes/stations.

The Fry's Line of Death might look bad, but most of the time it was much quicker than waiting in a five deep line while the person at the head tried to return something.

Re:Meh.

[zakezuke]

The last time I ever considered buying a cable at CompUSA (several years ago) was when they wanted $12 for one of those. Well, first of all when I made this post there was defiantly stock of the power supply y-cable, and now there is not at compusa. I know nothing about your CompUSA but my local one they were, as far as I can remember, always $5.00, this would include 7 years ago when I noted Rat Shack's version cost $1.00 more and did not offer a yellow wire for the 12v.

Re:Meh.

[c6gunner]

Excuse, reason, they're the same thing. Neither one's worth a penny to me. If you make a promise, I expect you to keep it. That's all.

Now, if a company's willing to compensate me for the inconvenience, I might be willing to accept their excuses. Otherwise, there's no point wasting breath.

Re:Meh.

[tehcyder]

Here in Chicago, incest is more acceptable than having ketchup on a hot dog.

Great tourist slogan you have there.

Huh?

[sltd]

This store didn't exist where I came from, and I've certainly never shopped there, but I didn't know they were in trouble... wow. I didn't know there were only 100, either. They seemed a lot bigger than I guess they were. I don't really know of any compelling reason to shop there by the end of the year though...

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 ].

Re:Huh?

[milkasing]

It used to be much much bigger. They closed 126 stores earlier this year and at least dozens in 2006. As one of many who got screwed by its mail-in rebates scam, I am certain that it will not be missed.

Re:Huh?

[ahecht]

They had over 200 stores, but they closed over half of them in February.

Re:Huh?

[evilviper]

The fact that I am familiar with them shows how influential they are. I suppose though, that influential != [ big || successful ].

I bet you've heard of Enron, too.

You know of CompUSA probably because they happened to advertise a lot, and perhaps were the only tech stores in some areas. Just because you're familiar with a brand, doesn't mean they are any good, or at all influential.

Re:Huh?

[nwbvt]

They certainly used to be bigger and I'm sure once had more than 100 stores, but a few years ago (I think) they closed a lot of them (probably due to the same troubles that is causing this). I know there used to be one in my town, but when I last tried to go there, I found it had been boarded up.

Re:Huh?

[dotancohen]

I know of Enron, and SCO, because of the events and reputation attached to them. I know of CompUSA without any stigmas or prejudices. You do make a point that is valid to other known US entities, however.

Re:Huh?

[sdstuart]

There are only 100 left. They already shut down a lot of stores, trying to reorganize and save the company.

I'll miss them, just as a place to wander around and look at gear, but I haven't bought anything there in years. As many others have said, their prices were really out of line at my local store, especially on refurbished units and floor samples. Ohh, $10 off the suggested retail price for something that's been beat on and returned, let me break out the cash!!

Re:Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

We don't have CompUSA in Israel, either,

Of course not. It would be CompIsrael (or ComPalestine, depending on which side you're on).

Re:Huh?

[More_Cowbell]

McDonalds or Coca Cola (both of which we do have)

Um, yeah... I think it is a safe bet that anywhere in the world with internet access has those two.

Re:Huh?

[TheRaven64]

McDonalds or Coca Cola (both of which we do have)

Um, yeah... I think it is a safe bet that anywhere in the world with internet access has those two. Ah Venice. The city forever earned in my heart after the (first and only) McDonalds there went out of business.

Goodbye

[aero2600-5]

The only thing impressive CompUSA ever did was make the idiots at Best Buy look like geniuses.

Their prices were ridiculous, the staff under-qualified. If you wanted to know what 1994 felt like, all you had to do was wander into one of their stores.

Aero

Re:Goodbye

[Anonymous Coward]

Thats funny. I feel the same way about Best Buy. Personally I never ask anyone at either store any questions. But I'll miss my compUSA as they had a better selection of comp stuff the Best Buy has ever had. But oh well New Egg here I come.

Re:Goodbye

[Walt Dismal]

I was chagrined when Carlos Slim bought The Good Guys audio/video stores and merged them into CompUSA. The Good Guys had excellent stock including the superb Loewe HD TVs, good sales every so often, and the salemen didn't entirely suck. The bastard child of the merger was that CompUSA began pushing LCD big screens but almost no other A/V equipment.

As many others have noted, it would be useful if Fry's had some stores in other parts of the country. (You hear me, John Fry?) Even if Fry's has issues with stupid salesmen, the merchandise selection is pretty good, including off the shelf software for when you're on a deadline and can't wait for mail-order or get a vendor download. I Hope they slowly and carefully extend themselves to the East Coast and become available to more people. But not overextend themselves, that's how Tower Records killed its retail presence, by expanding into Japan.

Re:Goodbye

[ericlondaits]

Don't know about Japan, but when Tower Records came to Argentina it was as a franchise AFAIK, since it was owned by local investors and it even changed hands one or two times during its life. I don't see how franchising can be bad for a company, since it means it's getting money for its brand.

Re:Goodbye

[Dogtanian]

I don't see how franchising can be bad for a company, since it means it's getting money for its brand. Then you clearly haven't thought about it for more than 5 seconds. If the franchisee(s) aren't up to the standards of the original chain or generally screw things up, they damage the name of the franchise, and that reputation can feed back to the original store.

In short, you lose some control of your own name, and while you can impose conditions on the franchisees, there have to be limits.

Now, the benefit of a franchise is also its disadvantage; people associate the local franchised operation with its original owner, and if this isn't up to scratch, then- at best- people may assume that other franchises are run to poor standards and- at worst- people assume that the original company is responsible and at fault.

"But... but... it wasn't us, it was one of our franchisees" won't cut it in the face of widespread complaints that swamp the ability of your PR to explain the true situation. And do the public care anyway? It's a double-edged sword- if a company is willing to exploit its name (and associated reputation) by selling it to others, it has no right to complain if it's too lax or greedy in controlling the franchise and these actions come back to haunt it.

Re:Goodbye

[Anonymous Coward]

Shit, they need to reach the midwest first!!!!! I don't have ANY good computer stores within a hundred miles of me. Thank god for newegg and pricewatch.

I mean, there's a best buy, but they don't really count as a "computer store". If they only have one type of power supply, one type of case, and one type of case fan, that's not a computer store.

Re:Goodbye

[Katyara]

I agree on the lack of East coast locations of this 'frys'. The only Comp we have in South CT is in Milford area. We do have a Best Buy that seems to be better all around for phones, car stereos and the like.
I think we are seeing the end of the specialty store since the trend of the everything store with little options as far as individual product seems to be the norm. Kinda sad really. At least they will have a big sale beforehand.

Re:Goodbye

[mitgib]

including off the shelf software for when you're on a deadline and can't wait for mail-order or get a vendor download. I Hope they slowly and carefully extend themselves to the East Coast and become available to more people. But not overextend themselves, that's how Tower Records killed its retail presence, by expanding into Japan. Off the shelf software is a dyeing if not dead market, just like specialized computer odds and ends for brick and mortar distribution. I've bought everything mail-order when it comes to computer parts for the past 10 years, and software, well... only thing I pay to license is cPanel (yes, the only software I use that requires a paid license is also cPanel) The sooner these closed software publishers at least distribute via downloadable ISO's (go ahead and put some sort of validation in it, it is your creation afterall) the less likely they too will meet the fate of a thing of history.

Re:Goodbye

[yroJJory]

eh, Tower killed themselves in a different manner. I grew up buying albums at Tower Records, back when they sold *records*!

But for well over a decade they were terrible. They never had any decent stock, their prices were getting higher by the week, and the stores were old and dingy.

Then, they started building new suiperstores, similar to Barnes & Noble or Borders, but usually multi-floor. Those stores were typically excellent, with good stock and prices. Unfortunately, the newer stores were few and far between and most older retail locations were never updated.

As an example, I grew up going to the Brea, CA, store. In the mid-90's they finally closed it, replacing it with a superstore about 2 miles away, in a redeveloped downtown area. That newer store was actually quite nice. I now live in Marin, CA, and the store that closed here last year was just like the old Brea store: crappy, expensive, and understocked.

As for how this compares to CompUSSR, I do find it unfortunate that they'll be closing, although it doesn't surprise me one bit. Carlos Slim wanted to turn CompUSSR into a competitor for Best Buy, but it wasn't a good market to be in and there was no reason to do it.

Yes, CompUSSR was typically expensive. But they carried items you wouldn't ever find in a Best Buy. It was a computer-centric chain, which Best Buy makes their money selling appliances.

Re:Goodbye

[pla]

The only thing impressive CompUSA ever did was make the idiots at Best Buy look like geniuses.

Whoever modded this "funny" clearly has never visited a CompUSA.

Two true tales of years gone by...

Back in the days before sites like Pricewatch, when before any hardware purchase you'd pick up a Computer Shopper, CompUSA used to carry this esteemed book-o'-ads. My friends and I used to visit CompUSA occasionally and have a contest - Who could find the most over-priced item in the store, compared to the lowest (not free or bundled) price they could find in Computer Shopper.

This amounted to no small feat, mind you, because everything in the store would cost 2-3x as much as you could get it mail-order and even finding something for 10x as much didn't take too much effort. Finding the worst deal, though... that could waste a whole boring rainy Sunday afternoon!


Second story, shorter but far more telling...

After ordering a new HDD, I realized I forgot to get a mounting kit for it. I knew I'd pay waaaaaaaay more than I should, but for a $2 item, I wanted it ASAP and didn't care about price. So, I go to the parts counter at CompUSA and asked for one.

"I don't think they even make those anymore, I haven't seen one in years".

Keep in mind this took place probably over a decade ago now; Yet, a few months ago, while building a new PC, I used two such 3.5-to-5.25 kits.


Overpriced and useless. If this announcement surprises me in any way, it does so only through sheer amazement that they managed to stay in business this long.

Re:Goodbye

[sammy baby]

The Good Guys had excellent stock including the superb Loewe HD TVs, good sales every so often, and the salemen didn't entirely suck. The bastard child of the merger was that CompUSA began pushing LCD big screens but almost no other A/V equipment.

I was really puzzled when that happened. It was particularly odd because it was clear none of the sales staff really had any experience with the TVs beyond what any other teenaged kid would know. Of course, that's about how I felt about their experience with everything else, so...

On the other hand, my wife and I got a very sweet discount there on a Samsung flat panel with a boatload of inputs, so I can't exactly complain.

Re:Goodbye

[Anonymous Coward]

I KNOW! All of the older computer guys who never progressed beyond the 'tech' level of the mid 1990's work there. The ones that could even find jobs that is... I had some weird ass dude in a coffee shop rage on and on about how he couldn't get a 'computer job' in a shop in town because he didn't know 'servers' and 'networks'. What a fruit!

Re:Goodbye

[Kingrames]

"If you wanted to know what 1994 felt like, all you had to do was wander into one of their stores. "

is that opposed to walking out of the door into 1984?

Re:Goodbye

[jez9999]

I Hope they slowly and carefully extend themselves to the East Coast and become available to more people. ... and then get bought up in one fell swoop by some billionaire, mismanaged, closed down, and liquidated. Capitalism is failing.

Re:Goodbye

[ohmpossum]

This applies to my local Outback Steak House. The screw ups of the local franchise make me not want to risk going to any outback. The outback happens to be in front of the compUSA that closed a few months back here in the Dallas area where they already closed most of their stores.

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?

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:That sucks

[Kizeh]

That's the same for us in Florida. There really is no comparable store for the breadth of selection, as sad as it is. BestBuy and Circuit City just don't cut it. I really do hope that this will give Fry's incentive to swoop in.

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:That sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

Move south. Fry's has opened a couple of stores in the Atlanta area.

Re:That sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

Fry's actually has made it to the west coast, albeit in a somewhat limited capacity. There's one in Duluth,Georgia

Re:That sucks

[Misch]

I liked J & N when I was living in Rochacha.

Re:That sucks

[gremplar]

They *ARE* on the East Coast... they've been in Atlanta for a year and a half now, and we have two locations.

Re:That sucks

[gEvil (beta)]

Fry's actually has made it to the west coast, albeit in a somewhat limited capacity. There's one in Duluth,Georgia

Someone from Georgia thinks that they're on the west coast. Why doesn't that surprise me? : p

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:That sucks

[Lifyre]

I'm guessing you're in the Henrietta area of Rochester. CompUSA was the only decent computer store there when I went to RIT before changing majors and moving to a different school. If you can get a ride to the other side of town the mall and stripmalls near 496 and 90 used to have a decent selection of stores.

Re:That sucks

[BlindRobin]

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

beware of what you wish for, it just may come true.

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: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:That sucks

[illumin8]

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?

CompUSA is for suckers that have more money than brains. They sell crappy components and charge ridiculously high prices for them. Start shopping at Newegg.com, you won't regret it. They have a distribution center in New Jersey also so stuff arrives on the East Coast with free or low cost shipping, usually within 1-2 days.

Also, they don't treat you like a criminal if you need to return something, and actually have good customer service.

Re:That sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

There's always Newegg - you can get most things quick enough and usually for less. BB and CC have the same hard drives CUSA had. The only thing I've had to go to CUSA for was thermal paste when both the other guys (also in Rochester) were out.

Re:That sucks

[penguinchris]

I like Newegg, but I don't like paying $5 shipping if all I need is one small cable. Rarely have the things they offer free shipping on been the things I actually need.

That's what local stores should be for, you can go and get some $2 cable and not have to wait to finish building/fixing your computer.

Of course there are no local stores that offer that... as a last resort I have purchased cables in the CompUSA in Rochester (Henrietta) myself and they charge so much it's ridiculous.

That said, if you need basic computer cables in the Rochester area fast, check out the RIT bookstore - they are subsidized for students and are really cheap. I am a student at the University of Rochester, not RIT, but I go to their store for stuff sometimes.

Re:That sucks

[illumin8]

I like Newegg, but I don't like paying $5 shipping if all I need is one small cable. Rarely have the things they offer free shipping on been the things I actually need.

Well, you can pay $2.50 for a cable from Newegg, plus $5 shipping, or you can pay $20 at Worst Buy or Circuit Shitty. You choose.

Re:That sucks

[VirtualAdept]

There are a couple of local computer shops, though. Microworx is up at the corner of Monroe and Westfall (actually its where Westfall ends, but I don't know the name of the road Westfall turns into). Soyata is, uhm, somewhere: I don't think they've died yet. Neither of them, as far as I know, do what exactly CompUSA does - you can get computer parts there, though.

Re:That sucks

[phantomlord]

Soyata is on West Henrietta Rd just south of the mall, opposite one of the car dealers. I went in there once (back when they were in the bigger space up by the movie theater on West Henrietta Rd) and was less than impressed. CompUSA didn't have any SCSI cables and I went there figuring that surely a local company that advertised their corporate sales/service would have SCSI cables. Nope... they could order them for me though. A lot of good that did me, I could accomplish that myself but wanted to have a new cable in my hand that day. Their store was almost barren and I got the impression that if I wanted anything more complicated than your average home user box and monitor, I'd have to order it.

That said, watch for the Hamfest around Memorial Day at the Dome. I usually take the opportunity to stock up on my various cheap cabling needs for the year ($1 for a Y power splitter, ATA or SATA cable). You can also find more esoteric stuff like the old IBM keyboards (if that's your boat), SCSI stuff, A/V equipment, radio gear, vacuum tubes, bulk LEDs, etc. If you go on Sunday afternoon as the vendors are leaving, you'll also find lots of ditched stuff thrown away (older computers, printers that need a minor fix, etc) that you can use, repair and sell, etc. Back before e-commerce took off, it was a great way to find discount parts (plus cheap CDROMs full of shareware, Linux, etc) and I used to make a killing stocking up there and reselling them throughout the year. If nothing else, it's always fun to watch the hammies walk around with their antenna beanies and three or four radios strapped to themselves.

Re:That sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

It didn't help that the office supply stores started picking up computer inventory too. So now throw Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, etc. on that shopping list when looking for computer goods. It's probably the final nail in the coffin that wiped out CompUSA's business related purchases.

What sucks is that if you have a "I need it now!" type computer-related purchasing situation where online purchasing doesn't quite cut it, is that you now have to go to about 10 different places (your big box, office supply, and misc. electronics stores) to try and find that item. Although CompUSA usually seemed to have a markup compared to other retailers, you had a decent chance of finding what you needed there. Even though other retailers are better in pricing, that CompUSA markup will probably be looking smaller than the gas money now spent searching for a particular item.

The only upside is that most other retailers have a much fairer return policy than CompUSA ever did. (The one where if you open something you're stuck like chuck.)

Re:That sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

Sort of the same way that New York and California forget that there is a big patch of land between.

good riddance

[Allison Geode]

the thing about CompUSA, was that everything was way overpriced, except when it was on some kind of special advertised deal... and when THAT was the case, they never had any in stock. HORRIBLE store, and I won't miss it one bit... though, I may have to give it a visit when they shut down, see if I can "pick the carcass."

Re:good riddance

[zxscooby]

I,m already circling overhead,patiently waiting to collect my share of the carrion.

Re:good riddance

[Anonymous Coward]

HORRIBLE store, and I won't miss it one bit Yeah, no kidding! Who gives a shit about the thousands of jobs being lost - you don't like them and now they will be gone so let's celebrate!

Re:Good riddance

[timmarhy]

i guess if it's any consolation, that manager is possibly enjoying unemployment. karma.

Re:good riddance

[Kartoffel]

Most of the people working at CompUSA weren't qualified in the first place.

Let's focus on creating more manufacturing jobs in the US. To be perfectly blunt, if you can't hack it in the white collar or skilled blue collar world, dig a ditch. The US has a severe shortage of ditch-digging jobs.

Re:good riddance

[antifoidulus]

You can always join the army.....

The sad thing is, Kurt Vonnegut was right over 50 years ago when he predicted what life would be like the "future". Of course he made some errors, such as MBAs are the rich ones instead of engineering PhDs, and the obligatory mid 50's "massive vaccum tube supercomputer", but in general he was right on. In "Player Piano" most of humanity is either in the army or in the "Recreation and Reclamation", ie masses of unskilled laborers who dig ditches and whatnot. Really seems to describe the current situation in the US today quite well.

Re:good riddance

[Dunbal]

Who gives a shit about the thousands of jobs being lost

Learn 2 economics. Thousands of jobs being lost in an inefficient industry is a good thing. The loss is always temporary, and those people will eventually find more efficient jobs. Efficiency helps the economy as a whole.

If you had your way no jobs would ever be lost and we would still be doing everything by hand, right?

Christ you sound like the MPAA. Oh will you PLEASE think of the thousands?

Re:good riddance

[ebh]

Here too (Central NJ), losing CompUSA leaves only Circuit Shitty and Best Lie. At least I get to hit Fry's when I travel on business a few times a year. Now all we have left are the Market Pro "Computer Shows and Sales" where it's the same few dozen Chinese vendors (screwdriver shop owners in from Brooklyn) selling their sub-commodity SUPER WHIZBANG MAINBOARDs.

And NewEgg.

Re:Good riddance

[Anonymous Coward]

How can they re stock a defective product? Hm. Boils my blood just hearing about it.

Re:Good riddance

[ScrewMaster]

How can they re stock a defective product?

That's an easy one. It's called a shrink wrap machine. All the big stores have one. They just take the product you returned, shrinkwrap it and put some official-looking stickers on the outside so it looks factory fresh ... and throw it back on the shelf for the next sucker that comes along. Best Buy did that to me several times, so now I don't go to Best Buy. I'd rather order online and wait a few days than give those bloodsuckers another penny of my money. The last time I went there I bought a cordless phone system with three handsets: when I got it home and cracked the shrinkwrap and opened it up, I found that the handsets were all scuffed up like they'd been through a war, only one of them worked and it rattled when I shook it. Took it back and got a hard time. After talking to the store manager, they finally took it back, and I have no doubt it was out for sale again within the hour. I had similar experiences at CompUSA, and stopped going there some years ago as well. So far as I'm concerned, the big retailers have no cause for complaint when their sales drop: they've cut the quality of their operations to the point where you're safer buying online.

Anyone remember Tandy's ill-fated "Computer City" stores? Same problems there, and guess what, they also are out of business. Hell, I spent fifty bucks (fifty bucks!) on a nice joystick, back in the days when I was playing Descent II a lot. Got it home, opened the box ... and found another destroyed device. Scuffed, scratched, case cracked, springs broken and yes, it rattled. I was back at Computer City's service desk within fifteen minutes, and was told that they couldn't take it back, because it was in "unsaleable condition". "Why is that a problem" I asked "I mean, you just sold it to me in that condition not half an hour ago." Guy refused to take it back. After a few more minutes of this, I'm starting to get upset, other customers are starting to take notice, an the store manager comes over. "What's the problem here?" I told him "I want to return this piece of junk I just bought." He also refused, and he said, "You must have done that to it." I said (rather loudly) "I JUST BOUGHT THE THING HALF AN HOUR AGO!" to which he replied, "Well, sometimes they come from the factory like that." Well, at that point I get very angry and all the checkout lanes have come to a halt as people are watching this byplay. This idiot looked around and saw that people were putting their purchases down and heading for the doors, and decided to give me my refund. Wanted to make it a store credit, and I said, "No way, I'm not coming back." So I got my cash, but I really had to work for it.

And they wonder why nobody wants to shop brick-and-mortar anymore. It's not just that online ordering is somehow magically "better", sometimes it is nice to walk around an actual store, but these guys don't seem to be working very hard to make it worthwhile.

Re:good riddance

[FLEB]

If it's anything like the liquidation at my local store during the last round, it's probably not worth it. Anything of any value to anyone was barely marked down at all. The only "Up To"-rate markdowns were obscure and obsolete books, the printer ink that time forgot, and accessories for a specific model of peripheral that you don't own.

Re:Good riddance

[mahlerfan999]

I'll never say good riddance, because the loss of another chain just helps the oligopoly consolidate their power. For those that live in a big city, you still I'm sure have many options. And there always is shopping online. But step into a small town and see how the choices are at most Walmart, Best Buy, and Circuit City and you can see how desperate the situation is starting to become. CompUSA was not a great chain sure, but was it that much worse than those stores?

Re:good riddance

[MerrickStar]

If the one closing out here is any indication, Don't bother. I didn't even realize it was closing til I happened to be in the area one day a few months ago, and saw the big "store closing" sign. I figured it might be a good opportunity to get some cheap hardware so I stopped in. They were close enough to closing completely that a little over three quarters of the store was empty. The best price on something was roughly (possibly a little higher) than the same item at the best buy up the street.

Re:good riddance

[russotto]

The sad thing is, Kurt Vonnegut was right over 50 years ago when he predicted what life would be like the "future". Of course he made some errors, such as MBAs are the rich ones instead of engineering PhDs, and the obligatory mid 50's "massive vaccum tube supercomputer", but in general he was right on. In "Player Piano" most of humanity is either in the army or in the "Recreation and Reclamation", ie masses of unskilled laborers who dig ditches and whatnot. Really seems to describe the current situation in the US today quite well.

Really? The November 2007 statistics have about 154 million people in the US labor force, 147 million of them employed. 51 million are "management and professional". 36 million are "sales and office". 16 million are "Natural resources, construction, and maintenance" and 18 million are "Production, transportation, and material moving". The latter two are your blue collar occupations, but most of those are skilled, not unskilled. There are 78 million people over 16 officially not in the labor force, but of those only 4 million want a job. The military totals only about 1.5 million.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t10.htm
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/suppl/empsit.cpseea38.txt
http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/MILITARY/ms1.pdf

Re:Good riddance

[pongo000]

That's an easy one. It's called a shrink wrap machine. All the big stores have one. They just take the product you returned, shrinkwrap it and put some official-looking stickers on the outside so it looks factory fresh ...

One of my beefs with Fry's...they *love* to re-shrinkwrap their stuff. Normally, they are very good about putting a big white sticker on their restocked items. But occasionally, I've bought an item without the sticker that had obviously been opened and then repacked by someone.

I don't understand why stores do this. Most manufacturers permit "allowances" for defective merchandise, and if the item is cheap enough, manufacturers are usually content just to have some assurance that the defective items have been destroyed before issuing an allowance. Why does Fry's think that their customers want something that has been returned by a customer, with no idea of how the item was abused/misused before being returned?

Fry's doesn't save money with this policy for the reason stated above, so where's the advantage?

Re:good riddance

[Deadstick]

see if I can "pick the carcass."

That doesn't seem to happen with big chain stores...they can get a better liquidation deal by selling the inventory, en masse, to a wholesaler. The same products will likely wind up on the shelves at Fry's sooner or later.

Of course, there is the CompUSA house-branded merchandise, but I wouldn't be surprised if a wholesaler can repackage that.

rj

Re:Good riddance

[AFCArchvile]

Maybe it's because, for some reason, returning certain defective items to the vendor is more costly (in all ways: money, time, relationship with vendor) than re-shrinkwrapping a product that performs its function acceptably. Some managers inevitably stretch this a bit and put unacceptable products back in the box. And if this was a perfect world, there would be a discount gondola with product boxes marked as previously used and of acceptable quality, with a proportional discount. I believe that MicroCenter still has a discount counter in their stores. BestBuy and CompUSA would sometimes just reshrinkwrap the box to make it look like a new product.

First guideline when purchasing tech stuff at a physical store: LOOK AT THE BOX. Has it been damaged in any way, particularly in the locations that would see wear upon opening? Any sticker tears from the box being opened? If the box's surface (not counting the shrinkwrap) looks in pristine condition, then chances are you're safe. One advantage to those annoying clamshell cases that require a 5 watt laser to open is that you can obviously tell if it has been previously opened.

One thing that any retail store needs to learn in order to succeed is to be able to fall on their own sword for the customer. If it's a $50 joystick, eat the cost, make the customer happy. If it's a $300 videocard, this guy probably posts on some gaming forums and could have a devastating regional or national effect on your sales; eat the cost, make the customer happy. $1799 laptop? Okay, that's going to be a bit painful, but the manufacturer's warranty department is responsible here, unless they bought a replacement plan, in which case that department can assist the customer. But you don't make a customer so angry that they vow to never let you serve them again, and that they tell their friends locally or nationwide to never frequent your establishment.

Unfortunately, "make the customer happy" is becoming a victim to the rampant cost cutting that has been going on in the business world in the past 10 years or so. Anything that costs the company money is irrationally labeled "a bad thing" and verboten. Even "make the customer happy" costs the company money, so it MUST be a bad thing.

Re:Good riddance

[ScrewMaster]

Well, I don't mind it if, as I've seen some stores do, they label opens/returns as such and then offer a discount. I mean, heck, if somebody returns a nice swivel chair because it didn't match the decor of their home office, I'll happily buy it for a substantial discount.

Of course, how much do you want to bet that these outfits are selling the returns at full price, and still taking the manufacturer's allowance for the "defective" product?

Re:Good riddance

[Anonymous Coward]

True story: I bought a modem ('way back in the ol' 9600 baud days) from c-usa and had problems with it. I poked a pinhole in the corner of the box that was noticeable if you knew where to look and wrote "THIS DEVICE IS BROKEN" in the bottom of the box underneath the packaging. Put a postit saying the same thing on the bottom of the modem.

Packed it all up neatly and returned it for a swap. Got the swap and it worked fine. Went back to the store a couple of days later and guess which box was back on the shelf all nicely shrinkwrapped?

Took a gamble, grabbed the box, went over to the service counter, and started making a noise about their selling crap & returns & bad shit. Got quite a few people interested enough to drift over and listen. Store manager came out. I told him that THIS was a broken unit that had been re-shelved and that I thought a lot of their other stuff was too.

He was about an inch from having me thrown out when I told him to open the box and prove me wrong. While he was opening the shrink I said, nice and loud, what he would find in the box. People got interested.

Wouldn't you know it - they didn't even take the Postit off of the bottom? Never been back there since. I hope they knock down the Orange CT store, bulldoze it into the hole, and sow the ground with salt.

Re:Good riddance

[ScrewMaster]

It's not so much a matter of stretching things as it is illegally selling used products as new. That's crossing the line from poor customer service into criminal behavior.

Re:Good riddance

[Anonymous Coward]

This is why I always buy everything with a card. It sucks that the card company gets a free 1-2% profit, and that they have a perfect profile of my buying habits--but the moment somebody pulls that crap--they get a choice--either replace the product immediately with a discount for the trouble they caused, or watch as they lose all profit, the merchandise, and about $50 in fees as I grab my phone and charge it back on the spot.

And somehow they have the audacity to get angry when I tell the card company that I was sold unmerchanteable product...

captcha: heinous

Re:Good riddance

[ricegf]

Why does Fry's think that their customers want something that has been returned by a customer, with no idea of how the item was abused/misused before being returned?

At least at my local Fry's,they allegedly re-wrap and sell only merchandise that the customer couldn't use (e.g., I bought a DVD RW drive with a SATA interface - the original purchaser undoubtedly didn't check and was expecting an EIDE drive), and return products to the manufacturer that the customer reports as defective. They usually knock about 10% off the price of a returned package, on the white sticker, which makes them slightly more attractive to the price-conscious. And they have always given me a refund or store credit (my choice) when I returned such an item, for any reason, and without the deal-breaker restocking fee.

They aren't perfect, though. I bought parts for a new computer for my daughter's Christmas present ("building it together is part of the gift" :-), and after everything was signed and sealed, they delivered... a re-wrapped CPU. They asserted it was all they had left, so if I didn't want it at full price, we'd have to undo all of the paperwork, then go start over with the shopping. I quavered, but didn't really have time to start over. I had to straighten some bent pins, but the CPU does seem to work OK.

Since the CPU was reserved in their computer when I first selected it, they should have warned me in advance - and knocked off 10% so I didn't feel slighted. It's for those types of issues that I don't have a "favorite" electronics store. Yet.

Re:Good riddance

[jagdish]

They just take the product you returned, shrinkwrap it and put some official-looking stickers on the outside so it looks factory fresh ... and throw it back on the shelf for the next sucker that comes along.

Thats sounds exactly like the story of "The Ring".

Re:Good riddance

[Raideen]

They aren't perfect, though. I bought parts for a new computer for my daughter's Christmas present ("building it together is part of the gift" :-), and after everything was signed and sealed, they delivered... a re-wrapped CPU. They asserted it was all they had left, so if I didn't want it at full price, we'd have to undo all of the paperwork, then go start over with the shopping.

Just curious--what paperwork would that be? Did you actually have a purchase order for those items (so they would need to void the invoice) or does it just mean that they would've had to accept the item back as a return and then sell it again to you at a discount (i.e. more work for them)?

Re:good riddance

[Allison Geode]

well, I see you're anonymous, so you're probably just trolling, but truthfully, have you been into a compusa recently? the employees at my local store are usually incompetent or just flat-out lazy, and frankly, probably should have lot their jobs a long time ago. if compusa had hired competent help, and not done the whole bait-and-switch with their sale merch, then I might have shopped there, and they might not be circling the drain.

Re:Good riddance

[charlievarrick]

Purely hypothetically,maybe they are getting a vendor credit for the "allowance" but selling the "defective" merchandise anyway.

Home Depot has been investigated for this - http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/5401128?f=search

Re:Good riddance

[Anonymous Coward]

return it to find they've sold out, too - but insist on charging me a 15% restocking fee

Circuit City has this policy too. I bought a monitor there a couple years ago on a Black Friday deal. It had a dead pixel OUT OF THE BOX. I decided to return it (the monitor didn't impress me that much) instead of exchanging it. They told me there would be a 15% restocking fee if I returned it instead of exchanging it. I told him that I considered it defective since it had a dead pixel out of the box, and I wanted my money back. No dice. I asked for the manager. No dice. He actually said, "we have to charge the restocking fee on opened items because they are worth less and we can't resell them for the original price." I replied, "You're damn right it's worth less, it's defective!" He wouldn't budge. I didn't want the monitor because it was crappy, and I didn't want to put the money towards a different one because it wouldn't have been nearly the value of the BF "deal".

I was just going to swallow the restocking fee, but I happened to be in the area of another Circuit Shitty one day and thought I'd give it a try (nothing to lose). Luckily, this store was nice enough to give me a full refund.

Re:Good riddance

[ricegf]

Just curious--what paperwork would that be?

Sorry, I wasn't clear. Since this was their last processor compatible with the motherboard, I would need to return the processor and motherboard. Since my second choice used different memory, I would also have to return the memory.

The processor and memory were "rung up" in the components department, in which a long line was now forming (I arrived at opening time on Friday to avoid the Christmas rush!), and all I had was a piece of paper to exchange at the cashier for the actual parts (after the debit card transaction was completed).

Thus, we'd have to cancel out the debit card paperwork, I'd have to walk the remaining components (hard drive, case, optical drive) out to my car, return to components to pick up the other motherboard from the shelf, and then re-queue to get a new piece of paper for the compatible CPU and memory.

That's a long process, and it would have been avoided if, when the clerk first rang up the processor, he had simply told me, "Oh, this will be an open box processor - any problem with that?" *sigh*

Re:Good riddance

[Rakarra]

I think it's because most customers do not demand excellent service. It's something they want when things go wrong, but the rise of Wall-Mart shows what most customers really want -- everything in one place, and above all, low prices. They go where prices are lowest, and if the service is bad, well.. that's part of the "cost" of low prices, right?

Re:Good riddance

[Rakarra]

My favorite Fry's story: About a year ago I bought a mid-range Soundblaster card. It was a pretty good model, supported digital out and a few other things I wanted to do with it. I failed to notice the "previously returned" sticker on it. When I got home I opened up the package and... there was a much smaller card. It wasn't even a Creative brand card. I don't know if someone had pulled a fast one on Fry's and said the card didn't work, keeping the card and slipping in a different one in its place, but I ended up with the totally wrong card, getting a cheapo generic brand with few features. Brought it back to Fry's, got an exchange for a new, unopened box, and hoped that the other card wasn't just getting repackaged and reshelved.

Re:Good riddance

[Avatar8]

This seems to be the standard practice of Fry's as well, at least for all the stores here in the Dallas, TX area. I've been burned too many times to ever buy any computer component from them. Most recently it was a motherboard with bent pins in the CPU socket. It looked like someone took a screwdriver and dragged it across the pins. Needless to say the Fry's person refused to take it back and accused me of damaging it. (which is impossible since the CPU for that board is flat on the bottom) Abit thankfully did replace it, though the replacement was a refurb that would not post. I'm working on RMA #2.

Caveat emptor for anything you buy from Fry's that could possibly be altered in any manner and shrink-wrapped. Open it up and look at it carefully before you leave the store.

As an ex employee...

[boredMDer]

Glad to hear that they're shutting down. I worked there for nearly a year on the front end...awesome coworkers and general atmosphere, but store policies, managers, etc, sucked. Bad(ly?). Ripped off customers on return policies, warranties, replacement plans, etc. Restocking fees? At the manager's discretion, of course.

Thank god, is all I can say.

-- 297504 from store 354...

Re:As an ex employee...

[Obyron]

Likewise an ex-employee (store #349 in Lexington, KY). I definitely feel the same about the place going. They treated me, and all the other employees-- up to and including "back end" people like HR and low-level managers (front end, inventory)-- like complete trash. About a year after I was laid off (because the store was losing money) I heard that the then-General Manager had been embezzling money from the store and had finally been caught and fired. No clue if they ever pressed criminal charges. We actually had a lot of good experiences with their warranty, especially the full replacement. They followed it well enough that salesmen weren't unknown to use it to close a sale (ie: "accidentally" break your shiny new PDA two days before your 2 year warranty runs out, and get the dollar value toward the purchase of a new one). The restocking fee always came down to how much we didn't like a particular customer's attitude. There was a lot of stuff that went on to basically screw the customer (like fast-talking old people into spending 100 dollars on getting a tech to "set up" their computer before they took it home, for which the techs just held the computer for 30 minutes before bringing it up front). Given shit like this, and the way the stores were managed, it's no surprise to me they're going out of business. At my store we had probably 6-8 sales people and 4 cashiers working at any given time, and we had 8(!) managers-- General, Sales, Asst. Sales, Front End, Operations, Inventory, Business Sales, and Tech. No wonder they couldn't afford employees! I'm not the least bit sad to see it go.

Re:As an ex employee...

[modmans2ndcoming]

yeah... the warranties really screw you. I bought a laptop from them and got the 2 year extended warranty on it... Mind you, it had a 1 Year manufacturers warranty as well.

I come around looking for some coverage needs 2 years after I buy it and I am told that the warranty is up... I said "WTF I bought a 2 year coverage plan over and above the manufactures plan warranty."

The guy told me that the 2 year coverage covers the first and second year and I said so basically I paid out the ass to double cover myself in the first year?

the only thing that would have been worse is if I decided that 1 year "extra" coverage would have been enough.

Re:As an ex employee...

[Anonymous Coward]

Bad vs. Badly

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:As an ex employee...

[PMJ2kx]

Agreed. I worked over at the so-called "Tech Services" as a Service Writer for about six months. I finally said "screw it", and got another job elsewhere. I don't know which was worse: trying to explain to people how they're about to get ripped off by buying a warranty they don't need (in earshot of the manager, of course), or telling someone that their desktop won't be ready for another week, after it has been in our shop for six months without any note, work, or anything else being done.

It's been too long since I worked there to remember my #, but I will never forget Store #771...the good and the evil.

Re:As an ex employee...

[Anonymous Coward]

Tigard huh?

Re:As an ex employee...

[Anonymous Coward]

This is consistent with my own experiences working there a few years ago. Most of the store and division managers in the Chicago area were products of affirmative action who did not understand the nature of leadership, and treated their people like dirt. Lower level managers were passed up for promotions in order to bring in "politically correct" hires from outside the company.

It is not surprising that CompUSA is unable to compete in a truly free market like America. The owner of the chain is accustomed to doing business in corrupt third-world countries, where fighting off competitors often involves physical confrontation and intimidation. That sort of business strategy just doesn't fly here.

Re:As an ex employee...

[srleffler]

I shopped there once or twice, but stopped buying from them because of their restrictive return policies. Best Buy and Circuit City have comparable prices, and were flexible on returns. Easy choice.

fare thee well

[ruebarb]

my first tech job was refurbishing a certain model of PC at the CompUSA tech shop - got me to where I'm at today - many a techie got his start in one of those little tech shops at a retail store.

lower profit margins are a drag on any business - almost inevitable but a fact of life - they lasted longer then the company I left them for by trying to diversify but I guess BB/CC will be taking over the world now.

RB

Re:fare thee well

[CrackerJackz]

I second that. I started out in 94' working as the apple tech at the store in Columbus/Dublin. at least back then the prices on computer equipment and software were somewhat reasonable, about the only thing that had more than a 3% markup were the cables (thank god for the employee 'buy-at-cost' discount!) nothing like getting a new parallel printer cable for 7$ rather than 40$

Something bad happened to the store in the late nineties however. Some bright spark in management decided that they needed to directly compete with microcenter (another chain in the area) and start selling non-tech items. Nothing like giving 20% of your floor space to *office chairs/etc* this further reduced the warehouse space for hardware... the smart sales people started bailing out, followed by the management. At that point I was going college out of town, and when I came back every month or two fewer and fewer people were in the store. followed by the long slow slide to the trashcan.

CompUSA closed a bunch of stores about a year ago, and the New Market Mall store went then. It was a little sad wandering around the final sale items remembering the busy times.

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:fare thee well

[Anonymous Coward]

It has been my first technician job as well. They even took a chance with me in moving me into the shop as it's normal policy to require all full time technicians to already have their A+ or Apple certificates.

Sadly, after they closed the first batch of stores early this year, myself and many of the other employees at our store were hoping that they would be able to turn the store around and refocus on what we sold. This was in my opinion our biggest problem that upper management didn't know what kind of store we were. We carried a little bit of everything which basically made us a miniature Best Buy.

Luckily I have an in at a couple of other places somewhat nearby (Apple, Microsoft and even a few smaller shops)

Good luck to all the employees out there.

Re:fare thee well

[the_fat_kid]

I have to ask:
1) do you have many CompUSA stores in Germany?
2) do you really think that the poster's word extends beyond the middle half of north america?
3) does Wal-Mart failing in Germany mean that they won't take over the world? To a megacorp like them not being a success in Germany is like not doing well in Oklahoma. A disappointment, yes, but not game over.

Re:fare thee well

[Jesus_666]

1) No. But hey, Germany's still part of the world.
2) Perhaps. He does read /., after all.
3) I used Germany as an example. If out local corps are strong enough to keep Wal-Mart out, those in other countries might be able to, as well.

Re:fare thee well

[jez9999]

Wal-Mart pulled out of the German market in 2006 after losing ~$3 bn

Strange, isn't it? Given their profit level, they could easily afford to absorb that hit, and I'm kinda surprised they didn't just wait it out until they'd figured out and assimilated the market, Microsoft-style.

Re:fare thee well

[Jesus_666]

They pulled out because nobody cared about Wal-Mart. Seriously, Wal-Mart was just another supermarket corporation, except that they didn't have the presence of the big players. Many of the stragegies that make Wal-Mart so powerful in the USA were already in use at the local corps, so essentially Wal-Mart competed against a couple of other Wal-Marts that just happened to be much stronger. However, I am not aware of Edeka or Rewe being associated with sweatshops, an image blemish that has further helped with making Wal-Mart unpopular.

Yes, Wal-Mart was just plain unpopular in Germany. They carried over their corporate identity and culture from the states; however, Germans have a different taste and Wal-Mart managed to exactly miss it. Their reputation of killing smaller stores made them unpopular enough for people to protest against the opening of Wal-Mart stores. Them not shelving products that did't fit their family-friendly image didn't help, either. Also, Wal-Mart was somewhat expensive when compared to the hugely popular disounters like Aldi.

So in essence, Wal-Mart was the underdog, was unpopular from the start, couldn't leverage any of its usual advantages and didn't even have the price advantage as the Wal-Mart business model is too expensive to compete with Aldi-style discounters on price. No wonder they pulled out; in order to win over Germany they would have had to change much of their corporate identity and culture and posiion themselves in an entirely different market segment than in the States (where, as far as I know, they cater to the low-price segment).

Re:fare thee well

[Elky Elk]

The UK has several large entrenched supermarkets (I think Walmart now owns one of them, ASDA) but the Germans (Aldi and Liddel) have been making quite large inroads into the UK market.

Re:fare thee well

[Jesus_666]

Probably because they cater to the lowest-price segment. Aldi and Lidl are optimized to waste as little money as possible and to pass the savings on to the customer. The result is that they have extremely low prices. (By the way, consumer watchdogs have found out that the quality of Aldi goods in on par with that of regular supermarkets. That's unsurprising, as most of their stuff actually comes from big-brand producers.)

I am saddened by this

[zxscooby]

In my area CompUSA was the only place one could take a laptop in for warranty repair and get it back within a reasonable amount of time without more problems than you started with. The only other major retailer around where i live is bestbuy, and its always a never ending hassle trying to get a warranty service with those guys.

my eyes are dry

[theheff]

I'm not going to miss the snooty comments made by their staff members after asking them where a part is... and then try to sell me a warranty on top of it. Give me a break. Margins usually drop in most industries over time. Poor business design is what killed this beast. While I'm sure a number of talented people work for their chain, and I truly feel for them for their upcoming layoffs, you can't say that you didn't see it coming. Rest in peace.

Re:my eyes are dry

[zakezuke]

I'm not going to miss the snooty comments made by their staff members after asking them where a part is... and then try to sell me a warranty on top of it. Give me a break. Margins usually drop in most industries over time. Poor business design is what killed this beast. I remember looking for a PCMCIA to CompactFlash adapter, they were not quite grasping that CompactFlash was so large that it wasn't on those 5 in one units, handy though they may be. I can't blame them too much as CF is rather old as far as standards go.

But the warranty... you do have to keep in mind that was really their bread and butter, the store warranty. For something like an inkjet it was a godsend. Esp the sub $100 epsons, you know the ones, the ones that get a waste ink full error and refuse to print, with only a cryptic error "needs service". Cheep parts and a cheep warranty could keep you in new printers for a while.

Re:my eyes are dry

[jddj]

I'll never forget the experience...I'd just arrived in Atlanta in 1994, and I was in a Marietta CompUSA. I'd asked the CompUSA staffer about a particular accessory for my Power Macintosh 7100/66.

"A Mac? Get a real computer!"

I thought: "I'm a multimedia developer trying to buy one of your highest-margin products, and you're working a crappy retail job. Will getting a real computer skyrocket me to the corridors of power you walk? I hope not..."

Over the years, I've only visited CompUSA out of sheer desperation, and the typical experience there was that I went in, looked for what I'd come for, found nothing I could use and left.

Has anyone walked into a CompUSA in the last 5 years and been anything but baffled at the retail experience they were trying to pull off? It's like they stopped focusing on computer equipment at all, but tried to display consumer electronics in the manner of an office-supply store. WTF? It's like the Anti-Apple Store, Anti-Gap approach to merchandising.

So they're fallen overboard. I'd be happy to toss 'em an anchor!

To anyone out there who wants to visit "a real computer store", I'd take a Microcenter or a Fry's over a CompUSA any day.

N.B. - Spell-check is warning me that "CompUSA" is misspelled. Thought for a second about adding it to the dictionary for future use, then realized that it's probably not too important to do so...

Re:my eyes are dry

[zakezuke]

I'll never forget the experience...I'd just arrived in Atlanta in 1994, and I was in a Marietta CompUSA. I'd asked the CompUSA staffer about a particular accessory for my Power Macintosh 7100/66.

"A Mac? Get a real computer!" The guy did have a point. If the 7100 was anything like the 6100 than it would have had a HDI-45 video connector, which required either an adapter to DA-15 or HD DB-15, though in my experience you had both. On top of that, were those damned AAUI-15 connectors for the Ethernet transceivers rather than the old standard of DA-15, which I imagine they didn't use because you might confuse it for the monitor connector, which was no longer DA-15 about that time. And ontop of all this, you needed a god damned apple branded scsi drive to load the OS.

I'm not being critical of the Powermac, it was a nice computer. It's big drawback was you couldn't get freaking cable accessories at Radioshack. And after hearing "we can either get the part in a week for $45 per, or I can take a hacksaw and blowtorch to this bad boy".

Where will I buy quad slim cases?

[zakezuke]

Quad Slim jewel cases

Seriously, I know I accept the risk of being modded down here but I use these guys. They fit 4 CDs in the size of one standard jewel case. It was a pain when they left my state, and it'll be a bigger pain when they close their doors.

Re:Where will I buy quad slim cases?

[rpillala]

If I were you I would look into some of those zip-up CD binders. They store a lot of CDs in a tiny space too.

Re:Where will I buy quad slim cases?

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

4-in-1 CD Cases - much cheaper than Compusa price:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250186956554

Re:Where will I buy quad slim cases?

[downix]

And when the auction ends?

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/

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

Re:Where will I buy quad slim cases?

[gEvil (beta)]

Paper sleeves. Much more economical and efficient. Unless you absolutely must have the quad slim cases for some reason.

Re:Where will I buy quad slim cases?

[zakezuke]

If I were you I would look into some of those zip-up CD binders. They store a lot of CDs in a tiny space too. Thanks for the advice. There are cases where they would be useful, but for my main application, which is downloading series and organizing them, it's not. Also it's the fact that I have an expandable CD tower. It's what I own already to store sticks, might as well stick to what I have. Binders are cool too.

Re:Where will I buy quad slim cases?

[zakezuke]

Wow, use the internet. I have always enjoyed this criticism, esp when I "was" using the internet. Seriously I don't have a name for that style of case, so a keyword search is rather useless, so I asked on slashdot.

Oh and heres the 4up in flexible polypropelene so it wont shatter like the styrene ones
And color coded to boot. And cheaper I applicate the link. I liked the compusa ones as you could easily (sic) glue labels to the case. I'm not sure how easily you could do that with the polypropelene but at least you sugested something.

Re:Where will I buy quad slim cases?

[korbin_dallas]

Ok, yeah use the internet was lame. Apologies.

I think labels should stick ok. They are not clear, but tranlucent, so labels on the inside are visible. I usually just write on the cds, and can read them ok.

I always liked Cyberguys, they have odd little things one might need occasionally.

Re:Where will I buy quad slim cases?

[zakezuke]

Ok, yeah use the internet was lame. Apologies. Apology accepted, though I was being mostly humorous. Many times I've contacted some companies regarding trivial laptop parts and their recommendation was to go on the internet, which was exactly what I did. One might be critical of my use of Slashdot for this end, but the closure of CompUSA does affect my directly in the fact that I based my media storage system on a product only they sold.

I think labels should stick ok. They are not clear, but tranlucent, so labels on the inside are visible. I usually just write on the cds, and can read them ok.

I always liked Cyberguys, they have odd little things one might need occasionally. I applicate the link. The big seller for me are spines, the ability to affix a label to the spine. This can be accomplished with wrap around labels like on DVD longboxes, or glued to the back.

Re:Where will I buy quad slim cases?

[zakezuke]

Paper sleeves. Much more economical and efficient. Unless you absolutely must have the quad slim cases for some reason. I like spines. Paper sleeves are among the more space efficient means of storage, but they really suck for indexing. Going with binders and sleeves is a slightly better idea, but only work well for 20 discs and above in the same theme group.

Debian fits nicely in a quad case, a season of monk fits nicely in a quad case.

Re:Where will I buy quad slim cases?

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

And when the auction ends?

• It's not an auction.
• Do you see an end date on the listing?

Re:Where will I buy quad slim cases?

[zakezuke]

* It's not an auction.
        * Do you see an end date on the listing? Firstly thanks for the feedback. I think the parent was being critical of someone who needs a continuous supply of a product wondering "what happens after the sale is over and the seller has moved on". At least that's how I ready it I could be wrong. I'm not too concerned as the description is for a product with a very specific name I can google.

Have you used these? What provisions are there for labeling? If I do have to make a change to my storage system I would prefer one for the better. To me that would mean a wrap around label like on a DVD long box which could be what they mean by "SLEEVE PACK". I'm a little concerned about their size, the last time I bought double Cd cases of this style they were a couple mm too large for my CD rack.

Re:Where will I buy quad slim cases?

[stonecypher]

Pretty much any mass replicator sells them. I go to CD-ROM 2 Go, personally. You might be surprised how many options are out there for cases - if you go to a dozen replicators, you're going to find 30 different kinds of case, with different features - cut wheels, closed-case ejection levers, clear back panelling, N-tray, fold up inserts (think children's popup books), all sorts of stuff. Google around for a while. It's fascinating what weirdness you can buy.

Re:Where will I buy quad slim cases?

[zakezuke]

Pretty much any mass replicator sells them. I go to CD-ROM 2 Go, personally. Thanks for the feedback, I'll keep the look out and I do have some leads but I can tell you from my experience no mass replicator sells them. The problem is this, the style of case I wish to use was only popular where VCDs were sold. That is a a wrap around box, and a CD drawer usually two to four per pack, where 4 fit in the same width as a standard jewel, about 12mm wide or so. I'm too lazy to fold up boxes for the cases so I just glue on a spine label and a front and back label.

if you go to a dozen replicators, you're going to find 30 different kinds of case, with different features - cut wheels, closed-case ejection levers, clear back panelling, N-tray, fold up inserts (think children's popup books) I'll keep searching, I got two options on here I'll look into. But really what i've been looking for is a tough find. 4 cds, about 12mm wide. Ability to take either a slip on cover or accept a glue on cover.

Re:Where will I buy quad slim cases?

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

"what happens after the sale is over and the seller has moved on". An ebay store isn't really any different from any other "store" - anyone can choose to stop carrying a product line.

Have you used these? Sorry, but nope. I use dvd thinkpaks myself. I just cut-n-pasted the description "4-in-1 ..." from the linked comp-usa page into the ebay search box.

Buh-Bye CompUSA!! (waving hand)

[Zymergy]

Loved to browse the local CompUSA store and make a detailed list of the stuff I really wanted to buy and then later but it at a better price on eBay, or at Best Buy, Fry's, etc... Prices were a bit high, but CompUSA seemed to sell at least 1 or 2 items at or below cost to bait bargain hunters... (if you could get to the store early enough).

Once worked in their Dallas, TX Call Center as an 9x/ME/2k/NT4/XP v1.0 Tech for CompUSA's (awful) TAP Program http://www.compusa.com/services/tap/default.asp ...worst job I ever worked, but they were one of the few hiring (recently laid-off IT personnel) in that time (for LOW wages) following the 2000 dot-com bubble pop. Learned to really dislike Siebel there too...
Bye-Bye CompUSA!

(Now..., Could someone *please* forward this thread to CEO John Fry, Pres. William R. (Randy) Fry, CFO & CIO David (Dave) Fry, and/or EVP Kathryn Kolder.) HINT! HINT! -Z

No tears here...

[nugneant]

The local Comp*USA went out of business about six months ago. They were like the pricier, smaller, and less exciting version of Best Buy (which is the pricier, smaller, and less exciting version of Fry's - God, that's the one thing I miss most about living on the west coast). Anyway, long story short, the only good part about Comp*USA was not giving money to Best Buy when I needed something computer-related that day, right then. Fucking D.C.

The "final week clearance" finally had some okay deals. Nothing too great, but stuff like no-name PS/2 keyboards with the stupid "function" key for $3 a pop, 100-spindle DVD-Rs for around $40... I picked up a couple SD-cards as well. You know it's sad that when stuff's 70% off, it's still barely less pricey than ordering online.

They finally opened up a MicroCenter in the location where Comp*USA used to be. Sweet, sweet heaven... it's like Fry's, except, yeah, only about 1/3rd the size.

Re:No tears here...

[Anonymous Coward]

I've only been to a CompUSA once, and I wasn't impressed. Poor layout and the prices were ridiculous.

MicroCenter on the other hand, is the best computer store I know of in Minnesota. If I need something quickly, as opposed to UPS ground, it's about a three hour drive round-trip. The long drive is the only reason I don't go there more often.
Buying small items without S&H is really nice, especially for SD and keyboards.
Only qualm I have with them is their online catalog doesn't match their inventory, in my region. If I made a list of 20 things to buy, the store would only have 10 of them.

Super WalMart is the closest thing to an electronics store, within an hour of where I live. Even the nearest Best Buy is further away than that.

It's no surprise I always shop online for electronics, and occasionally consider driving to a store if it's urgent.

Re:No tears here...

[Anonymous Coward]

Man I miss Fry's. I'm from the Houston area, and after they opened one around 2002 I never went back to CompUSA or Best Buy, except to maybe price shop electronics. I loved having computer and electronic parts in one huge store. I could pick up blank DVDs, RJ-45 jacks, a pack of resistors + LEDs, UPS batteries, SCSI cables and look at the latest flat panel monitors all in one place, and most stuff was usually reasonably priced.

But now that I'm stationed in Hawaii, and there are no Frys', and the CompUSAs/Best Buys here have almost no stock of basic computer parts, or they're horrendously over priced. Mainland sales are almost never honored here (most commercials on cable TV here are from CONUS). Ordering online is sometimes the only option when local specialty electronics shops don't have what you need, but shipping here is fucking ridiculous.

I don't understand why UPS air and UPS ground (which almost always goes by air to Hawaii, just low priority it seems) costs so damn much more to ship something from California to Hawaii than it does from the east coast to the west coast. Well, I do understand the basic economics and the fact much less probably gets shipped to Hawaii, but damn, this is still a US state. I wish more e-stores supported USPS and FedEx (which is still expensive) or I had an FPO box so I only had to pay for shipping to the west coast. It's amazing to FedEx something to an FPO box in Korea is cheaper than to an address in Hawaii.

Re:No tears here...

[doofoo]

You must be talking about the Rockville store. I just went there last night to pickup some DDR2 memory & a gigabit switch. The selection there is great, and pretty close (I am in Frederick, MD). The only thing about Microcenter is that the staff there is so slow. Checkout takes forever.

Re:No tears here...

[Megane]

Man I miss Fry's. I'm from the Houston area, and after they opened one around 2002 I never went back to CompUSA or Best Buy, except to maybe price shop electronics.

In the big four metro areas in Texas (DFW, Houston, San Antonio, Houston) they have no niche that isn't filled by Fry's (except in SA, which badly needs a Fry's), Apple Store, and Altex.

To make matters worse, about a year or so ago they remodeled to add a Home Theatre area. Oh yeah, like I want to go to a store with "Comp" in its name to look for consumer electronics. That might have been a good idea ten years ago, but HT is way too mainstream now. Someone else mentioned them selling office furniture as of a few years back, and that's when I remembered there was an area of the store which was like a black hole in my awareness.

I would put "lack of focus" high on the list of reasons for their failure. They started out as a computers and accessories place, with their main claim to fame being having a corner of the store for Apple stuff (back in the day when Apple Stores were few and far between), and tried to be a big-box office store and a big-box electronics store, failing at both.

Re:No tears here...

[nugneant]

Only a Fredrickian would consider the drive to Rockville anything other than a "schlep" :)

I went there for the free 1GB SD card they offered when first opening, and upon arriving at the store the lack of registers was pretty much my first critical thought. I think they have maybe eight total possible checkout counters... compared to the fifty at Fry's.

What used to be really cool was a store in the same mall, near the Hobby Works... something-something Software Exchange. Basically a niche store filled with old software, in the box and everything. I remember picking up a copy of a Jeopardy game for $5 that ended up giving the computer a virus, and staring curiously at the copy of Earl Weaver Baseball 2 Deluxe. Them were the days...

Of course, this was right as internet access was hitting consumer-level, so their business model didn't last long... now they've changed their name and are little more than a service store with some random over-priced hardware here and there. A pity, but c'est la vie.

Re:No tears here...

[El_Oscuro]

I stopped going to CompUSA about 5 years ago. The ones in Alexandria and Tysons were a royal PITA to get to, the service sucked, yada-yada-yada... As soon as I tried Microcenter, it was game over for CompUSA. Microcenters service is great. I once bought a motherboard and CPU from them and borked the CPU when installing it. Microcenter replaced it, no questions asked, even though I broke it myself. Later, I went to get one of their bare-bones boxes. But I still needed an O/S and Windows 2000 was $199. Then I saw Red Hat 8 on the shelf next to it for $49, and the rest is history...

Re:No tears here...

[themassiah]

Rockville, MD, by chance?

Re:No tears here...

[Deliveranc3]

We get $100 DVD spindles in Canada for 15-18$ Canadian. Plus the media levy. You U.S. comsumers are getting screwed.

Re:No tears here...

[Pollardito]

that sounds suspiciously like the going rate for CD spindles, are you sure you aren't mixing up the two?

Re:No tears here...

[nugneant]

Canadians use the metric byte, you ignorant and inferior American clown. Thusly they have no need for our pathetic American-brand DVD-recordables.

Re:No tears here...

[Deliveranc3]

DVD Media
          Description Qty. Add
        4X 4.7GB DVD-R 25 Pack Spindle $4.99

        8X 4.7GB DVD-R 100 Pack Spindle $23.49

        8X 4.7GB DVD-R 50 Pack Spindle $9.99

        Generic Grade A 8X 4.7GB DVD-R 50 Pack Spindle $9.99

        HP 16x 4.7GB DVD+R LightScribe Spindle 15-pack $10.99

        HP 16x 4.7GB DVD+R Spindle 50-pack $14.5

        HP 16x 4.7GB DVD-R LightScribe Spindle 15-pack $10.99

        HP 16x 4.7GB DVD-R Spindle 100-pack $23.5

        HP 16x 4.7GB DVD-R Spindle 50-pack $12.5

        HP 2.4x 4.7GB DVD+R w/ Jewel Case $1.5

        HP 8x 4.7GB DVD+R Spindle 50-pack $12.5

        HP 8x 4.7GB DVD-R LightScribe Spindle 15-pack $9.99

        HP 8x 4.7GB DVD-R Spindle 25-pack $8.49

        HP 8x 4.7GB DVD-R Spindle 50-pack $12.5

Pretty sure... http://www.filtechcomputer.com/

Re:No tears here...

[Rakarra]

To make matters worse, about a year or so ago they remodeled to add a Home Theatre area. Oh yeah, like I want to go to a store with "Comp" in its name to look for consumer electronics.

Yeah, they did that because the crazy CompUSA owner decided to buy the Good Guys, what I considered to be a pretty good A/V-home theater chain, and merge them in together for no reason. So you had this token Good Guys section in your CompUSA store. Great. And now both CompUSA and the Good Guys are gone!

Figures. Only place for prebuilt Windows boxes.

[Anonymous Coward]

Figures. Only place around here you can buy a prebuilt windows box and not get ripped off.

I guess I want to buy an XO next anyway.

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:The good old days

[zakezuke]

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. CompUSA wasn't alone in the rebate game. Much to my delight OfficeMax was right next to my local CompUSA and swore to not to rebates. I know bargain hunters loved playing the rebate game, but you know what I would gladly pay just a little more just to get the good price in the first place.

Re:The good old days

[fermion]

In the good old days, the computer store was the only place to find computer related merchandise, and the only place to get help. Now most stores have basic computer parts, not to mention newegg, amazon, et al.

The thing is that even in this heavily competitive environment, computer stores still make it. Why does CompUSA not? I think like so many stores, they are customer hostile, and yet do not have low prices to compensate. It is one thing to be accosted at best buy by insane managers, or at Wal Mart by the inmates, who want to frisk you on the way in and do a full body search on the way out. People will endure such humiliation for a good price. OTOH, CompUSA believes that the welcoming corral at the entrance is such a customer service amenity that they have nothing to compensate for.

Combine this with the locations, which in my experience are not prime, as they share parking with bigger stores, and staff which have always been nearly non existent, and one has a simple story of another retail outlet that simply could not provide sufficient levels of customer service, at sufficiently low cost, to stay competitive.

Re:The good old days

[John3]

Yeah, that was my experience as well. In the early years when I needed some cables, a replacement hard drive, networking gear, and other random components I could count on CompUSA to have a selection in stock. However, when I needed something in the circular it was usually out of stock, and it was always difficult to find someone on the sales floor to help with items that were secured or in the back room overstock.

As a retail store owner (hardware store) I could see that CompUSA was between a rock and a hard place. They wanted to offer local storefronts but the majority of their volume items were available online for less money (and with less hassle). They marked up their accessories quite a bit but the occasional geek buying a serial cable or patch bay doesn't pay the bills for the overhead to maintain a retail storefront. Add the big box electronic stores that sprung up (Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, WalMart, etc) and offered the top software and hardware and suddenly CompUSA didn't really offer much to the majority of the buying public.

I probably haven't visited the one remaining CompUSA in over two years...get most stuff online via Amazon or others with free or minimal shipping and no sales tax.

Re:The good old days

[beheaderaswp]

I used to work for CompUSA in the 1992 time frame, in Skokie IL.

Back then they were paying a living wage to their hardware salespeople (Or fairly close to it), had a decent tech department, and had a great Mac section.

I left in 1993 and ended up working for Apple Computer.

The funny thing was, I left just as Best buy was coming into the market, and CompUSA management was all freaked out about it. I didn't understand why Best Buy scared them (and still don't). CompUSA at the time was a "computer store" and a big one. Best Buy was what? Appliances, with some computers?

Back then CompUSA resembled Fry's more closely than Best buy, and they made the decision to go "retail". They could have gone the other way and been a little more "geeky".

Fry's, which currently looks like a big success story from my standpoint, flew a banner outside of their store at grand opening in Naperville IL which read: "Welcome IT Professionals".

I'm no fanboi for any retail chain. But there's some things I observed that first day shopping at the Naperville Fry's:

1. I ran into three of my contemporaries, all accomplished IT professionals.

2. When I talked to a guy in the computer components department about a logic board, he knew what chipsets were, which one I was using, why I chose it, and which boards used it.

3. It was amazing to me that I had the option of buying a 19" relay rack, an oscilloscope, coffee (Love their french roast!!), computer components, and a vacuum cleaner. (And have over the years bought some very strange permutations of geeky products, and rejoiced at the opportunity)

Strangest purchase combination: A DVD player, laser pointer, exercise DVD, tea, 19" relay rack, and a radio controlled car.

4. I noticed that under certain circumstances I'll forgo internet shopping for the brick and mortar shopping experience- even if I pay more.

Sadly, CompUSA never tried to touch the above market. As disjointed and strange as that product mix seems it *works*. CompUSA could have gotten a lot more techie in response to Best Buy. They didn't- and they lost.

Re:The good old days

[duffbeer703]

I worked for CompUSA in college, and totally agree with you. CompUSA was a great jumping off point for someone wanting to get into IT in the 96-98 timeframe. They had corporate sales and tech services guys who did network implementations and rollouts who were always recruiting from the smart folks in selling at retail. I occasionally run into someone who worked at that store ten years ago, and almost all of them are successful IT people.

I went in there again a few months ago for an el-cheapo video card, and noticed that the employees looked more salesy than they were in my day. Too bad -- that was a good place to work.

Re:The good old days

[Anonymous Coward]

Fry's is in Downers Grove. TigerDirect is in Naperville.

EggHead became NewEgg dummkopf

[Anonymous Coward]

Newegg is not so bad. A little slow, but not too bad.

Good riddance

[ricegf]

I purchased a computer from Computer City just before CompUSA bought them out - and it had trouble reading CDs. It was transferred from Computer City's shop to CompUSA's shop, where it languished for 13 weeks while I pleaded, cajoled and threatened. Finally liberated, I fixed it myself with a CD-ROM from Fry's (discovering in the process I didn't need some big box store to build PCs for me).

Fast forward two years. I'm building a new computer, and Fry's doesn't have the graphics card I want. In a charitable mood, I buy one from CompUSA. It doesn't work. I return it to find they've sold out, too - but insist on charging me a 15% restocking fee, even after I complain to the manager. I asked him if he would enjoy my $30 (since it was the last dollar they'd ever see from me), and he simply assured me they would. He never even apologized for the trouble they caused.

I never set foot in CompUSA again.

Perhaps I'm not the only potentially loyal customer they drove away through sheer greed and incompetence.

This isn't quite as bad as when Media Play closed

[Grimbleton]

their doors.

Though maybe I'll do the same as I did when my local Media Play shut their doors and get over $1500 in merchandise for under $300. Hooray liquidation sales!

CompUSA the last great retail computer store

[Anonymous Coward]

It is a sad day. Those who criticize CompUSA in favor of BestBuy don't understand that CompUSA carried products Best Buy wouldn't ever carry. CompUSA is/was a computer store, BestBuy is an electronics store and that's a night and day difference. Luckily, I live near a Fry's and those who don't know about Fry's will be suffering. CompUSA was useful in a pinch when you needed a new motherboard or CPU. Now Fry's will have full control over the build-it-yourself PC market.

Re:CompUSA the last great retail computer store

[ThePlague]

Best Buy use to be more a computer store, but they started emphasizing consumer electronics (TVs, etc) and appliances a number of years ago. I liked CompuUSA, or at least the one near me. It was a small store, but had a lot more basic components than the much larger Best Buy across the street. The prices weren't great, but they weren't horrible either.

People have the tendency to see Fry's as much better. I disagree. Their prices are often higher than even Best Buy for basic components. Granted, there's more selection at Fry's, but at sometimes outrageous prices.

lick my soul

[Anonymous Coward]

Good.

Fry's is the church at which we worship.

Wal*Mart

[Anonymous Coward]

heh. this reminds me of how wal*mart pulled out of the German market completely in 2006 or so because it was too competitive for them...

The Customer

[DeanFox]

The chain went through several CEOs and tried different turnaround strategies... Except one: Customers are not our enemy.

Re:The Customer

[information_retrieva]

Except one: Customers are not our enemy.
Yes, yes, yes, yes yes! Oh, if only I had some mod points!

Having shopped (in desparation) at CompUSA in both Illinois and Texas, I can say with some confidence that if they didn't think you were spending enough money (buying service plans or full-priced/over-priced items), they did everything they could to insult or humiliate you before you could get out the door.

I bought a laptop there once. After paying, the manager had to go get the item from the storage area. He actually said to me "No service plan! You can wait!" and walked off. For 15 minutes I had to stand and the end of the checkout counter while employees wandered over to snicker at me as other customers paid and left with their purchases.

Having already paid, it was unclear how to back out at that point. I did find it easy to decide to never shop there again. I'm glad the owners lost billions. I hope that manager ends up working at the most disgusting job he can imagine. I hope their good employees have the courage to start businesses where I'd be glad to shop.

Re:The Customer

[NormalVisual]

Having already paid, it was unclear how to back out at that point.

I think I would have walked immediately to the customer service desk for a refund, or failing that, called the manager over as I called my card issuer to have a chargeback performed.

You know, I'll bet those tools are still selling extended warranties even though they know they'll be shut down next month.

Re:The Customer

[Anonymous Coward]

Customers are not our enemy.

Oh, they ARE the enemy. You're just supposed to pretend that they're not so they they will fund payroll. Some people are better at it than others. My job would be SO much better if there were no customers, besides the fact that it wouldn't exist.

Guess they should've listened to Maddox

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=compusa_sucks

Warranties?

[ortholattice]

I wonder how they are going to handle CompUSA-specific warranties. For example, I just had a new audio system installed by them in my car. There will no longer be a physical store to take my car to, and of course I can't mail my car to some central repair depot. If a problem arises, hopefully I won't have to take Carlos Slim to small claims court. :)

And there are all those extended warranties they are always trying to push on you.

Re:Warranties?

[RebelWebmaster]

I can't speak to the specifics of your warranty, but more often than not, big box retailer extended warranties are actually handled through an outside firm, not by the retailer itself. For that reason, I'd imagine that if you've got an 800 number to call on your warranty form, you'll be OK for the future.

Opportunity

[reboot246]

Seems that it would be a great opportunity for Fry's to buy a bunch of empty stores and gain thousands of customers. We don't have Fry's around here, but I'd shop there if they were willing to move in after CompUSA moves out.

I shop at CompUSA by default -- it's the only computer store nearby. For most common things I just go to BestBuy or one of the bigbox office supply stores, but CompUSA has items that the others don't carry.

With no CompUSA and no alternative, it looks like even more of my buying will be online.

Re:Opportunity

[Megane]

The CompUSA stores are way too small for Fry's. A typical Fry's store (at least here in Texas) is the size of a Super Wal-Mart. Besides, in Texas, Fry's is already here (except that they badly need a store in San Antonio), so CompUSA hasn't been relevant here for at least five years.

Not that Fry's doesn't occupy the space of closed businesses. It's just that AFAIK, In(cr)edible Universe was the only place big enough for Fry's to occupy.

Re:Opportunity

[reboot246]

I had no idea they were so large -- their whole website fits inside my computer. :)

I can't say I will miss them

[Monoman]

My local CompUSA has been a terrible place to shop for many years. Nothing was priced, things were misplaced, and the workers were nowhere to be found on the floor or allowed to be helpful in any way.

My friends and I gave up on CompUSA years ago. Most folks I know only go there if they are in desperate need of something and can't wait for mail order.

What a shame. Now my local options will be whatever Best Buy and Circuit City carry. There will be the occasional mom&pop store that will open up but for the most part I will continue to mail order. I hear Fry's is a great store but I have never been to one nor do I expect them to open one in my area any time soon.

Re:I can't say I will miss them

[VampireByte]

"Most folks I know only go there if they are in desperate need of something and can't wait for mail order."

I learned to just deal with it and wait for mail order. There were a few times after swearing I'd never enter ConPukeSA again that I went there in "desperate need" and they didn't have the item or it was ridiculously overpriced and poor quality. I think it took me 3 or 4 times before it really sunk in that there was zero point in even going into that place and that all I needed to do was just go to newegg or zipzoomfly and wait a few days for the thing to arrive. Much less frustration to wait a few days than to enter that ripoff zone on the remote chance of finding what I needed.

Some of my worst experiences as a customer happened in that dump on Chicago avenue. I was glad when it closed. Sales people standing around in groups ignoring customers. Being yelled at (and I mean really loud scary screaming) by a manager when I complained about their changing a warranty agreement after it had been sold to me. Being yelled at by a sales guy with hot dog breath when I muttered "finally" after waiting over 30 minutes for assistance. Every time I walk by that closed-down store I smile.

Don't let the door hit them on the ass

[msimm]

Slimy business practices killed them. Even my non-technical friends know that a restocking fee is bullshit and they hired some of the dumbest people (maybe more recently) that I've ever had the displeasure of interacting with.

Good riddance.

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 the closing of CompUSA stores will mean that the retail Fry's 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:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[ehrichweiss]

We'll be stuck with Best Buy which means I won't be buying anything locally any more because I boycott that place even if they have a killer sale on something I must have. The last time I remember being there I went in to buy an HP financial calculator and the only salesperson in the whole place that I could find ignored me over some couple that wound up not buying the computer they were asking about. I wound up not buying the calculator from them since I was ignored and went elsewhere. Haven't been back since I think.

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[supersocialist]

You realize it's insane and pointless to boycott an individual store, let alone an entire chain, based on one employee's actions, right? Say "I'm not buying item X today because employee Y ignored me repeatedly" on your way out, at least; you're not making any noticeable difference in sales by your one-man boycott, so unless you tell the store about it, they don't know that they're losing business because some jerk is too busy to work.

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[aurizon]

Yeah, They did not have any multi-tasking salesmen. A good salesman can serve a number of clients in a spread time mode. People actually like this compared to having a salesman fawning over them.

This may well be commission driven, and so the law of unintended consequences kicks in the they go broke.
In my area they rafts of stock and did not respond to the inexorable decline in prices at other shops that bought there fresh stock in just-in-time amounts every week or so. That left them with no margein after selling from that batch for 8 weeks.

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[module0000]

One of the key reasons for poor salesmanship in your experiences at best buy is that employees do not receive commission. I worked at the Best Buy in North Little Rock, AR once upon a time: and was paid $10.15 an hour to explain the computer sales section to customers. I would clarify what the technical terms on the price tag meant, and was also to encourage them to buy it. They really put alot of stock in the "encouragement" part, I was to recommend credit, attempt to rationalize how this would be more valuable to them than say: that upgrade for their auto, a new deck, etc.

And...if they bought it, what did I get? Nothing, nada, zilch. Motivation to keep busting your balls? None.

I don't know if the *other* departments in the store operate on a commission scale, but computer sales, music equipment, and music sales certainly did not, so you'll find the employees sales enthusiasm on par with the sub-standard compensation.

That's my .02 cents.

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[CastrTroy]

Commission is a very rare thing in retail sales. I don't know why all salespeople think they should be working on commission. I think it leads to a bad customer experience. I know one place where the employees work on commission, and that's FutureShop. Yet I find that more often then not, the employees are trying to push the customers to buy something they don't need, like a more powerful computer, Monster cables, or the product warranty, because it brings them more commission. Just be happy you didn't work in clothing retail, where you don't get commission, and they expect you to buy their clothes too. Most people in the world don't work on commission, low end sales guys at Best Buy shouldn't be much different. If you actually know you're stuff, and are a good sales person, you should go work in a high end audio shop or something, because you'll probably get paid much better, and get treated much better as an employee.

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[Lord Apathy]

Yeah, They did not have any multi-tasking salesmen. A good salesman can serve a number of clients in a spread time mode. People actually like this compared to having a salesman fawning over them.

Tell me about it. When I was a sales droid at electronic boutique I demonstrate a C64, restock shelves, and ring up a box of floppy disks at the same time. And that was with my pants on. With them off I could do all that and, well, we won't go into that. The image is two disturbing.

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[iamacat]

How is just talking to people ball busting? You can actually make it kind of enjoyable by adding some diversions. Ask them how they are using their computers, than talk about their university, home business, family and so on. Along the way you can again recommend some extra products based on their lifestyle without being too pushy. And how many people are confident/financially secure enough to work on commission when they are in an entry level job to start with? You can be a technical genius and a people wizard, and still bring $0 rather than your $80 at the end of the day if you are working next to a dumb, cute girl. And then you will not always get prime weekday afternoon shifts. How much money will you make on Monday 2-6pm? How about on a rainy day or during a popular ballgame? I would think people earning $10/hour would value guaranteed income over a possible incentive bonus if average compensation is the same.

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[takshaka]

The last time I remember being there I went in to buy an HP financial calculator and the only salesperson in the whole place that I could find ignored me over some couple that wound up not buying the computer they were asking about.

I have yet to enter a BestBuy without being accosted by at least three salepersons. I think they are like cats, which invariably desire to sleep on the lap of the one person in the room with alergies. People like you who actually want to hold the pretty kitty are completely ignored.

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[Anonymous Coward]

demonstrate a C64, restock shelves, and ring up a box of floppy disks at the same time

Oooh, impressive. Aren't you the epitome of the fucking Übermensch?

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[cayenne8]

"Commission is a very rare thing in retail sales....Just be happy you didn't work in clothing retail, where you don't get commission, and they expect you to buy their clothes too."

You said what I was just about to post. Most retail is NOT on commission. I sold clothes as a kid, and it was a great job I thought...helped me later in life with being able to be a 'public facing' person, having people skills, and not being afraid of getting up in front of a crowd. You get a discount for clothing at those places which I liked...it also showed me how to dress professionally too. All around it was a good deal I thought.

And while you don't get commission, you DO get raises based on your sales....so, it does help you to sell the products. I worked retail and in the restaurant business, and getting out there and selling does help you later I think....and are great jobs for going through school.

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[ehrichweiss]

I'm not talking about one episode. I'm talking about almost every single visit I've had since the store opened. The first few months were alright but after that it was like pulling teeth. So screw them.

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[ehrichweiss]

That's a damn good analogy.

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[ehrichweiss]

I should add: I don't bother telling them any more. I got tired of complaining years ago. If I don't like something I vote with my dollars, not words. If they don't notice the lost income then that's their deal, not mine. If they gave me some form of payment, discount or the like to give them feedback then I might have considered it, otherwise they're going to be left in the dark.

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[supersocialist]

That's very reasonable; I based my reply on one incident, which was probably a silly assumption. My local Wendy's, by way of example, messes up pretty infrequently, and I've gotten vouchers and so forth any time I've complained. I could swear they mess up less than when I moved to the area, but that could be placebo or wishful thinking. My walmart has *not* improved and I end up driving 30 minutes out of my way to support a different one. (Speaking of pointless boycotts...)

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[Sri Ramkrishna]

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

I suggest you go to PCH Cables (http://store.pchcables.com/) for your cable needs. They are located in Hillsboro and generally can get any kind of cable you like. (If you work for a tech company I suggest dumpster diving. :-)

sri

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[CaptPungent]

I once worked in a computer retail shop on commission, and I completely disagree.

If having a commission causes the salesperson to be pushy to get a sale, then most people walk out and they don't get the sale. If you are faced with a salesperson that wants to sell to you, they will tend to answer any questions you have, they will not lie to you because you will return it and they lose the commission, and will do anything to keep you coming back. If they are pushy, then walk away. That teaches them quickly.

The fact is, most sales people suck, and most sales people are not on commission. What does that tell you? If you walk away from a shitty sales person not on commission, they don't care. If you walk away from a shitty salesperson on commission, they learn very quickly how to be better or lose their salary.

As a salesperson, I often would knock prices down for a customer, even though I only get a commission on the sale price, so lower price == lower commission. I would throw in free printer cables, again losing sales. I would do whatever I could do to make the customer happy, because I learned quickly that being a kickass salesman to one customer meant they come back two weeks later with their friends/family with my name as the person to ask for. Or, sometimes I wouldn't sell anything to a person when they came in, I'd just answer all questions for them, or even FIX their computers and talk them out of buying unnecessary items. Why? Because a month later the same customer would be back to buy anything and everything from me, thus bringing in a LOT of cash to me, and the store. I was top salesman for my entire period of employment there, because I had a family to feed. I competed in my small Mom n Pop computer store against the Best Buy that was across the street. If non-commissioned sales reps were better, then why did they choose to stop at my store and buy from me when there's a Best Buy right over there selling things $5-$10 cheaper?

Again, most salesmen are not on commission, yet most of them completely suck ballsacks. Tell me again, how is that the commission's fault?

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[Kadin2048]

You realize it's insane and pointless to boycott an individual store, let alone an entire chain, based on one employee's actions, right? Say "I'm not buying item X today because employee Y ignored me repeatedly" on your way out, at least; you're not making any noticeable difference in sales by your one-man boycott, so unless you tell the store about it, they don't know that they're losing business because some jerk is too busy to work. That's a representative example, in my opinion. Their stores might as well be staffed by zombies and the other customers aren't much better. No, thanks.

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[The One and Only]

I suspect that a lot of us (especially on Slashdot) get annoyed when salesmen "add some diversions" and engage in completely irrelevant discussions about our family with us when we are trying to buy something.

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[bladesjester]

I seem to have the same problem in that store. They will make a bee-line for me, completely ignoring other people around me.

I think part of it is the way I tend to dress, though. Nice polo shirt and khakis or slacks in the summer and in the winter it's a nice sweater or button up shirt, khakis or slacks, and my leather coat.

The funny thing is that the only reason I really go in there anymore is to get blank media when it's a loss leader for them because they've tried to weasel out of the only two things I've ever gotten a warranty for.

I figure it's better than boycotting them, and I can almost always find a use for 100 CDs when I only pay $5 for them. =]

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[Tim Browse]

I know I do, but then I've read Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini, so I'm even more aware of when I'm being played.

Reading that book changes the way you deal with people like that - you tick off the strategies in your head as they use them...

"Oh, there we go, 'Enforced Scarcity'...check! I wonder which one is next..."

It's a great book btw - even tells you how to make sure someone helps you if you have a heart attack :-)

Re:My experience is that Com-pooza is horrible.

[iamacat]

I guess a lot of it depends on weather their interest is genuine. Which is a lot easier to believe when the store makes it known that the salespeople are not working on commission.

Compusa East Hanover.

[cabazorro]

The closed a few months ago. I took my i-mac (egg shape) for repair there and they actually ordered the part and repaired (for $300 Dlls! and 65 dollars up front just for diagnostics). The 2nd time around I took there my HP pavillion PIII laptop with a broken adapter jack and they turned me away ( it was a laptop ). I took the laptop to a momNpop shop in Bound Brook NJ and they guy actually opened the laptop, replace the jack piece with a soldering gun! He charged $240 and paid them gladly since I really thought that laptop was a goner. I arrived home to discover some keyboard keys won't work! He must have bent some cable somewhere while putting the thing back together. I just snapped a usb keyboard and considered the matter closed ( I just used that laptop to rip dvd's to divx ) I would never buy an HP laptop. The main reason I stayed away from CompuUSA to anything but repairs was their service people. Teenagers who could not tell the difference between ATA and SATA. Going to CompuUSA felt like going to Blockbuster, just crappy all over. We know that the cheapest home router you'll get them at best-buy or Fry anyway. A video card? Get one online.

wow, this brings back a lot of memories...

[lumbricus]

Reading this headline brought a quick rush of angry memories and a tinge of guilty satisfaction.

Guilty because of course I know not every, or even most employees behave in the manner of the following story. I'm sure many of them are decent, honest people.

In any case I had many terrible experiences at CompUSA, including what I would consider to be the greatest insult I ever received in a retail situation.

In undergrad (around 1999) I went to the Emeryville, CA CompUSA to pick up a flat-screen CRT (remember when those were cool?) that was on sale for a reasonable price.
Of course when I got there, there were none within reach, so I had to go ask a salesman to pull one down off the storage shelves above the displays. Now, in order to appreciate what comes next, I should say that I'm a pretty nice little asian guy, bordering on appearing naive.
I was all around the store, and finally find the entire sales staff apparently having a little BS-ing time between two isles. The conversation quiets as I approach:

"Hi, I'm looking for this monitor (I point to the ad), but they're up above the display, could someone pull one down for me?"

"Sure, I'd be happy to"... all smiles at me.
Then, in full voice, right in front of me, that salesman turns to his buddies and says:
"Service plan?"
His buddies, wearing the biggest shit-eating grins, look up up and down for a second and respond:
"Service plan" says one...
"Service plan" says the other...

I was so dumbfounded that all three of them would just stand there and smile and literally call me "sucker" right to my face, I didn't respond.

I was pissed. Seeing red, clenched fists pissed. But I still wanted the monitor, so I figured I would have the last laugh after letting the guy pull the monitor and carry it up to he cashier before telling him politely, "NO".

So he pulls it down, we start walking up the the cashier, and I don't say a word, waiting for him to start giving his pitch. Halfway to the cashier, he mumbles:

"you know, we have this protection plan, it's really great..."
I quietly respond: "uh-huh?"

That's it, not another word. We get to the cashier, the salesman puts the monitor on the conveyor, and shouts to the cashier (who's dealing with customers ahead of me):
"Protection plan!"

Was that it?!! Were they really going to charge me for a protection plan without actually ASKING ME if I wanted it?

You can imagine what happens after that. The Cashier rings me up, and as the numbers flash by I ask: "What's this $45 ($45!!!) charge?"

"That's the protection plan you wanted"

"Take it off, I don't want it, he never asked me if I wanted it, and I never said I wanted it."

"but he said..."

"I don't care what he said"

"but I can't"

"are you saying you won't sell me this item at the advertised price without a $50 surcharge?" I had never nor since raised my voice at a service person, but I was going up involuntarily, and just enough so that when I turned my head in frustration, I noticed that I had the attention of everyone in line.

At that point the cashier noticed this also, and quickly removed the charge.
I had been looking forward to this monitor for a while, so I took it home, but I couldn't shake the anger I felt when I looked at it. By evening, I got so sick of it I brought it back. (I also don't return stuff).

Just remembering the event almost ten years later, my hands are shaking.

Bah! I don't feel guilty any more.

Dear CompUSA: Suck failure assholes.

Won't you think of the employees?

[IanthePez]

As much as some of you seem to dislike CompUSA, please don't forget that the people who worked there are now out of a job after the holidays. I am one of those. I've worked there for 4 years, and it's been a decent place to work. RIP CompUSA, you will be missed by at least 1.

Re:Won't you think of the employees?

[TheSharpCrayon]

-Seems like a great opportunity for the new local Mom and Pop shops to provide the services and supplies that the over priced and underserviced big box stores provide.

Re:Won't you think of the employees?

[Mix Master Nixon]

My heart goes out to you this holiday season. As lousy as CompUSA is, or rather was, there were a handful of competent people who worked there. It's a pity that you guys suffer for management's failings. These days, brick and mortar has to be about customer service and speed, not what comes to mind when I think of CompUSA. If you don't make people actively dread coming to your store, more of them tend to do so. Your management utterly betrayed you by treating customers as the enemy and hiring too many people who had no clue what they're talking about, making you and the other four decent employees look bad by association... all the while fattening their own pockets. Gilded parachute time for those guys.

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!

Au revoir, auf wiedersen or adios

[jhylkema]

or the American version of that one, "adios, motherfucker!"

Too Expensive

[karlwilson]

I never bought a single thing from CompUSA because their prices were just too ridiculous. Just as an example, their FX5200 [http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=cat3&product_code=338091] is $80.00 on their website. 80 fricken dollars for a video card that can barely run games like Battlefield 2... Give me a break. It's no wonder they're going out of business.

Supply-constrained product?

[tepples]

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 In the cases you're talking about, were other chains also sold out of them? Did you check eBay to see if scalpers were offering the product at a significant premium?

MY experience

[DoofusOfDeath]

What I remember is a service manager who said he'd look into something for me, and then didn't. And then when I confronted him with the fact that he wasn't following through on a promise, he didn't care. Neither did the store manager. It was clear that in their minds the problem was with me, rather than their crappy service or in not keeping their word.

I don't much care what happens to the corporation. I want justice for those employees.

Re:MY experience

[hey!]

Sure. It's the "last mile" problem of computer retailing. You can outsource every other job except for the people in the store. To sell inexpensively, you have to hire cheap people.

Re:MY experience

[failedlogic]

This is a scenario that plagues the entire service industry - wether its sales, customer service or retail. I've worked in the first two sectors for close to a decade. I'm one of the few who actually follows up with people and gets them the right information. I'm quite aghast when I hear a colleague or when I call a company and they say "I'll follow up with you" when I know, in fact, that they will not.

I've encountered this even more so in retail. I guess this could be explained because salaries tend to be lower, employees tend to be less qualified, and with 'incentives' of commissions on their low pay - the likelihood of BS answers to get the sale are all the more likely.

Rest assured, the problem is them not you. Most probably these managers already know that but they want to follow the company policy to a "T". I'm sure company policies are strictly followed at retail especially at CompUSAs and similar stores. Whatever unethical practices they have, they have to make sure all stores follow it equally. After all, they have a reputation to uphold. ;)

Re:MY experience

[reboot246]

But they hired cheap people and still had high prices!

Re:MY experience

[itsnotmi]

I had a completely different experience. My wife had her PC shipped over from Italy, and the processor became dislodged. I was out of town, so she took it in to CompUSA, and the guy (I think his name was Andy) remounted it without charging a dime. He calls occasionally just to check on the PC, stops by (usually when i'm at work...) oshit.

Birth to Death

[cwsulliv]

CompUSA started out as a small storefront in Dallas in the mid-1980s named "Soft Warehouse". They sold IBM-PC software at a significant discount from the MSRP then being charged by the local "mom & pop" computer shops. They grew rapidly and were moving into larger quarters about every three months, and started adding other computer-related stuff to their shelves. When they went public they changed the name to CompUSA, in part because the "Soft Warehouse" name was trademarked in another state.

They seemed to follow the common pattern where a successful specialized discounter becomes a full-range semi-discounter and then a full-range non-discounter. Then dies.

Knowledgeble salespeople?

[dreamchaser]

When was this and in what alternate dimension did it take place. CompUSA has *never* had salespeople who knew what they were doing, with a few rare exceptions.

supply and demand

[night_flyer]

computers have gotten cheap & people dont need to upgrade their old machines, makes for a very bad catch 22.

Why aren't more people mentioning Newegg?

[scottv67]

I live near Milwaukee so I can choose between CompUSA, Worst Buy and a local computer chain called Milwaukee-PC (which never has anything in inventory). I don't shop at any of those stores. I buy *everything* from Newegg. Newegg has an awesome selection, good pricing and, best of all, I don't have to deal with cashiers asking me if I want to buy the extended service plan.

When I am building a new machine at home, I put together my Newegg shopping list and then place the order with Newegg (sometimes in the middle of the night when retail stores are not open). A few days later, the boxes arrive at my house. The Newegg warehouses are on both coasts but the parts always arrive in a few days.

Shopping online also gives the consumer a chance to read the comments and reviews left by other people who purchased that product. If there is a "five golden egg" rating next to a product and five hundred or a thousand customers have bothered to rate the product, you can be pretty sure that the component is going to be of high quality.

I have been shopping with Newegg since the days when they shipped free black Newegg t-shirts, pens, stickers and other swag with their orders. I've never been disappointed by Newegg. I have returned a few parts that were DOA and Newegg's return policy is great.

I don't shop locally any more for computer parts. I don't even bother to look at Worst Buy or CompUSA. Newegg.com is the answer for me.

Re:Why aren't more people mentioning Newegg?

[hey!]

Why aren't more people mentioning Newegg?

Well, like "duhhh".

Sorry, it just had to be said.

Re:Why aren't more people mentioning Newegg?

[__aasmho4525]

i suppose i should throw in my support of ZipZoomFly.com

like newegg, they have a good selection, very good customer service (i've never had a goofed up order, but did once receive a product that had some sort of odd problem from the factory and they immediately provided me an RMA and replacement).

finally, by the time you count their 0-dollar shipping, their prices are almost ALWAYS the lowest anywhere. i did a month of research before i assembled my last machine, and i simply couldn't find a better deal on average than theirs on just about every component...

Re:Why aren't more people mentioning Newegg?

[y86]

NewEgg for life!

I've accidentally order the wrong product from them (some DDR2 ram not regular DDR). 100% my fault, and since they see my record of sales attached to my account they waived the restocking fee since I'm a good customer.

I don't care if NewEgg doesn't have a store near me. I get personal treatment on my account (I'm not a big spender but they get between 2-3k out of me a year for random projects I work on.) This is something that doesn't happen at ANY brick and mortar retailer(probably since their turn over is so incredibly high).

Anyway, long live NewEgg, I hope they never suck.

Re:Why aren't more people mentioning Newegg?

[Thugthrasher]

While Newegg is great, and I do prefer online retailers in general, there are reasons why it's nice to have an actual brick & mortar store to go to. Some people enjoy actually seeing things in person before they buy them, for example. In my case, I do a lot of shopping online, but if I need something QUICKLY (that day, or on a weekend) then I go to an actual store. There are times when waiting even one day is extremely frustrating or even impossible. Brick & mortar stores hit a different market than online retailers, which is why they do need to exist. Until the day Newegg can get me some RAM in 6 hours or gives me a way to order without having to use my monitor if it dies.

Re:Why aren't more people mentioning Newegg?

[MacGyver2210]

I live in Madison. I bought my PC at CompUSA and it IS a Milwaukee PC computer. I got it on Manager's special for $499(Dual P4, 80GB HDD, 512mb RAM, cool custom case). I couldn't possibly complain about a deal like that, considering I got it in 2004, and it's the computer I'm writing from right now(though it has been upgraded beyond belief and the case has been heavily modified). Since then, I have gotten several other computers from Milwaukee PC directly. I don't know what bad experiences you've had, but I thoroughly enjoy their products. I am with you you though, NewEgg is about to get a whole lot more business. I can't wait for the closing sales though. It's my chance to make that USB Drive RAID array I've been wanting to try for really cheap. -R

Big screen TV and DVD sales did them in.

[Shivetya]

That is what happened in major metro areas like Atlanta. They simply could not compete with retailers who were pros in that industry; like Best Buy and Circuit City. They even picked up console games in plenty yet failed to price compete there. Worse their selection was usually not as good either.

Combined with an industry that moved away from component sales. Yet CompUSA didn't see this and expanded their component offerings too late for the game.

Finally they seemed completely at a loss when it came to pricing. The big box retailers had already picked up the games and sold them along side lower priced systems. Best Buy got smart a year or so ago and moved away from rebates while forums were replete with complaints about rebates at CompUSA.

CompUSA is a great example of a business that adapted wrong to a changing retail environment. They went the right direction but without the guidance necessary to do it correctly.

Re:Big screen TV and DVD sales did them in.

[MtViewGuy]

You are absolutely right. CompUSA could not compete against companies with massive buying power such as Best Buy and Circuit City, which at least knew about why selling HDTV's are a good thing (after all, with analog TV going away in February 2009, there's even more incentive to buy newer sets now).

Also an Ex-employee comment

[Aereus]

I worked there for like 15 months back in the 96-97 period. Software sales was probably the most pleasant area to work since you just got to stand around helping answer questions. Made the day fly by generally. Hardware sales also wasn't too bad, but you had the added pressure of being forced to offer those replacement warranties on everything you sold. Cashiering was the worst because you stand in one place, and they make you double check that warranties were offered, and you get yelled at by the managers if you don't try to sell a $5 replacement warranty on a $10 mouse, etc. My guess is they had stores like Best Buy and Walmart diversify into the computers and other products CompUSA was known for, while the CompUSA stores tend to be fairly small, so trying to offer more stuff lead to a cramped and overfilled store that wasn't pleasant to navigate for customers.

Now where will I go to get gouged??

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

I guess its back to Radio Shack

Re:Now where will I go to get gouged??

[ScrewMaster]

Good luck with that. They stopped being a parts store a loooong time ago.

It's funny though ... about forty years ago I remember walking into the big Allied Radio Shack in Bethesda, Maryland with my father, back when they were the retail arm of Allied Radio, before Tandy bought the name. Dad was an electronics engineer, and would often go there to pick up a few parts for something he was working on. Anyway, the place was huge, the rows of shelves full of electronic parts seemed to go on forever. I will always remember the big tube tester up in front, and how Dad always let me press the TEST button. It would light up, and I liked the way the needles moved on the panel meters. I was only seven or so. Things sure have changed since then.

Up 'til the early nineties, there were a number of major retail parts stores in my area. Joseph's Electronics, Tri-State Electronics ... all places you could buy everything from a resistor to an oscilloscope . They've all gone the way of the dodo bird, though. You kinda have to have active industry and manufacturing to need places like that, and hobbyists that need stuff for their projects. Hell, at that point even Radio Shack was still a decent parts store, even if was mostly cheap stuff, but all they do now is cell phones and DirecTV subscriptions. Useless.

Am I the only one who Loved CompUSA?

[Jopojelly]

I loved CompUSA. When they moved out of my area, I was crushed. Sure, everything was usually expensive, but every week the whole back page of their ad was "Free after rebate" stuff. I honestly looked forward to the day when CompUSA's ad would come in the newspaper (I think it was Thursday) Things that I remember getting for free (except some sales tax) : hundreds of CD-Rs, Hundreds of Jewel cases, loads of cool software, an MP3 player, a cell phone, CD-writer, etc. Some cheap stuff: 200GB hard drive for $30 on Black Friday 2005. 2 GB ram for...dont remember, and a thumb drive for $5.

Re:Am I the only one who Loved CompUSA?

[penguinchris]

Stores haven't been having free after rebate stuff for at least a couple of years now. I miss that too. I always kept track of and got all my rebate checks.

Best thing I ever got at Comp USA - they had a midnight sale the day that Windows XP was first released, and I had no interest in Windows XP, but they had an Unreal Tournament collection that included the original Unreal, for free. No rebates, I just walked out with a free game, full-size box and everything. Other than that, I've not really been impressed with their store.

Re:EggHead became NewEgg dummkopf

[nuzzy]

I like NewEgg. The only thing that makes me laugh is that you have to pay extra to "expedite" the processing, not shipping, of your order. Shouldn't they be doing that already???

Finally

[darkdelusions]

I will be happy to finally see them go. Everytime I go into the store to get something I need right away its never a pleasent experiance. One night I went into the store to get a cheap nic card so I picked up one of there in store brand and One of there sales wessels was tried to lecture me on why this card was such crap. I was like I do not care it going in a crappy computer.

Good Riddance

[CyberDave]

All I can say is..."good riddance". I've been on a self-imposed boycott of CompUSA for about 2 and a half years now, after the dickhead of a manager at the CompUSA in Spokane, WA, wouldn't sell me the AppleCare package for my iPod and fed me so many lines of BS that I just wanted to jump over the counter and punch the guy after I was done talking to him.

I kinda needed the AppleCare quickly at the time, though, since my iPod's hard drive was flaking out. It was still under the 1-year factory warranty (but nearing the end of it), but I didn't want to pay $40 or whatever the service fee is after 6 mos to do the exchange by mail with Apple, and thought the AppleCare package would be a good deal, since it'd essentially just cost me an extra 20 bucks for another year of warranty service. I thought it'd be quick and easy to get AppleCare in a retail store (and CompUSA was the only one in my area that carried Apple stuff), rather than waiting a few days for Apple to ship it to me. I was wrong.

The manager at the CompUSA I went to kept insisting that I had to have purchased the iPod at CompUSA within the past 90 days, or Apple would deny the AppleCare registration. I tried to explain to him that's not how AppleCare works (the only thing in the box is a registration code, and Apple doesn't care where or when the iPod was purchased, other than that it was still under the 1-year factory warranty) -- having worked at an Apple reseller (my university bookstore) for several years, I knew this. Still wouldn't sell it to me. He tried to tell me that CompUSA was somehow different in this regard and that Apple would "know". Tried to convince him that I would take the risk of it not registering...still no go. Then he tried to tell me it was just store policy not to sell AppleCare if the iPod had not been purchased within 90 days from that store. Tried to get him to tell me where the hell this "policy" was actually written down...it should come as no surprise that he didn't even bother to try to look it up. Even tried, at one point, to tell me that if I had purchased the iPod more than 90 days ago, regardless of where I bought it, then the only place I could buy the AppleCare enrollment kit was directly from Apple.

At this point, I was somewhat set on proving a point and getting AppleCare immediately, so I went to my campus computer lab nearby, logged onto CompUSA.com, and ordered the AppleCare package online for in-store pickup. Half an hour later, I was back in the store at the customer service desk, trying to pick up my online order from the (relatively clueless) salesperson there. I almost got away with it, until somewhere near the end of the checkout, either the salesguy flagged down the manager (or the manager happened to wander by--it was so long ago I can't quite remember), noticed it was me and what I was trying to do again, and shot me down. Apparently "the website was wrong" and shouldn't have let me order AppleCare.

Since then, I haven't set foot in a CompUSA and moved even more of my computer parts purchases to places like NewEgg. Of course, now that I moved to Seattle, I have a Fry's nearby, and it's actually _fun_ to just wander around that store.

I kept telling myself after that incident that I would write to CompUSA's corporate offices and complain about that manager, but I never got around to it. Oh, well. The kicker is that the following Monday, I went to my University Bookstore, walked up to my old manager and asked they had any AppleCare enrollment kits for iPod. They happened to have one or two in stock, so about 10 minutes later, after sharing a laugh about the idiocy of the CompUSA manager, I was back at my desk across campus and my iPod was now covered under AppleCare.

Ah, the venting...it feels good.

*end rant*

What was their deal with taking credit cards?

[TMeistro]

15 years ago I can understand why the might need an imprint of your card - but their refusal to give up the process was one of the reasons I hated going in there. A few years ago the store here got swipe readers and I thought... great! An then the cashier asked for my card - to imprint it on the reciept! WTF! Just plain stupid!

Re:What was their deal with taking credit cards?

[kevorkian]

in truth its not stupid. Most likely they have a clause in the merchant account with whatever CC processor that gives them a better discount rate if they imprint cards. it wins then more charge back cases. Ya know when someone has a claim that they did not buy a product or something. It helps to prove that the card was indeed there at the time of the transaction.Its all about the $$$

Re:EggHead became NewEgg dummkopf

[Attila Dimedici]

I like NewEgg. The only thing that makes me laugh is that you have to pay extra to "expedite" the processing, not shipping, of your order. Shouldn't they be doing that already??? I have seen that too and have always wondered exactly what I would be getting for that extra money. I already get my orders two days after I order them (I generally place my orders in the late afternoon).

A Question....

[CuriousCuller]

I'm from Europe, so I don't really get it... but please, help me. Why is it that the majority of Americans (and many Europeans to be fair) seem to think that only "Big Name" chain stores can provide these essential services to them? As far as I can see this model seems to cater only for corporate greed mongers, and the crappy service you recieve seems directly related to this. What's was flaunted as capitalism has emerged as an oligopoly of one or two market leaders at best. I read here that people have only 2 stores to choose from in their town, or not even that many. Wow, there's choice in action. Might as well sell only two brands of cola and be done with it. You say "but hey, it's cheaper this way..." and sure, the chain stores might save you a few cents due to their vast economy of scale, but what about everything you loose to tighten the purse strings?

You complain about the service, but greedy corporate chains don't pay much, so who works there? As the old adage goes, pay peanuts and you get monkeys. Moreover, as they're the only store in town you can like it lump it as far as they're concerned. No wonder they treat the public with contempt, we let them. Perhaps its time we returned to the old days of smaller, private stores??? After all, if my business relies on a good reputation and repeat trade I'm likely to offer a good service in return. Yes, things might cost a little more, but then you have to also ask the question about whether you're paying the true cost of anything these days. For example, I live in the Sub-Carpathian region, but amazingly bananas are cheaper than apples in the supermarket! Eh? Same for most products now, be it computers, food, clothes... all the same, someone gets screwed somewhere because the end user is tight fisted. Maybe, just maybe, we have to stop thinking about everything in simple $$$$ terms. People say they saved x number of cents on a product, but wasted x number of hours (and stress) when it didn't work, went wrong etc.

I for one will continue to support my local, privately run computer store. I pay a little more, but I get to talk to a guy who knows what he's on about, can find what I want and competently fix my machine when it's wrong. I save a lot this way, time and blood pressure namely, and as an added bonus I know a decent chap's getting paid fairly for his work. Chain stores will never compete with that level of service, not in a million years.

Re:A Question....

[Ferretman]

Gotta agree with the general sentiment of supporting small, local stores here (though not the silly rant against capitalism). There are two small, local stores here that I frequent regularly with satisfactory results, rarely venturing into the big stores like CompUSA unless there was something in particular I was looking for.

Re:A Question....

[BenFranske]

The problem is that in the United States the local shops have several things going against them. First, the selection is often not all that good which is a problem for informed consumers who usually want one of a couple options none of which may be carried by the small retailer. Second, and perhaps more important to Americans is the price difference. It's usually a lot more than the few cents you cite. Often a product will cost at least tens of dollars more and depending on the price of the product perhaps $50 or $100 more from a local store. These are not insignificant price differences and people, at least Americans, will put up with just about anything to save $5. Unless your local store is within $5 on just about everything you will loose customers to the big store no matter how much better your service is, many are not. This is not to say there are not successful small, local computer (and other) stores but there are a limited number of them, usually in densely populated cities making it much more convenient for most consumer to shop at the (much closer and much less less expensive) big box retailer.

Re:A Question....

[vranash]

Honestly, around here it's because the small box stores have *WORSE* return policies, charge way too much for service and whatnot, and generally treat their customers as bad or worse than the big box stores.

At least that's been my experience. Best thing to happen to me was having Fry's move in here back in '99. Had a defective mobo that turned out to have been a return, as well as being sold a Rage IIC (Something I didn't figure out until much later, and hadn't returned, heh.) which after having the employees tell me they couldn't take back, led to speaking to the manager, who basically stated he didn't have to do anything, he'd only take it back for store credit, blah blah. This finally led to my dad coming in, having left the item in the car, convincing the guy to take it back (he was assuming we'd have to make another trip, and could pull this BS again.) and returned the item for cash.

Long story short, went to fry's, got a new mobo, fought through a 2 hour opening week line, and came home happy (with a *MUCH* better mobo for the same or lower price!). I've had plenty of hassles at Fry's themselves, but as long as you don't buy a warranty, watch out for open box tags (which they at least *USED* to put on everything returned.), and don't mind the wait, they tend to handle their returns VERY effectively with a minimum of hassle (After about the third return they'll look at you funny, but if you're on the third return of the same defective type item, you're best off getting your money back anyways! Just make sure you test the item ASAP since I think it's a 7 day return policy on electronics.)

Re:A Question....

[pla]

Why is it that the majority of Americans (and many Europeans to be fair) seem to think that only "Big Name" chain stores can provide these essential services to them?

Because in the US, only huge chain stores survive. We can largely blame ourselves for that, but such it stands.

Small stores have two major problems... First, they can't get as good prices for small quantities as WallyWorld can when they buy out a manufacturer's entire production run, so they need to survive on a thinner margin. Second, they have less ability to absorb losses - When Walmart eats the cost of a high-end TV, it shows up as a miniscule blip on the monthly report; when a Mom-n-Pop does the same, it could well mean ending that month in the red.

Re:A Question....

[berberine]

I've got to agree with you on that one. The smaller stores around here also try to rip you off far worse than the big box store and, when they're out of business a few years, who do you go to then? That said, I usually buy my parts online from places like Fry's or New Egg.

Re:A Question....

[Quince alPillan]

I'll tell you the reason that I don't go to my local "Mom and Pop" computer stores:

Selection

I'm a gamer. When I go to a computer store, I'm looking for a computer or computer parts that are the top of the line. If I go into a "Mom and Pop" computer store, they have nothing but refurbished junk from ten years ago and computers that are so slow, Dell and Gateway won't sell them as cheap end computers. I used to go to the local store when I knew nothing about computers to have my computer fixed, but I stopped when I learned how to fix it on my own. Hell, they usually still had machines running Windows 98 just a couple years ago because they were too slow to run Windows XP. Sure, the local store may order a part for you and save you the shipping, but the price is usually no better than what I can get online and have it shipped to my door.

Now, that isn't to say that I bought a lot from Comp USA or Best Buy. They never seemed to have anything top end either...but every once in a while I would come across a top of the line part that had been out for a few months for cheap. I bought both my power supply and sound card at Comp USA.

Re:A Question....

[vranash]

I actually ran into that with a local 'surplus' computer store I'd been going to for like ten years. Had needed some SDRAM to fix a friends computer, and I actually went to them and bought *BRAND NEW* memory, since they had a small side-business of new parts as well. Got it home and found out it was the new non-standard 4 chip SDRAM, that only worked with like the last year or two of SDRAM chipsets. Mind you at the time I just thought I'd gotten bad memory. Went back and tried to return it, and they told me they couldn't take it back for replacement/refund. That I'd probably broken it myself, and then finally spent a half hour trying to get a 'test computer' running to test the memory, which wouldn't boot up :P In addition they told me I'd have to wait 2 weeks for them to send it back to their Santa Clara store to have *THEM* test it before I could get said replacements.

Anyhow let's just say I was not amused, and didn't go back for a good 3 years (And haven't bought anything since, given that at least half the merchandise HASN'T CHANGED IN ALL THOSE YEARS!). And having heard stories from an ex-employee there, I'm not real motivated to ever start up again (Unless it's buying something that actually *WOULD* be worth the money, something they haven't had in a good 5 years.)

Re:A Question....

[Anonymous Coward]

I live in the UK and I always try to shop in locally owned stores. A story:

I regularly rent DVDs from a local shop. One evening I was a bit late and they'd already shut. The owner saw me walking down the road, stopped his car, asked me if I wanted a DVD, told me to jump in, drove me to the shop, opened up again and rented me a DVD. That's service.

Re:A Question....

[cdrguru]

Smaller stores have considerably higher costs. The problem is the building is pretty much going to cost the same whether they are selling $50,000 of merchandise a day or $1000. Sure, there is some scaling up for a larger retail store but it isn't linear. Both need phones. Both need to have lots of other things as well.

The next thing is if you are buying 100 pieces from a manufacturer you get one price but if you are buying 100,000 pieces they give you a better price. This means the small privately run stores cannot compete on price - and in today's Internet-driven shopping experience price is almost the only thing that matters. So you can buy your item for $100 or for $125 - which are you going to choose.

Customer service is almost irrelevent. If you have a problem with your purchase does it matter if they are real friendly about it when telling you that there isn't much that can be done or if they are rude about it? These days most things are non-repairable at least outside of a repair depot catering to that specific device. The margins are so thin nobody can "do you a favor" and replace something that isn't under warranty. So customer service doesn't mean all that much.

Re:A Question....

[celle]

I'll tell you something. I grew up in central Nebraska(1980s). We had private stores then. Everything was outdated by several years from what was available on the coasts and cost more here after years than when it was first released anywhere new. The sales people often knew what they were talking about, usually to arrogance, but often only about what they sold which was limited. They were also more about what they preferred than what you wanted. As for repairs, the service often was "bailing wire" (cheap) type repairs, they often worked but the quality was lacking. Most of the employees and managers were nice and were genuine in trying to get you what you wanted but knowledge, sales, and experience of anything besides their local area was lacking. Being small did make them more responsive to a customers needs but the small sales floor, limited knowledge and experience, limited access to products definitely made for a weak experience. When BestBuy and Circuit city showed up I didn't even know so much up-to-date equipment existed and was available for so little. At first the sales people knew what they were talking about too, went down afterward though. Good-by to the small private retail stores and don't come back except for specialities which is a better niche for their limitations anyway. As for service, although BestBuy has done well by me on several occasions(2004-2006) but was obviously dropping off on the last visit, the big companies suck.

Some background and rant: I worked at a small electronics shop for years (1990s-early 2000s) taking gripe from BB and CC customers for their cheap crap and shitty service never mind abuse from manufacturers for whom we seemed to be their unofficial complaint department. We did what we could and often went out of our way(manager and employees) to help customers but were often hogtied by the big chains and manufacturers who wouldn't do anything. The sick part is a lot of those big company sales (or whatever they're called) people/kids made more money and got better benefits than I did repairing their shit. By the way, big companies don't pay service shops shit for warranties, they dictate payoffs that nowhere cover time involved repairing the cheaply made, highly sensitive junk they push on people. I won't get into support for older equipment. Ok just a little, we had our own parts stock and did it ourselves, from film projectors, beta vcrs, laser disc players to old radios and intercom systems, and the regular stuff, up until the owner sold the place a couple of years ago (he was getting pretty gray) (shame too, the place was like family). I thought of buying it too but I now live too far away and the sustainable market for repair is about dead. Many of the ones still doing it are just breaking even and have income from other sources.

Man, I feel better!!!

Re:A Question....

[photomonkey]

Because, quite simply, the mom and pop stores just don't exist anymore. If they do, they're often just tax shelters with nothing in stock, and no interest in selling anything. But for the most part, they've been driven away by Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, Fry's, etc.

Beyond that, it's definitely a price thing. People don't value their time much, but when they only have $50 available balance on their credit card, they darn well need to spend $49.99.

Basically, lowest price wins. Volume dictates how low companies can go.

Re:A Question....

[nomadic]

I'm from Europe, so I don't really get it... but please, help me. Why is it that the majority of Americans (and many Europeans to be fair) seem to think that only "Big Name" chain stores can provide these essential services to them?

Why do the majority of Europeans assume that Americans have the same kind of stores that they do? There aren't that many small, independent computer stores here, and the ones I've seen have tended to gouge their customers worse than CompUSA.

Re:A Question....

[MobyDisk]

Because the small local stores are often run by Vietnamese people, and American's don't trust them. They have a reputation for being smarmy and not providing any customer service. You can't argue with someone about a return when there's no line of customers to hold-up, nobody else to yell-at, and the guy pretends not to speak english very well.

Not all of them are this way. I paid my way through college building computers, and a wonderful local store run by a Vietnamese (I think) family was my main supplier. Their store looked like a Geek's basement with things disorganized and piled-up. But they took returns, provided good service, had better prices than CompUSA, and they knew what the heck they were talking about. I got a friend of mine a job there, and he absolutely loved it since they were total computer nerds. But the average mom and pop would just see them as more "farners" selling mysterious things they don't understand.

Re:A Question....

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is it that the majority of Americans (and many Europeans to be fair) seem to think that only "Big Name" chain stores can provide these essential services to them?

If you're judging by reading big name newspapers or blogs what do you think is going to gather attention: "CompUSA screws me over, takes 10 weeks to fix computer" or "Mom and Pop charge $5 more an hour"? The large chain store appeals to more people as they are familiar with it and it will be the one gathering the most attention.

All major cities have indy people doing computer work, its just that they don't have stories written about them. Likewise with contractors -- who knows about the millions of independent computer programmers out there vs the Accentures of the world?

Re:A Question....

[Average]

In no small degree, American small businesses are hurt by things like our nutters health system. A big chain like Best Buy can negotiate a better deal for insuring the staff that take health insurance. Joe small business cannot negotiate and doesn't want to spend hours and hours dealing with insurance options (and state tax regs, and county inspectors, etc, etc).

Plus, there's the diffusion of responsibility. When Betty at Joe's store needs to take a week off for an emergency, he's going to feel guilty in doing something to screw her over. Same with a customer with a legitimate but expensive complaint. The Best Buy manager can play "corporate says... only following orders".

Thus, they're cheaper. And America is nothing if not the country looking for the cheapest alternative, all else be damned.

Re:A Question....

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure the small shops may be just as bad as the big ones, but that's not the point - the point is that they provide competition and diversity, affecting the quality of whole business.

Re:A Question....

[ehlo]

It wasn't a "silly rant against capitalism", it was criticism towards the fact that in a country that boasts free market and capitalism, you are limited to a quasi-communistic "if you need glasses, you can either have the blue ones, or the red ones".

I am born and raised in a socialist country, and now loving in Phoenix, AZ, and I must insist that i feel very small in the run of things here. I am free to walk into any store, sure, but if I choose one store over the other, the impact is negligible.

Where I come from, if I do the same thing, I actually feel like I make a difference in choosing the store that offers better customer service.

Re:A Question....

[Doppler00]

Local privately run computer stores pretty much don't exist in U.S. for the most part. If they do, the prices they charge are much higher (20% or more) for a similar priced item. In fact, some of the big retailers like Best Buy are even more expensive than online outlets such as Newegg.com and Amazon.com by another 20% or so.

It really comes down to bulk purchasing power and efficient distribution systems. In the long run, there is no way a small local computer shop is going to have the item you want. In the end, I think the online retailers are probably more environmentally efficient distribution wise since it takes much less gas for a UPS driver to deliver door to door, than it does for you to drive all the way to the shopping center to pick up that same good.

As far as computer repair, I find that most people know a friend or a friend-of-a-friend who knows enough about computers to do the repair work for free.

Re:A Question....

[Anonymous Coward]

We can blame ourselves for Wal-Mart, but the general concept is just that the chain model is more efficient (and Wal-Mart is the most extreme example of this).

For a clumsy and somewhat circular example: to have the same variety of stuff in your store as a big store does, you sort of need the same amount of floor space. And if your store is that big, you also sort of need a warehouse to manage the stocking issues. And there's an ideal ratio of stores:warehouses that sure as hell isn't 1:1, so to make the most money off of that expensive warehouse it's better to have several stores...

The "local Mom and Pop" size store serves a different niche these days, IMO. These places typically aren't any bigger than a house and they can't carry much (or very varied) stock without overcharging a bunch on it. But they're good for keeping some standard things in supply, and they can do repairs and order parts to build custom boxes for you, and that part of the business can been done by a small shop for the same prices you'd have to pay to get it done at a CompUSA.

Re:A Question....

[jotok]

You are correct. I just moved to Germany and I was amazed at how few "big box" chain stores there are here. Instead there are numerous smaller "mom and pop" operations selling groceries, computer parts, books, etc.

The problem with large stores "saving you money" is that the money does not stay in your community. A community with a lot of small stores is a wealthy one; a community with a Wal-mart is a like a dog with a fat tick on it, leeching money and funneling it to the corporate coffers.

Re:A Question....

[jotok]

Yah. Check out GK Chesterton's work on distributism--a third option between capitalism, where someone picks your pocket in the name of "free enterprise," and socialism, where pockets are outlawed. It's an economic theory that stresses small business and vigorous competition, but with some controls to discourage the rise of massive corporate chains.

People in the states really don't get how limited their consumer options are.

Re:A Question....

[Kopiok]

The only local, privately run stores in America anymore seem to be sandwich shops. The sandwiches that you can get at a privately owned sub place are of a much higher quality than what you can find at Subway or Quiznos, at a (fairly) competitive price. Maybe other Mom & Pop should take note?

Re:A Question....

[Anonymous Coward]

Customer service is almost irrelevent. If you have a problem with your purchase does it matter if they are real friendly about it when telling you that there isn't much that can be done or if they are rude about it? These days most things are non-repairable at least outside of a repair depot catering to that specific device. The margins are so thin nobody can "do you a favor" and replace something that isn't under warranty. So customer service doesn't mean all that much.

Horse shit.

Here's the deal when we (my partner and I) do work on your machine:

We won't lie to you and rip you off (such as selling you a new DVD unit when the cable was loose).
We won't candy coat anything. We'll give you the bad news straight, and explain it until you understand what we're talking about.
We'll tell you up front it's $85.00 an hour for maintenance ($115 an hour for networking such as SBS, technical training is negotiable), and if it's going to take a bazillion hours to get the spyware off of your machine we'll recommend a data backup then reload since it'll be quicker.
We won't steal or snoop in your data (such as naked pictures of your spouse or your mp3 collection).
We won't act like 21 year old community college assclowns.
If you ask for something that's out of our league (say networks above three domains, advanced cisco, a lot of network cabling) we'll refer you to somebody who can do the job and not engage in amateur hour and fuck it up.
No matter how much you may warrant it, we won't denigrate you or treat you like a retard.
We'll be straight up about our parts selection: it's not huge. For example we currently stock a few 160 gig, 250 gig, and 500 gig hard drives if you need one in a pinch. Otherwise we'll have to order it for you.

Consequently, we have you sign the appropriate forms about what you'd like done, what items you're purchasing, and what your expectations of proper systems operation are. Then we hold you to it.

We've got all the business we can handle.

Re:A Question....

[pi_rules]

Spot on.

One thing that bears mentioning is that stores like Wal-Mart, especially Wal-Mart, aren't really retail stores: They're a supply managment company that just happens to push everything to a retail outlet at their end nodes.

The "magic" behind Wal-Mart isn't that they can survive with a dirty store and merchandise strewn about. The magic is that they're able to get those cheap products to their destination on time and in an efficient manner. I'd wager that if Wal-Mart was suddenly forbidden from having retail outlets any more they'd still survive as a company just by providing other stores with deliveries.

They're share more in common with UPS or FedEx than they do with your friendly neighborhood store.

Re:A Question....

[zakezuke]

I for one will continue to support my local, privately run computer store. I support mine when I can. But it's 12 miles away. The big box stores are under 5 miles away. I have not taken advantage of their support options, which is pretty limited to a testing station with known good CPU/RAM/video card, which in all fairness is all you need.

Re:A Question....

[Eil]

I'm from Europe, so I don't really get it... but please, help me. Why is it that the majority of Americans (and many Europeans to be fair) seem to think that only "Big Name" chain stores can provide these essential services to them?

I was never particularly a fan of CompUSA, but around here they were the only store that had a decent selection of parts for a fair (not great) price. I tend to buy anything of an electronic nature online because even with shipping, you usually get a much better deal than any physical store. But CompUSA was the only place in my mid-sized town that was pretty much guaranteed to have that thingamabob that I need tomorrow and wasn't likely to rip me off too bad over it, as long as a rebate wasn't involved.

I've been to every small computer shop in town and have the same exact problem at each one. I go and look for, say, a motherboard. They have 5 models. Only one works with the processor that I have but it's a crappy no-name brand with 3 expansion slots, USB 1.1, and some retarded proprietary winmodem daughterboard. And the price tag on it is three times as much as a nice mid-range motherboard on newegg. The employees are either high school kids trying to rack up some cash to support their Xbox addiction or cranky old codgers who will tell you with a straight face that the computing industry hit its technological peak with Windows 98SE.

Sure, once in awhile they have decent deals on some peripheral that they bought in bulk, but by and large their wares are dusty and cheap and their help incompetent. At least CompUSA got it half right.

Re:A Question....

[zakezuke]

I'm from Europe, so I don't really get it... but please, help me. Why is it that the majority of Americans (and many Europeans to be fair) seem to think that only "Big Name" chain stores can provide these essential services to them? I tried supporting the smaller shops, really I did. Pre-web I would check out computer shopper then visit the local shops looking for the item in question. I tried to support the shops that were most supportive of me when I was a teen, but they all gave up the ghost. The ones which remained pretty much ordered from computer shopper on demand with the exception of a few.

There is an indy shop that has been around for a few years which I will continue to support, except for ram. Ram is one of those things i'll always mail order.

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.

Re:A Question....

[zakezuke]

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. I agree that in Europe space is at a premium, however there still are at least a few superstores among which is PCworld which according to their website hits 28 countries.

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. This I understand and had to learn early on. It was trivial for me in the US to comparison shop from home. Local calls were free, and mail order businesses were toll free. I couldn't tell people in Europe to do the same thing. I do know comparison shopping via bus is a pain.

I have to agree I enjoy the village aspect of some cities like Merida MX. But... given the choice between visiting the local shop which was within foot distance of me and special ordering a CRT, or hitting a website and getting delivered... I have to say I prefer getting it delivered.

Re:A Question....

[Anonymous Coward]

It's because Oil is still currently too cheap in the United States. Once the price of oil goes up, prices will go up on all the Big Box Stores. People will start buying more from local stores then. When the price of oil dropped right after Gulf Games I, many people here bought their 4-6 ton SUV road behemoths. Now that Gulf Games II became extended, we are seeing a rise in oil prices and people are pushing for more fuel efficiency.

P.S. Yes, I call it Games. It's what the people at the top see it as. They see our troops as expendable. They don't care about the citizens. Look at all the ties to oil. It's their money game. Too bad those idiots who voted for the Idiot in Charge didn't realize it until it was too late.

My suggestion to Compusa is to copy your

[Anonymous Coward]

product UPC labels, fill out the rebate form (you must sign form), include the original receipt with the item circled, and attach the original UPC copy of the special offer item with a filled out and signed copy for the rebate form and mail them to:

Dumb Ass Business Model, Dept Clueless
PO Box 1010000101000,
Cramit, MO 66666

Re:My suggestion to Compusa is to copy your

[CrazyDuke]

You forgot to clearly hand print in water proof ink the 64 digit super special authentication rebate code on the reverse bottom right hand side of the #10 envelope! No rebate for you!

I think CompUSA served a purpose...

[DrStoooopid]

...occasionally they had great deals on things. Occasionally you can find what you wanted, when you wanted. But usually, you got treated like crap, the items you wanted were stuck on the back corner of an end cap, and some jackass just bought the last one on the floor, and the zit faced college kid was too lazy to go back and check to see if there were more.

Then you had to listen to some 20 year old, exclaim how wrong you were when you told him exactly what your problem was, and what you needed. Have him exclaim, "I've done this for a long time..."...when you reply back, "I've been doing this stuff since before you were born, coded on punch cards, and worked on machines that 64k was A LOT of memory, and he needs to shut his cockholster before he makes himself look even dumber."

On second thought....SCREW COMPUSA....I'll be waiting for the going out of business sale....I need some new computer parts.

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.

Walmart is next?

[rsbroad]

Way back when, I used to enjoy browsing through CompUsa. This was back when 100 megabytes was a really big harddrive. I forget when I lost interest.

Agressively unpleasant staff can be found everywhere, not just at CompUsa. Prices are about the same anywhere else. I fail to see the big difference between CompUsa, Frys, and Microcenter. I see as similar BestBuy and CircuitCity. One more step back and similar again is Walmart and Target.

The local CompUsa started selling non-computer gimmicks like ipods, cameras, telephones, and large screen televisions. Over time the space for computer stuff shrank and the space for gimmicks enlarged.

What may be overlooked here is the obvious. CompUsa is (was) an outlet for underpriced Chinese manufactured goods. CompUsa and the others have no control over the costs of what they buy. They have no control over the price they apply to what they sell. The price they pay the manufacturer is determined by the manufacturer, and is often below the cost of manufacturing.

All of these big stores are outlets for underpriced Chinese manufactured products. Underpriced means sold at a loss by the Chinese manufacturer.

All stores are selling the same stuff for the same price. All stores routinely insult customers. How will I notice that CompUsa has left the stage?

If the manufacturer can set designer prices, similar to designer buttons and blinking lights, then what market can not be overwhelmed?

Walmart is an outlet for underpriced Chinese manufactured products. Walmart is a building with a parking lot. Could be named anything else.

If a state in the United States started a state-owned manufacturing operation, spent tax dollars to produce the best MP3 Player that money could buy, and spent even more tax dollars to sell the MP3 Player at a lower price than anyone else, then that state would own the MP3 Player market until the tax-payers revolted.

(Revolutions in China are traditionally rather dramatic. The Peasant team usually does not do well against the Army team.)

If other states in the United States got jealous, then these states would start their own state-supported money-losing tax-payer supported manufacturing.

More big-box stores are going to vanish.

would like to, but can't shed a tear...

[Anonymous Coward]

The only memory I have of CompUSA was being there many years ago to pick up some immediate gratification toy of one kind or another and overhearing the following:

Nicely dressed woman: "Could you please tell me what RAM is?"
Eager and sincere red-shirt-clad 20something: "Sure, it's the amount of hard-drive space on a machine."

Sadly, I am pretty certain he thought his answer was correct. I never set foot in the store again.

Re:A Question.... (An answer)

[Ada_Rules]

The problem is Americans (and to be fair I suspect others) spend too much time watching sports and picking their favorite teams to win the big playoff game. This results in a mindset where all big choices are validated in people's heads based on whether or not they 'picked winner' rather than picking the one that is going to do what they want. This appears to apply to peoples selections of Politicians, programming languages, and to some extent stores like CompUSA.

Having said that, there is a different factor that sometimes applies when picking stores which does tend to favor the big chains (in my experience). If you buy something from a small store, and something very bad happens and you attempt to argue with the store to settle thing, you pretty much get one level of appeal at the most (the owner) and if you don't get satisfaction, your only recourse is to not shop there again and perhaps tell your friends. Obviously if it is horribly bad there are other options like going down either a legal path (painful for moderate purchases) or in some cases putting a stop on the credit card but that sometimes is not enough.

When dealing with a large store (never have tried this with CompUSA) despite what others have said, it is very rare too not get satisfaction for a complaint if you keep pushing it up the corporate chain. You can often get satisfaction even if you are in the wrong because by the time it gets to some level of management, they are so disconnected from the issue that it is hard for them to know for sure they are not in the wrong and it is just easier to make the problem go away. Applying this rule with a non-justified intent is of course wrong but most people when they get angry about a transaction are sure they are in the right (even if they are not).

Having said that, my last desktop computer was from a local privately run computer store. I still have not found a local small store that sells what I want for laptops so those continue to come mail order from the various well known giants.

Re:EggHead became NewEgg dummkopf

[Ucklak]

NewEgg is just the online store of the failed Egghead computer stores.
If you thought CompUSA was overpriced, EggHead was WAYYY overpriced when they were in brick and mortar business.
I remember being able to buy floppies at the grocery store cheaper than EggHead.

I felt that Computer City was better than CompUSA but they were always in bad locations and in smaller cities.

Saving the company and helping kids?

[KE1LR]

The SAME Carlos Slim just agreed to purchase 250,000 laptops from the One Laptop Per Child project for $US 70M.

How about combining the two things and re-orienting CompUSA as a channel to sell and support XO laptops to kids all over and work with school districts to use them to maximum advantage?

This would mean that CompUSA would be a lot different but it's an interesting idea...

11 years since last visit to Fry's...

[AetherBurner]

When I last visited a Fry's, it was in Fountain Valley, CA. One parking lot entrance - always constant in/out traffic. You would go in and it's "Where do I START??" They had anything you possibly would want for a weekend hackingfest. I could get raw IC's, resistors, caps, honest aluminum heat sinks, asides from the obligatory wide layout of almost every motherboard made out there - plus SCSI adapter cards!. Don't try and get there on Black Friday. Even though the store was on a side street, people would park on main road and hike in. I really miss that store and I would be pleasantly shocked to hear if it has not changed.

CompUSA was CompFUSA. No stock. Prices were higher than the street for most items. The staff and their training was nil. As I look back, I have hardly bought any good hardware lately, except for a couple of DVD drives for the kids systems and a power supply for one that decided to go poof. My personal webserver is on a Celeron, my BigBox is an Athlon64 and my laptop is a T42. My next purchase will be probably be a hard drive for BigBox, just based on age. I don't see why I have to keep desperately upgrading my hardware just because something new comes out. I am seeing BestBuy cutting back on their computer stock here. They took out about 20% of their computer supply floor area to put in a fou-fou Apple kiosk that shows about 5 models.

I would expect that in the next few years, most stores like BestBuy and CircuitCity will be ditching their computer parts and that will be relegated to Fry's, NewEgg, and a couple of online retailers as they concentrate on TV's when the analog channels shut down here in the US and everyone scrambles for new boobtoobs.

As everyone else is saying - When will Fry's be moving to my area - Milwaukee/Chicago.

-- Aetherburner

          "In the company of wind, dust achieves great heights. In the company of rain, it's mud."

Re:11 years since last visit to Fry's...

[WhiteWolf666]

There's a Fry's near Chicago. It's a bit west. Intersection of I-355, I-88, at Butterfield road. Sounds like you're on the north side, so if you are anywhere near 94/94, take the 294 south to 355, and the 355 west 1 mile to 88. Can't miss it.

Re:11 years since last visit to Fry's...

[Deadstick]

Don't try and get there on Black Friday.

Oh, jeez, I wish you'd posted that in 2006. We were having Thanksgiving with our daughter in Vegas where they have a Fry's, I'd heard of their super loss leaders, and I decided to check it out.

There were at least a dozen employees directing parking traffic in their lot and an adjoining patch of desert. The checkout line stretched through the entire store -- up one aisle, down the next, end to end. You couldn't wheel a cart to the department you wanted; you had to just "mow the lawn" with everybody else, picking up stuff as you passed it. Never again.

rj

This sucks for San Francisco

[cshay]

CompUSA was the only centrally located computer supply store in town. Before they came to town a few years ago I always had to get in my car when I needed gear. Ah well..

Re:This sucks for San Francisco

[GregPK]

Pray for Fry's... Or Micro Center to move into its place....

Re:This sucks for San Francisco

[sfjoe]

Are you kidding? I got ripped off by CompUSA trying to charge me a restocking fee for a DOA router and I walked two blocks over to Central Computer and never set foot in CompUSA again.
http://www.centralcomputers.com/

Re:This sucks for San Francisco

[cshay]

Central computer is not a superstore. It's a small store with not near the same selection.

Re:This sucks for San Francisco

[otopico]

That CompUSA saved many weekends of boredom when something broke on the pc. It was never the best place, but it was so damn convenient (except wanting to root through my backpack) it was hard to just pass it up. Central Computer near the Muscone Center was better, but not closer.

Maybe some other computer/tech store can move into that space...

Monthly trip to Argentina

[AlpineR]

Yeah, I used to think that Tower Records had a great selection of alternative music, dozens of listening stations so I could sample the music (in the days before iTunes and Amazon made that easy online), and a not-too-corporate-and-homogeneous atmosphere.

But then I went to Argentina for a weekend and the Tower Records there was a total mess. I'd never heard of half the bands in their inventory and the clerks couldn't even speak English! I was so disappointed that I never went to another Tower back in the USA.

Seriously, the Internet killed record stores, whether through piracy, ease of use, or changes in listening habits. Music retail seems to consist only of bland, mass-market selections in book stores and electronic stores nowadays. Tower was my favorite of the non-independent stores, but I'm not surprised that the market changes killed them.

Re:Monthly trip to Argentina

[Sergeant Pepper]

But then I went to Argentina for a weekend and the Tower Records there was a total mess. I'd never heard of half the bands in their inventory Woah, are you telling me that different cultures might have different taste in music? Incredible! That's clearly the fault of Tower Records - how DARE they sell stuff that their local customers would want?

Re:Monthly trip to Argentina

[Dogtanian]

Tower was my favorite of the non-independent stores I remember visiting one of the branches of Tower in another town in the UK (there wasn't one where I was staying at the time), circa 1999-2001. I'd heard it was supposed to be this great shop, but it seemed just like another large HMV/Virgin-style chain store with overpriced CDs to me. Wasn't particularly bothered when the UK opearation closed.

Ironically, checking the WP article (no refs, hence pinch of salt, etc) it seems that unlike some "Tower" operations, that one wasn't a franchise.

Re:Monthly trip to Argentina

[Anonymous Coward]

Check your sarcasm meter, I think it's broken.

Re:Monthly trip to Argentina

[ncc74656]

But then I went to Argentina for a weekend and the Tower Records there was a total mess. I'd never heard of half the bands in their inventory and the clerks couldn't even speak English! I was so disappointed that I never went to another Tower back in the USA.

What kind of idiocy is this? Last time I checked, they speak Spanish in Argentina. Expecting their sales staff to speak English is about as boneheaded as when some Mexican walks into a store here and expects to be able to carry on business in Spanish.

Someone else already addressed the different tastes in music between different countries, so I won't go into that.

Re:Monthly trip to Argentina

[Cro Magnon]

What kind of idiocy is this? Last time I checked, they speak Spanish in Argentina. Expecting their sales staff to speak English is about as boneheaded as when some Mexican walks into a store here and expects to be able to carry on business in Spanish.

That seems to happen a lot. What bothers me is, we are considered racist for not speaking Spanish to the Mexican bonehead, but considered idiots for expecting the Argentine clerk to speak English.

Maddox Said It Best

[Mahamadmustafa]

I think this about sums it up.
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=compusa_sucks

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).

Computer City

[Ferretman]

Indeed! There was a Computer City right up the road from me--tiny store, but immensely well stocked. I went there first every time.

stocking, rebate, clueless issues... bye

[swschrad]

our stores were closed last winter in the first wave.

nothing to pick on that carcass as they went down.

not missed.

Re:stocking, rebate, clueless issues... bye

[WhiteWolf666]

nothing to pick on that carcass as they went down.

I got a 62" Projection LCD for about $600.

That was worth picking ;-)

I liked compusa

[zibix]

I liked compusa, and they were the only shop anywhere close to me... I shopped there almost exclusively. Mostly because they had almost anything I ever needed in the computer department. The people were nice, friendly and fairly knowledgeable. And if I hated when they tried to push the extended warranties, well, I've only ever bought one and I ended up using it on a digital camera, so I lucked out.

Fry's is about 45 minutes away. More than twice as far. I'm not excited about the extra commute.

And how sucky for the employees that are learning that they're going to be out of a job just before Christmas.

Horrible experience universally

[GNT]

My experience with CompUSA has been universally negative.

Refusal to take back product that did not work without extreme hassle, prices out of whack relative to online marketers, staff that was clueless and too young, insistence on pushing whatever sale of the week. They had a great little Netgear switch that I wanted and the teen-of-the-day working there kept pushing some nameless brand DSL/Router/Switch on me. Jesus-F'ing-Christi -- can't you order an item the customer wants or maybe actually keep in stock popular items?

After 4 poor experiences I refused to ever buy from them again. I'm glad that the market, in its collective wisdom, annihilated CompUSA.

They Screwed Radio Shack

[Doc Ruby]

CompUSA was founded in 1984 as software seller Soft Warehouse, then branched out into computers. It took on the CompUSA name and went public in 1991. It bought Tandy's Computer City chain.

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 until PCs got huge, even selling the first laptop to sell well, the TRS-80 Model 100. Evidently it was CompUSA that contractually obligated the Shack to stay mainly a Battery Club. I be the Shack would have made something closer to Fry's, but instead with actual live nerds all too willing to explain the inventory.

Re:They Screwed Radio Shack

[__aasmho4525]

apparently you weren't around for the short life of Incredible Universe?

Re:They Screwed Radio Shack

[celle]

"but instead with actual live nerds all too willing to explain the inventory."

I wouldn't say that, most of the guys at the radio shacks where I lived were business and marketing droids only interested in taking your money.

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:They Screwed Radio Shack

[kevorkian]

Thats because you dont remember ( or are too young ) to remember the REAL radio shack. Back when you could get one of the 10001 electronic project kits.Or where you could talk to the guy behind the counter about using a 10k resistor in place for a 8k one and look at the schematic for the circuit and understand it. Yes now its all about the "service plan warranty" or selling you a cell phone , or even that private label credit card that they change the name of every few years.

Re:They Screwed Radio Shack

[zakezuke]

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 until PCs got huge, even selling the first laptop to sell well, the TRS-80 Model 100 [wikipedia.org]. Someone else pointed out Incredible Universe, not to speak of Computer City. Tandy did release many PCs including the Model 100 which was for the time period a nice laptop with stellar battery life.

The best of Radioshack was always the nitch aspect, the hobbyist/AV customer. You could pickup trivial electronic parts, they kept reasonable hours, and the educational toys were excellent. They did carry some decent audio gear at one point, but probably the most important was they offered schematics of their audio gear sold under their label, including the stuff made by RCA.

Part of their downfall was their attempt to enter the PC clone business. I don't know the inside details only the external man on the street perspective. They had a good thing going with the CoCo till the users IMHO humbly requested software. So the clones came. I'm not going to speak ill of the systems them selves, they did pretty well for them selves. They came with MS dos and Deskmate which was not horrible in 1984. They were first on the block to release a system with a 80186 which was a good deal faster than those other 8086/8088 clones on the market. They were among the LEAST IBM compatible in part IIRC due to the fact that their first clone was designed to be PCjr compatible. They had some good ideas but really lacked follow through and their timing was awful.

Another big loss of radio shack were those damned CueCats, $30 million IIRC. I'm among those who actually saw the CueCat as being a good idea. The biggest failure was not recognizing the power of the nitch market first. Those Cuecats sold lots of copies of media database software, something that Digital Convergence would have been wise to consider first. Imagine people willing to scan in their collection, give up their privacy and accept recommendations.

Their big loss IMHO was when they ditched their stock of component speakers, turn table styli, the stuff that was their bread and butter for years. Old enthusiasts would have to go mail order or specialized electronics shops.

Re:They Screwed Radio Shack

[tom's a-cold]

What do Radio Shack even sell these days? If you asked me, I couldn't tell you. Sprint cellphone contracts, some toys, and low-functioning A/V bits and pieces. Who buys that stuff anyway?

Re:They Screwed Radio Shack

[zakezuke]

What do Radio Shack even sell these days? If you asked me, I couldn't tell you. Sprint cellphone contracts, some toys, and low-functioning A/V bits and pieces. It's been a while since I've been inside a radioshack. The last time I checked they carried some electronic parts, connectors. Let me hit the local flyer

1. Cellphones. Their prices seem to be good on the pay as you go phones, $10 in store or free with rebate.
2. Cellphone accessories
3. Standalone GPS receivers
4. Cordless Phones
5. Radios, two way, and scanners
6. Computers/printers
7. Digital Cameras
8. MP3 players
9. Semi-hightech toys
10. WiFi equipment

Who buys that stuff anyway? I don't know the wireless headphones look kind of nice. The iGo universal notebook power supply (limited to like 70watts or so) looks rather handy. Memorex DVDs @ $13 per 50 isn't a bad deal, and hell froogle agrees. I don't know the going rate of SD memory bout $20 for 2gb doesn't sound bad, on par with other big box stores.

I'm not going to say the shack is the best place to shop. At one point and time they were a reasonable place to get odds and ends that no other bugger carried, well no other bugger that was open much past 5pm. I will say they seem to be focusing on less in the way of nitch crap and crap everyone can find useful. And yes, cellphones do fall into this category of things everyone can use (Would you like a cellphone with that).

Re:They Screwed Radio Shack

[Windom Earle]

I buy mostly bare circuit boards, connectors, battery clips, the occasional small plastic case. They still sell enough cheap small electronic parts. And there is one less than two miles from me out in the sticks.

This year the Radio Shack was the only 'day after thanksgiving' sale I visited. Got battery powered soldering irons for $4.99 each. They usually have at least one or two different cakeboxes of CDR/DVDR media with really low prices.

I don't know why people hate them so much. If you build circuits, i.e. actually pick up a soldering iron and make something occasionally, they have the essentials that you don't want to order from DigiKey, i.e. the perfboards you need to solder that PIC controller and misc. onto.

Re:They Screwed Radio Shack

[NateTech]

You forgot their foray into larger electronics (REAL electronics, as in COMPONENTS!) retail in the 90's: TechAmerica.

Re:They Screwed Radio Shack

[zakezuke]

I don't know why people hate them so much. I'm not sure why either. You have the "Got questions? We've got blank stares, and cell phones" angle. There is also their history of keeping outdated goods in stock and not adjusting the price. Single sided 3.5 inch floppies, odd ball printer cables that only worked with one Tandy laser printer.

For consumer electronics they have always been rather soso, though schematics sold with their products was always a major bonus. And for most of us, if we need goods we can either mail order or hit a real electronics shop, though RatShack tends to be open later than 5pm, and tends to be open on Sundays. When I was in Merida and needed a power supply for my router, there was at least a Radio Shack, and I was thankful to be able to get one.

It's not like it's my first choice for a lot of things, but they do carry lots of useful items.

Re:They Screwed Radio Shack

[Megane]

Tandy also had Computer City, which they sold off to CompUSA. That makes two attempts by Tandy to run a big-box store.

But In(cr)edible Universe was probably the biggest of the big-box stores ever attempted. I was only in the Houston store once during its closeout, but the fact that Fry's moved into two of the old DFW locations, and didn't even use all of the Arlington location as store space, should give you an idea of just how enormous IU was. I guess the bigger they are, they harder they do fall.

Re:They Screwed Radio Shack

[Megane]

I don't know why people hate them so much. If you build circuits, i.e. actually pick up a soldering iron and make something occasionally, they have the essentials that you don't want to order from DigiKey, i.e. the perfboards you need to solder that PIC controller and misc. onto.

Certain of their generic project PC boards are cheaper than anything you'll find at Fry's. That and I'm always needing to pick up new tips for my desoldering iron as they erode. (though less so now since I picked up a bunch when they closed a couple of stores back in early 2006 or so)

Re:They Screwed Radio Shack

[Windom Earle]

The 'prototype' generic PC boards at Fry's are a complete disaster, similar to DigiKey offerings. They sell 'blue ribbon grade' boards that are suitable for engineering prototypes at big companies with huge budgets. The fact that Radio Shack can sell nice little perfboards (even in fiberglass, not always just crummy phenolic) for $2-5 proves that those 'Vector' and 'Page' boards are shockingly overpriced.

Re:They Screwed Radio Shack

[Rakarra]

What do Radio Shack even sell these days? If you asked me, I couldn't tell you.

Hey, even Radio Shack's CEO can't figure out how they stay in business. Favorite quotes: "You wouldn't think that people still buy enough strobe lights and extension cords to support an entire nationwide chain, but I guess they must, or I wouldn't have this desk to sit behind all day."

"I know one thing," Day continued. "If Sony and JVC start including gold-tipped cable cords with their products, we're screwed."

First Saturday

[kybred]

Back in the day, CompUSA was a decent place to buy computer parts.

I remember going to the original Soft Warehouse on Marsh Lane in Addison Tx. Going there on a Saturday was a real experience. The store was small and it was usually shoulder-to-shoulder in there.

Back then that had this thing in Dallas called 'First Saturday' where vendors an and average geeks would get together off Ross Ave early on the first Saturday of the month. I think it probably started out as a ham radio thing, then evolved into more of a computer thing.

Anyway, usually by noon the First Saturday activity would be wrapping up and folks would migrate to places like Soft Warehouse to finish the feeding frenzy.

Who, if any, will honor their

[LM741N]

Service Contract?

Re:Who, if any, will honor their

[Devistater]

I'm wondering the same thing, my aunt just bought a laptop with a service contract (so I wouldn't have to help her out over every computer problem) from them.
Personally, I would have preferred she get a Dell, but she wanted something "local"

Memories

[PoopDaddy]

I can remember buying one of the first portable mp3 players - the Diamond Rio PMP300 with a whopping 32mb of storage - at a CompUSA back in '99 or 2000. I believe this was still the pre-Napster area. Mp3s came from ratio'd FTP sites or the Scour Media Agent. And thus, your average non-nerd knew nothing of them yet. So CompUSA was pretty cool at the time for carrying such a great item that most people didn't yet understand. Come to think of it though, that was probably the first, last, and only thing I ever bought at a CompUSA.

Treat like criminals

[Anonymous Coward]

Went to CompUSA a few times, tried to give them a chance.
Techs were unhelpful, stores badly laid out.
OfficeMax has a better selection and better service.
Worst of all, they treated you like a criminal everywhere.
Laptops turned off, product lashed down so tight you couldn't even look at it properly. Everything of value was behind a locked case with no one around.
The checkout experience was abysmal ... buy something, go through the whole process then literally two steps later have to unbag it and show your receipt to the guard, then through a metal detector.
It's my money. I can spend it wherever I want. Not at CompUSA.

Wow - major flashback

[Growlor]

I don't know anything about the contract stuff, but your mention of Radio Shack as a battery club just took me back something like 30 years. I had completely forgotten about their free battery deal. I used to love going into my local Radio Shack and looking at all the cool stuff, picking-up/taking home a catalog (before they charged for them), buying a pack of LED's to play with, etc.

I like going to the tigerdirect store in Chicago a

[Joe The Dragon]

I like going to the tigerdirect store in Chicago area in Naperville IL that is part of the warehouse.

I saw it coming

[Doug52392]

With the growth in shopping online, like Newegg.com, for computer parts, and the large amount of retail stores for buying other tech items, I'm not suprised one of the old ones went out of buisness. About 6 months ago, they closed the CompUSA in Braintree, one of the only ones close by to me in Massachusetts. Then I heard most of their MA stores were closed. I figured they would close everything in a matter of months. Too bad though, they were the only retail chain I have ever heard of that sold Linux stuff (at the time, I had dial-up, so downloading the latest Linux distro was always a big problem).

Maybe if you're lucky a Microcenter will pop-up

[SocietyoftheFist]

I live close to one and their selection kicks the ass of CompUSA, BB, CC or any of the other chains. I don't have experience with Fry's so I can't compare.

Re:Maybe if you're lucky a Microcenter will pop-up

[pyrr]

I wish there was a Microcenter closer to where I live, as it is, it's generally worth an hour's drive to get there. I like how they don't play the PSP games, how they have a great selection, and very reasonable prices. And then there are the bargain bins, which really make the trip worthwhile if they happen to have something I need. CompUSA was only ever good for something I needed in a pinch and would pay any price to get ASAP for a client's need. I usually lost my profit margin on the parts-chasing, but it kept my clients happy.

Changing tactics did them in

[GregPK]

The first thing that built them up as a company. Good salespeople who were paid good commissions. It was typical for people to make 40-50k a year in sales. Even those in software did well.

Then, management(VP's, RM's, DM's) somehow went crazy. Sales were going down a little. So, they started to go crazy on people anytime something was amiss. Maybe perhaps pressure will increase sales, In reality more training and more unity would have.

  Then they bought out good Guy's. They took away the commissions, and fired 95 percent of the sales staff who all ended up in better jobs. This left the incompetants on the floor who really had no motivation to sell other than pressure. They never trained them properly either. Even worse, they all now made about 6-9 bucks an hour. For these people the job was just a fling. Nothing they cared about beyond the next check for booze. Even the ones who did care weren't promoted to a place that they could do anything.

Then, they started to model what good guys had been doing in creating high end selling rooms with pretty fixtures(expensive). However, there were no high end sales people to sell them. So what happened? Duh....

The pay consistently sucked. Good employees where like finding needles in a haystack. Even then, they never respected them if they were good. The management was always overworked. What did they expect? It's like the entire chain suddenly lost vision with the real world.

Re:Changing tactics did them in

[winwar]

"Good employees where like finding needles in a haystack."

Pretty much true for any large electronics/computer store.

"Then they bought out good Guy's. They took away the commissions, and fired 95 percent of the sales staff who all ended up in better jobs."

Speaking of incompetent morons... The large commissions made them slimes. Glad to see them go.

Online stores have better selection, price, and often service. No wonder places like CompUSA fail.

Re:Changing tactics did them in

[GregPK]

"Pretty much true for any large electronics/computer store."

False, It really depends on which one you go to... Microcenter isn't bad. Fry's in Chicago is great. Best Buy, in comparison to most Fry's is quite good. They do things to keep thier sales staff around for a long time. Actually one guy I knew from Good Guys went to the Best Buy and is making over 100k there as a sales person. Though, he alone is responsible for around 2 million a year in high end a/v sales. So they are definatly getting thier money's worth out of him.

"Speaking of incompetent morons... The large commissions made them slimes. Glad to see them go."

Salespeople are often driven by results, and direct ones at that. The best sales people think long-term because they know if they sell thier customer the wrong thing and that customer returns it they lose that commission. Commission systems work. Salespeople make money and the drive sells product.

Also, they went... and what replaced them? Total idiots who can barely tell the difference between an LCD and a CRT. A true salesperson knows the detail ins/outs of all the products they sell. Including things they don't sell. The incompents that replaced them are little more than stock recievers for the customers.

"Online stores have better selection, price, and often service. No wonder places like CompUSA fail."

However, online stores don't have the product for you today. They generally don't easily explain the differences between products. They don't know offhand the return rates for each specific product. They don't accept returns readily. All things you could get from talking to a good salesperson in the store.

Re:Changing tactics did them in

[Growlor]

If your comment about the Best Buy salesman making over $100K/year is true, it confirms something I've always suspected: those guys at Best Buy claim to be "not paid on commission", but they always seemed to be pretty anxious to make a sale (ie not just being helpful like guys in say the local hardware store.) My question is are they just flat-out lying about the lack of commission or is there some kind of sales target bonus that acts the same way, but lets them state that technically they are not on commission?

Re:Changing tactics did them in

[GregPK]

They aren't paid commissions. They just pay them well so they can keep them there selling. It's a pretty simple idea. You keep selling and we'll keep you hired on. They do give them goals to hit. If you don't hit them, you're gonna be looking for another job soon or be transfered/demoted. They also take thier top salespeople out to lunches big vendor training shows, etc. Their goal is to keep people there for long periods of time. Making a ton of money isn't a big deal. I actually like the higher paid salespeople better than the low paying ones. They know their shit a lot better.

as someone

[waspleg]

who used to work there (10 years ago) i can tell you that this has been along time coming, yes they were somewhat overpriced on a lot of items but the worst thing was pissing people of with being out of the advertised specials as many people have pointed out

what i've not seen mentioned is that this was done on purpose, at least at the store where i worked at (indianapolis) i worked at the parts counter selling harddrives/ram/whatever and they would put out massive ads for ram that was like half retail price but they would only stock maybe 5 or 6 sticks (which i often bought all of myself ;P) and it was bsaically just used as a device to get people in the store.

on top of that they had a rampant theft problem, i worked there during high school and while i wasn't part of the group i knew about 10 people who were organized in stealing shit from the store and reselling it to their friends, that group expanded until they were eventually caught but even then they worked out a deal with some kind of minor fine and returning all the shit that they knew was missing (a fraction of the actual), that went on for at least a year that i'm aware of.

compusa has alwasy had a better selection adn lower prices than the likes of circuit city though (at least around here), so i am kind of surprised to see them closing down, they moved out of free standing buildings and into a nearby strip mall here cause the rent was too high on the land they were on (someone once told me it was like $30,000 a month or more and they supposedly owned the building)

i'm almost certain teh last nail in the coffin of the one here has to be Fry's even though its further away frys has an obscene amount of shit at far lower prices than anyone else around here (hardware specifically) and they finally made it out here, and when they did no one i knnow who builds their own machines goes anywhere else (myself included).

waspleg

Expedited proccessing

[Nick Driver]

I paid for it once, and didn't perceive any real benefit. I've placed many orders in the late afternoon and they still get them shipped out by the last Fedex pickup of that same day. Expedited processing maybe pushed up the ship time by a couple hours but once a package gets into Fedex's hands the shipping process is the same.

Re:Expedited proccessing

[BigDogCH]

Newegg usually ships fairly fast. They probably know this, and the $2.99 simply guarantees it. They don't change anything, but if thing proceed as usual, they make another $2.99. If it doesn't ship in the guaranteed time, you simply get the $2.99 back.

I tried it once, I am quite sure it simply gives newegg a shot at making a free $2.99, without doing anything special.

Bad purchasing dept. was:Re:Meh.

[damn_registrars]

From my experience working at CompUSA back around 1997-1999 (Store #787, Minnetonka, MN), I can tell you that the problem you noted was system-wide for the chain. And IMHO, the problem's source was with the people who did purchasing for the company. As far as I could ever tell, the purchasing was exactly the same for the entire chain - hence if one store was out of product X, there wouldn't be any to be found anywhere else, either. This was particularly problematic with advertised items.

I was my observation that the quantity of an item purchased for sales at a store was only proportional to the markup of the item. Hence, every week we would get in several pallets of CD jewel cases, but only a dozen of the hard drive advertised on the front page. Following week, we'd still have half a pallet of jewel cases left over, and we're out of hard drives - yet two more pallets of jewel cases came in and even fewer hard drives than the previous week. It of course took very little time before the store was swamped with jewel cases and out of hard drives.

And to further screw up the situation, there was no way for us to communicate with the people in charge of purchasing, and they never visited the stores in person. As an example, we asked for years for the store to carry case fans - which was an item that was listed with a very nice markup percentage in the special order inventory - yet it wasn't until years after I left that they finally did. But yet during that time interval, they tried selling (MIDI) keyboards, remote controlled cars, camcorders, cell phones, and television sets.

I was just glad that the last time I stopped by my old place of employment, none of the capable co-workers that slugged it out there with me were still stuck there. They had all taken better jobs - primarily at best buy, circuit city, or microcenter. And of course the best of us finished our college degrees and got out of retail altogether...

WSJ

[argoth]

Sad day indeed when anonymous cowards just rip Wall Street Journal article commentary.

Memories

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh man, did that bring back memories! Me and my bro-in-law and his friends used to go to First Saturdays a lot, then go eat breakfast at a little cafe in Deep Ellum, then hit Micro Center up in Richardson when it was first opened, then it was lunchtime at the Razoos next to Micro Center, and get smashed on Hurricanes then go home and play with my new computer toys. Ahh, those were great days. Nowdays, I just do all my computer shopping online, or if I need something desparate, I go to Fry's on I-20 & Matlock in Arlington since it's closer to my house.

tigerdirect is better when you can go to the wareh

[Joe The Dragon]

tigerdirect is better when you can go to the warehouse to pick the parts up.

Re: The computer seller that can't use computers

[xata_boy]

I had several instances with similar experiences, and some experiences where they didn't have the stock they thought they had. As in "we're holding your item at the store - oh, we guess we don't have it." After several emails with their management, they basically admitted that although they sold computers, they had no idea how to use them to manage inventory.

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

[Pharmboy]

And it is pronounced "InCompetentUSA"... They did to computing what Britney Spears does for motherhood.

Actually the small stores seem to have better prices than CompUSA did anyway. I might not buy a RAID 5 from a mom and pop, but most have good prices and way better service. CompUSA has/had the absolute worst service and as stated up on the page, prices that are/were actually 2 to 10 times (yes, 10 times) higher than the best prices you could find.

They deserve to die, and I say good riddance. Now if we can just purge the earth of Best Buy and Circuit City.

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

[DavidTC]

I understand the joke, but actually everyone I know pronounces it 'com-pu-sa'. Why, I do not know.

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

[hawaiian717]

I like the idea of supporting the small, independent places, but am put off by their advertising. Around here they advertise in free computer magazines (printed on newsprint) and almost all advertise prices that reflect a cash discount. Here in California it's illegal to place a surcharge on credit card transactions, but it is allowed to offer a cash discount. It's a loophole I'd rather not encourage.

By the same token, whenever possible I don't buy gas at gas stations that charge two different prices for cash and credit (though I do at ARCO, which doesn't take credit cards and charges a $0.45 transaction fee for ATM cards, but their per-gallon prices are usually lower by enough to make it worthwhile).

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.)

mismarked prices

[bjinatj]

I noticed quite often (In the Indianapolis area) that the sign on the shelf was almost never the price and they refused to honor it. I am personally glad to see them go.

Entertainment at CompUSA

[British]

In Roseville, MN there was a CompUSA(real close to a BB), and there was this computer guy working the desk. He was in his 40s, and it was hilarious to watch him work. He berated customers with his know-it-all condascending attitude. Fun to watch a crowd rile him up with dumb computer questions. It was more fun to watch him do his act than actually shop there.

I sure wouldn't want to be in their business

[anorlunda]

Remember those computer fairs that used to come around? They suffered from the same problem that eventually got Comp-USA but they dropped out earlier.

I remember being amazed at the dramatic changes that the fairs and the computer stores had to make to stay alive. At first it was pretty much desktop PC hardware and accessories that was their bread and butter. Later, most of the shelf space for hardware was turned over to boxed software. Then, as people started buying software online, the boxed software offerings disappeared. Then, they had to turn to selling media, and finally, things like TV and audio systems to stay alive.

Today, there's little action in desktop machines. Everyone wants laptops and the laptop era seems about to roll over to the mobile device era.

What an amazing series of sea changes in the public buying preferences within a time span of 15 years or less. Each one of those changes would have seemed astounding in any other field. In high tech consumer digital stuff, it just keeps coming and coming.

Most businesses never survive even a single cycle of having to reinvent their business model. In the case of consumer electronics, it seems that if you can't reinvent yourself over and over again, you're toast. Like I said, I sure wouldn't want to be in their business.

Re:I sure wouldn't want to be in their business

[Megane]

Remember those computer fairs that used to come around?

There's still one that goes to San Antonio every six weeks or so (I think their only other city is Tulsa), and I'm expecting that to end the moment Fry's realizes they forgot to put a store in San Antonio and corrects their oversight.

Re:I sure wouldn't want to be in their business

[zakezuke]

Remember those computer fairs that used to come around? They suffered from the same problem that eventually got Comp-USA but they dropped out earlier. Circa 1988 bought my first amber monochrome monitor from such a fair. I think I spent $50 or so, but I wanted to piece together a pc and save as much as possible. Herc monochrome was a start. I didn't have much of a clue at that point, hardly knew my XT from AT.

Circa 1995 there were a few good deals as far as misc hardware went, but for the most part the popularity of the PC lead to a ton of stores supporting it. I remember trying to tell someone the tape drives, despite having 50 pins, were not SCSI but rather QIC-02. But it was painfully clear that the stock came from auctions.

Same here.

[pavon]

I really don't know where I am going to go when I need something in a hurry. I used to go to some locally owned shops, but one by one they stopped having weekend hours, and the few that do hardly have any stock at all. A local cable shop is the only one I still go to, simply because the big box stores gouge so much on cables it's worth the hassle of going there during normal business hours.

Circuit city is almost completely worthless for computer supplies. We don't have Fry's out here in NM either. The only place left is Best Buy, and they aren't all that great either, not to mention that it is on the opposite side of town. CompUSA was the least bad of all the chains.

BOOO

[BillOfThePecosKind]

I got my LCD tv from compusa. It was one of there floor models so I got it for dirt cheap, and unfortunately I also got a warranty with them to replace it if it ever goes bad. This sucks, maybe my tv will have to get to know Mr. Wirecutter really soon...

Mobility affects it

[MorePower]

I think at least part of the reason is mobility. In principle, I like the idea of Mom and Pop small local stores, but it takes time to learn where they are, what you can buy there, what level of price/service/etc to expect. I've lived at my current home for over 4 years now, which is by far the longest I've ever lived at one address. If you take a broader view, the longest I've ever lived in one community (where I could be shopping at the same set of stores) is 5 years (while I was in college). And I spend most of my time far from my home (often in other states) for work related travel. When you're looking for something in an unfamiliar neighborhood and want it NOW (which is usually the case) you tend to just go with what's familiar rather than try browsing around quaint little mom and pop districts trying to figure out who sells what.

I think because of this, the mom and pop stores never really seem to even try to compete with the sorts of things you buy from big name retailers. I remember well the wonderful downtown of San Luis Obispo, California (the college town I was in for 5 years). It was the most vibrant non-big-name-store shopping area I have ever seen or heard of. But you couldn't buy useful things there, just souvenirs and novelties and decorations and such. If you wanted something like a mop bucket or a folding lawn chair you had to drive a couple towns over to buy it at Wal-Mart. And I was there before that Wal-Mart opened, the first couple of years I was there you had to drive about 20 miles to get your useful everyday stuff at Target. The downtown mom and pops just never bothered with anything mundane, they only had specialty gift type stuff to sell to tourists and people out on dates and such.

Bad prices sometimes were good deals...

[pyrr]

I can't complain too much about CompUSA's exorbitant prices. That made for a lot of stale merchandise, and I made out like a bandit about a year after Linksys revised the WRT-54GS wireless routers to where they cut the memory and NVRAM to low levels that barely ran any 3rd-party firmware. I happened to find several of an older revision that had the maximum memory & NVRAM ever offered on that series of router, and while the price (somewhere around $80, when everyone else was selling them for $65) would've been laughable for the new model, I bought all the stale models they had on the shelf, roughly a dozen, and resold all but one at a decent profit. The clerk seemed a bit baffled as to why someone was suddenly buying so many of an item they apparently rarely sold in the year they'd been sitting on the shelves. If the local store doesn't get sold and has a liquidation sale, I might even have a reason to drop in, the prices might be halfway reasonable on non-hard-to-find merchandise too.

They lost their way early on.

[whoever57]

CompUSA was originally one shop called "SoftWarehouse". The original store was like an early Fry's: cramped, but with all kinds of interesting stuff. Definitely a store for the enthusiast. As they began their national expansion (or perhaps before), they became a big-box store, with wide, empty spaces. The stores seemed to be empty and without the character that the original SoftWarehouse shop had.

It was amusing was to see a Computer City (I think) store open right opposite CompUSA's HQ in Dallas.

Inedible Universe

[kybred]

LOL

I thought I was the only one who called it that! My family would always groan when I called it that.

I miss Compusa

[kahrytan]

I will miss CompUSA for the small things where online shopping is inefficient. Whats worse is the fact I am moving to a state where everything is flown there so buying online isn't always economical.

I used Compusa for Mounting Kits, Extra screws, paper sleeves, and etc. Rest come from Newegg.com

  Let's not forget thousands of people out of work.

Re:Bad purchasing dept. was:Re:Meh.

[AFCArchvile]

Yes, I remember the exact same thing happening when I was there. Running out of the largest hard drives but having tons of FMI stuff lying around. I could understand stuff like the iPaq and PS2 back in Christmas 2000, where the supplier was having problems with production, but easily purchaseable items would still just trickle in, and sell out almost immediately. It hurt to keep telling customers that we didn't have a popular product, particularly customers who had visited before.

So now I have 2 major downfall reasons: inventory mismanagement, and not prioritizing the customer experience.

I will miss them

[drcagn]

Well this sucks. In the New Orleans area this store was the only place to buy geek products. CompUSA carried a lot of things places like Best Buy or Circuit City don't. There's no Fry's or Apple Store here, either. There's only one mom 'n' pop Apple dealer here, and the guy who runs it rents Penske trucks out of the place instead of focusing on the Apple stuff--everything in there is pre-Intel era, even the advertisements for iMac G4s... I have to say I didn't spend much money at CompUSA (they sure were expensive), but I enjoyed going there to mess with the Mac Pro with 30" monitor and other stuff they had around there. It was also the only place you could purchase Bawls.

Re:I will miss them

[Anonymous Coward]

Let me get this straight .. you said "everything they have is pre-intel" So they have a non intel mac pro ??

Re:I will miss them

[Dahan]

Let me get this straight .. you said "everything they have is pre-intel" So they have a non intel mac pro ?? I see reading comprehension is not your forte.

Some stores were good

[jridley]

Their store in Ann Arbor, MI was quite good, at least for around here. They closed in the first round.

Their people there were actually fairly good at their job, knew pretty much what they were talking about, and their prices were good for this area. Also, they actually had EXTREMELY good stocking - I generally buy hard drives when they have big rebates. Walk into Best Buy looking for a drive with a $50 rebate, and they will ALWAYS be out. ALWAYS. Even if you are the first one in the door the day the sale starts. By contrast, the CompUSA store here stocked HUNDREDS of the drive that had the big rebate that week. I could walk in on Friday of the sale and they'd still have 50 drives in stock.

And, I keep track of my rebates, and I always got every one from CompUSA.

There is a Best Buy store about 3 stores down from their old location. I haven't bought anything from Best Buy for years - they're way overpriced, they seem to require you to have a lobotomy to work there, and they have said that they don't want the business of anyone who's actually bargain hunting - if you're the type that goes into the store and only buys things that are on sale, or if you actually send in your rebates, they don't want you.

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.

The last time I was in a CompUSA

[robert899]

A few years ago I went to return something fully within their policies. In the process they treated me like a criminal. It took plenty of work but I eventually got my money back. Never set foot in that store again. Good riddance CompUSA.

Bum bum bum

[Sgt.Modulus]

another store bites the dust

CompUSA, or CompUSA of Dallas?

[JWSmythe]

    The story mentions 106 stores, owned by CompUSA of Dallas.

    Oh, I guess it's nation wide. Their site says they have 103 stores. I assumed they were bigger, as every metro area I've gone has one (or two, or three). Tampa, FL has 4, including close by cities. I assumed bigger cities had more.

    I know they have weird losses. In Tampa, they bought Circuit City, and then made it a second CompUSA. Those two stores are 3.6 miles apart, and both are crappy parking lots to get in and out of.

    With the decent number of competitive stores in the area, and the ... well ... Not great staff, and not great prices, I usually stopped at the store, checked prices, and then drove on to other stores. It was fairly rare that I went back to pick something up, but they usually do have some of the smaller stuff that I'd need.

    I miss Fry's. I was out in California for a few years, and that place, despite the chaos that the store seems to be, was really cool.

    I could walk out with 100 store brand network cables to rewire a site, without going broke, or a few feet of fiber optics for our switches, and never wonder if they'd have them in stock the next day. I had a love/hate relationship with them though. I hated that they'd slap discount labels on anything returned, and put it back on the shelf, but at least I could buy the discounted return, find it didn't work, and return it for a brand new one. :) That was almost habitual. If I had time, I'd buy the returned one, just for the discount, since I knew I'd be coming back in a few hours to exchange it.

    Here on the east coast now, I don't know of anywhere like it. They'd put a good size dent in the business of any place they were close to. :)

Re:A Question.... I agree!

[Ralph Spoilsport]

Back in Spring 2005, my Ti PowerBook's motherboard fried up. I pulled the drive and RAM, and sold the carcass (kbd, screen, etc.) for cheap. I was marginally employed (like, basically, NOT employed) and didn't have enough to buy another Mac, so I decided I'd get a Windoze box until I could afford a Mac.

So, I go to the chain stores, CompUSA included, and was singularly unimpressed with what the had to offer. Also, the staff were a bunch of assholes. Everywhere. The worst were the fuckheads at BestBuy. Good god, what a bunch of contemptuous morons.

dispirited, I decided to go for a drive to the beach (this was in San Francisco). So, I'm cruising along when I drive past this little Mom&Pop type of place that sells computers, and I figured - they can't POSSIBLEY beat the Big Chains on price, but let's see - just for the hell of it.

I left 20 minutes later $900 poorer. Why? Because he said that for $900 he would build me:

3.0 GhZ Intel Pentium4
1 gig RAM
120 gig HD
128 meg ATI video card
1 - DVD +/-R
1 - CDR
Firewire & USB

for $900. In 2005.

After that experience, I never set foot in another computer store for the purpose of purchasing a computer.

I sold the computer in 2006 for $750, and bought a used iBook. I really needed the mobility.

I agree - buy local. Better deals, better service.

RS

Re:EggHead became NewEgg dummkopf

[cayenne8]

"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!"

I dunno. I used to get GREAT deals at CompUSA on certain things....I watched the Sunday ads religiously, and went in for the deals. Of course , you don't buy a whole new computer there, but, with sales and rebates, you could often get blank CD's and DVD's for next to nothing (heck in years back, I got spindles of CD's for nothing with rebates, save postage and tax). My last purchases there were like 500GB drives for less than $100.

I dunno about their regular prices, I rarely if ever buy anything regular price. I just stock up whenever something is one sale...and when it comes time for me to build a new computer or modify it, I usually have 99% of the stuff brand new in the box already at home. Kinda like shopping for groceries...buy in bulk, put in the deep freezer, and when I want to cook something, I usually only have to go out for fresh items like an onion or pepper or something.

Those are mighty large values of temporary....

[sethstorm]

Thousands of jobs being lost in an inefficient industry is a good thing Transition is even better, and engenders less hate. The displaced get a transition to somewhere where they are needed at a pace they fully control(read: less signalling, more action). They are less likely to turn to crime if they have a direct hand in their future (as opposed to indirect/signalled).

The loss is always temporary, and those people will eventually find more efficient jobs. Apparently you would consider larger values of temporary acceptable if you replaced CompUSA with General Motors. In both cases, you're still presuming the areas are even capable of such tasks if the industry wants to move out.

Christ you sound like the MPAA. Oh will you PLEASE think of the thousands? They've bought Washington DC lock, stock and barrel. Consider that their transition to other industries of use.

Is it any better to have the target be "unassailable" as opposed as to one that can be named if they both get blamed for the same things?

The Republicrats

[p3d0]

Maybe it's the same process that led them to a two-party system.

MOre info about it...

[Jesilva]

More info here. http://think-smarter.blogspot.com/2007/12/compusa-closing.html

Re:EggHead became NewEgg dummkopf

[Thrymm]

You are correct:

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

"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."

Legacy dead

[jsimon12]

I got my first computer from Softwarehouse, what CompUSA as called before they were CompUSA. They literally were in a warehouse type building tucked away in Addison, TX. They also ran a great BBS back in the 80-90's. Then they turned into a huge crappy camera selling POS. Hey-Ho the witch is dead.

So what about my laptop's warranty?

[Anonymous Coward]

There's only one reason that I bought a $350 CompUSA warranty for my new laptop (bought in August), really. It's because last time I bought a laptop, some water DID get splashed on it within the first week that I had it, and it was miraculously replaced without a second thought by the (actually nice) people at my local CompUSA in Plantation, FL. In fact, I'll really miss the CompUSAs in my area. Of course the people are not knowledgeable who work there...where DO you ever find people like that? No store that I know of (and yes, I've been to Fry's--the one near Atlanta--probably 20 times in the last 3 years.) I've stumped the people there with questions about ad items/motherboards on their display/etc simple things, so they're no better.

Anyways, I'd planned to at least get my battery replaced in 2 years when my warranty was about to run out if nothing else... but what the hell? What about that warranty now? Please don't tell me I have to deal with Sony now! Wasn't it a bit misleading to tell me that I could just bring the laptop to my nearby CompUSA store and have it fixed any time something went wrong if they'd already begun closing stores? I came back to GA for school with my new laptop, got so annoyed at Vista that I actually drove out to the nearest CompUSA that I knew of to return it (Sony refused to allow my laptop's series to install legacy xp drivers), only to find that they had closed the store something like 1 month earlier! In fact, at that point, there were NO stores left in all of GA. The closest one was in Knoxville, TN.

Really it's quite puzzling to me, because the stores back in my area were fine as far as I'm concerned. I never considered Circuit City or Best Buy computer stores, and I never will. The only saving grace back home now is Tigerdirect, but that requires driving down to Miami...hopefully they'll expand their warehouses North now! I know of some nice prime property that CompUSA is leaving behind. =)

Re:EggHead became NewEgg dummkopf

[Wdomburg]

Who's the dummkopf? Egghead's assets were sold to Amazon when it filed bankruptcy. NewEgg has nothing to do with them.

Ding dong... The Wicked Witch is DEAD!

[Anonymous Coward]

YES! WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO! I am SO happy that they are gone. I never, ever once had a good experience in ANY of their stores. They were either out of stock, or selling something at a GREAT PRICE (after rebate).

I had such lousy experiences with their rebates that I stopped buying on the premise of the "After Rebate Price" and just priced it out at what the price was right then and there... The extended service plans *pfeh* I spit on those worthless pieces of crap too...

And let's talk about the level of extreme incompetence... No one to be found to help find something on the shelf, or pull something from the back end (I'd often just go back there myself and get it), and the absolute genius at the one front counter that was open who just couldn't seem to wrap her brain around the idea that as a RESELLER I purchased tax free, and was in their book of resellers! She couldn't seem to locate the book that said "TAX FREE PURCHASERS" on the side of it - even when it was right there, underneath the cash register in plain view... Frigging moron...

And when you'd bring something back, it was like pulling teeth, and you'd get the third degree about it.

I never once paid a restocking fee - I put everything on a credit card, and when they'd try to take that fee anyway, the first thing I'd do is to call the credit card company right then and there as (after I got the credit - restock fee) I was leaving the store and dispute the amount. Credit card companies always took care of the issue - I got a product that wasn't fit for sale, or didn't work out of the box, and I wasn't paying dick for it... They always were on my side (yeah, I had to send a short note to the CC company for their records, but that was the extent of it).

I PISS on the grave of CompUSA... Good riddance you motherfuckers... Rot in hell... With any luck, you'll soon be joined by Best^H^H^H^HWorst Buy as well...

Re:EggHead became NewEgg dummkopf

[ZJVavrek]

Going by their description and what I know of how Newegg handles things, it just puts you in a priority group. All the people who paid extra get their orders processed before the regular customers. I suppose, if it's a particularly busy day, that might matter...

Re:EggHead became NewEgg dummkopf

[ncc74656]

I felt that Computer City was better than CompUSA but they were always in bad locations and in smaller cities.

Neither of them were in ideal locations in Las Vegas (Sahara & Valley View for CompUSA, Charleston & Decatur for Computer City), but something about CompUSA always rubbed me the wrong way. Given a choice between the two, I picked Computer City every time, even though it was a (slightly) longer drive.

In the early '90s, I ran a BBS and needed lots of offline storage for backup. I had a tape drive that put 60 MB on a DC600A cartridge, but getting to one or two files in the middle of the tape could be slow. What I thought was the killer deal of the time was 5.25" double-density floppies at Computer City for a dime each. In a high-density drive, you could format them with 80 tracks instead of 40, doubling their capacity to 720K. For somewhere around $13-$15, you could get over 70 MB of space, plus a box to hold them. Tape cartridges, 5.25" high-density floppies, and 3.5" floppies (of either type) were nowhere near that cheap. Back when a used 120-MB hard drive cost over $200 and CD-Rs were unheard of, $15 for 70 MB was dirt-cheap. If someone wanted an offline file, I'd fetch it and put it up for download.

(To make optimal use of the space on each disk, I had some batch files (or maybe it was an AppleWorks spreadsheet and some macros...I don't remember) that sorted the files that needed to be written by size and picked files to write to each disk so they'd be as full as possible. With a large-enough group of files to write, there was usually enough variety of file sizes to write full disks most of the time.)

Re: Chains again ...

[TaoPhoenix]

Same theme as the folks slamming the subject of the original topic, CompUSA. For the same reason that the Chain can be tarnished by bad stores, a good individual store... can be good.

I have become less price sensitive lately. I prefer to spend a few dollars to "shut down the conversation". For example, after running into a bizarre double-speaker failure that almost made me rip out my sound card, the Geek Squad guy convinced me it had to be speakers. I bought a $100 Bose set, and ordered the Squad guy to "humor me" and "prove they work". (They did. Meaning I have no idea what was wrong earlier, but now it was gone. So be it.)

I got the $13 2-year warranty plan, which says "if anything is wrong, we'll give you new ones". The "prove it" scenario would have uncovered "anything wrong", and armed with that warranty I'd run them through their entire store inventory before leaving if I had to.

Re: 21st Century emails

[TaoPhoenix]

I suggest you decide on the quality of the card you purchased. Everyone emails, which is why it is good to have a filter email which you expect to collect sales mail.

hindsight is always 20/20

[UnknowingFool]

CompUSA was always a little more pricey than Fry's. I think their problem was that they tried to compete with Fry's at their level. If you don't know Fry's, I would describe it as the Walmart of electronics and computer equipment. Their stuff is cheap but sometimes has been refurbished or returned. It's very buyer beware there. CompUSA tried to out discount Fry's instead of going a little more high end, but that's my opinion. After CompUSA goes there is very little choice left other than Fry's. Best Buy doesn't have the selection for DIY consumers that Fry's has or CompUSA had. The only other option is online stores like Newegg.

Re: Commission

[TaoPhoenix]

I thought I heard that Radio Shack was on Commission, though don't take my word on it.

But Commission is rough on the sales guy too. When the trend cycles the other way, he can fall into the trap of getting desperate to meet a quota, or just pay his bills. However junky the rate, X/hour means if some customer is dawdling, SalesGuy just shrugs and lets them do their thing.

Re:Bad purchasing dept. was:Re:Meh.

[smooth wombat]

As far as I could ever tell, the purchasing was exactly the same for the entire chain

To go a bit OT but still somewhat related, Macy's has this exact same policy. Why am I bringing up Macy's in a tech discussion? Because unlike the usual image of a geek (or geek in training), I don't have a deer gut and so trying to find pants/slacks/thingstowearovermylegs is nearly impossible. I'm at the bottom end of mens and too large for the top end of boys.

In one of my yearly pilgrimages to White Marsh, MD, I stopped at the mall in Towson for another store they have and wandered into the Macy's, hoping upon hope that maybe this store would have something for me to wear. After looking through over 100 pairs of jeans and slacks, not one was in my size.

The sales lady happened to see me put back several pairs and made the usual comment about not finding anything. It was then that I gave her my usual (polite) diatribe about Macy's, or any store, not carrying things in my size. It was then she said something which cleared things up.

The store used to be a Hecht's and before they were bought by Macy's, each region or even stores could place their own orders for merchandise. If something was selling well, they could get more of the product in quickly. If customers wanted something specific, again, they could order it.

Since Macy's took over, all the ordering comes from the top. They have no control over what comes in. The folks at the top look at what is selling and based on that they make their next orders.

I looked at her and rhetorically asked, "If they don't purchase items in my size, they never show up on the sales sheet, do they? And if they don't show on the sales sheet, they don't order them because to them, the product isn't selling, right?"

She just smiled and agreed with me how backwards the system is. We talked for a bit before I left to go to White Marsh. So it's not just CompUSA that has (had) this insane policy. Major retailers also pursue this flawed thought process.

Just as others on here say they don't frequent certain stores for various reasons, I don't bother going to Macy's or any of the major stores since their buyers are too stupid to listen to their customers. And yes, I have written to them telling them I'm no longer shopping at their store and the reason why.

Re:I like going to the tigerdirect store in Chicag

[chicagotypewriter]

I hate Tiger Direct online, but I live about a mile from that outlet warehouse so I'll stop in there every once in a while. There was also a CompUSA right near there as well, which shut down over a year ago and had some very good sales at the end. I picked up a good UPS for fairly cheap.

Re: 21st Century emails

[CohibaVancouver]

Everyone emails, which is why it is good to have a filter email which you expect to collect sales mail.

The OP was not complaining about receiving the emails, he was complaining about deceitful subject lines. I get lots of emails from online vendors I've dealt with. The subject lines say things like "Boxing Day Specials" or "Video Card Deals" not "Info about your order." I agree if they had misleading subject lines I'd boycott them too.

Re:EggHead became NewEgg dummkopf

[airedalez]

If all of their consumers followed in your footsteps it wouldn't be hard to imagine why they are going out of business. While we enjoy those low prices, the stores are hoping we are going to pick up a $30 3-foot USB cable too. Too bad for them we have the internets.

Re:Bad purchasing dept. was:Re:Meh.

[jedidiah]

THIS is why Walmart is eating everyones lunch. They actually pay attention to what
is being sold at each individual store. They pay attention while not trying to be
all megalomanical (oddly enough). They don't try to make the problem insouable by
trying to see what PEOPLE are buying. They just see what's going on at the store
level and adjust accordingly.

They even get stuff relabeled and such if something is not region appropriate.

Re: ... now with deceitful titles!

[TaoPhoenix]

Chalk this one up to diversity of opinion. Along with the emails, I "expect" a share of misleading/optimized emails.

After a rash of consecutive such experiences, I ran out of companies to boycott and gave up in exhaustion.

No margins ...

[bizitch]

There just aren't any margins in that business any more. My guess is Circuit City will be next to fall

All things computer have become such a commodity that the only way to make any money is to be huge

Really really freaking huge - like CDW for example or Fry's

Re: ... now with deceitful titles!

[Anonymous Coward]

I "expect" a share of misleading/optimized emails.

After a rash of consecutive such experiences, I ran out of companies to boycott and gave up in exhaustion. s/emails/rhetoric/ s/companies/parties/ ... This also describes why I don't bother to vote.

Retarded business logic

[jihadist]

The only reason they're not making money is that they have never found an audience. The truly clueless consumer does not buy parts, and it's hard to compete with Best Buy for that, so they need to sell to the slightly more advanced technophile, but those don't buy there because their parts are over-packaged and under-abundant. We need more options for raw parts and fewer options for glossy boxes. Oh, and better hours. But surely their MBAs already knew that.

Re:Bad purchasing dept. was:Re:Meh.

[Kizzle]

According to a special I saw on TV about Wal-Mart, they even use the weather forcast to predict what a store needs in its inventory. If a hurricane is coming to an area they will ship extra poptarts because apparently that's what people buy to prepare.

Re: Commission

[oatworm]

As a former employee of Radio Shack, I can tell you with certainty that, at least when I was working there (2000-2002), they were, in fact, commission driven, with incentives if you bought certain items (cell phones, DirecTV, their credit cards, etc.). However, the compensation was geared such that, unless you were an amazing salesperson in a very friendly market, you were never making over $10/hour unless you were the manager or something. Consequently, "desperate" was far more often than not, which did, indeed, lead to the phenomenon you described.

Re:A Question.... (An answer)

[The Analog Kid]

Big chain stores could offer quality that could match the mom and pop stores but that requires money, and for anyone decent it requires a good deal of money, far more than the minimum wage that people get paid to work at these places. Fact is, jobs that make $10 or less an hour are easy to find, so there is no real motivation to be good at what you do when your work these jobs anyone with an once of actual knowledge in the field is working somewhere else.

Downtown San Francisco

[scottlf]

I was in the downtown San Francisco store not too long ago. The place has always impressed me as being somewhat Kafka-esque; underground, sort of snaking through various rectangular shapes, weirdly diagonally-positioned shelving that is almost guaranteed to make you feel lost, unpleasantly dark lighting. But at this last visit, the place downright gave me the creeps; it seemed almost funereal. The staff was apathetic, more interested in muttering amongst themselves than helping customers. At the same time the same prison-like security routines were in place. After leaving with my tiny purchase (a USB keypad for a laptop) I decided that I would never go there again, not that I went very often anyway. Sometimes I'd drive all the way down to San Bruno just to avoid that creepy downtown store with its dungeon-like decor, hyped-up security, and confusing layout.

Can Circuit City or Best Buy be the next to go?

[Anonymous Coward]

It always amazed me that CompUSA stayed in business as long as the did. There were several stores in rough proximity to Seattle. The triumvirate of "CostUSA, Circuit S**tty, and Pretty Boy" won't make any sense anymore. I guess we'll just have to replace CostUSA with Sticker Shock.

Now, I must admit that one of my favorite things to do is to printer shopping at the box stores.. Gotta love the look when I ask if that Lexmark will work with Linux. And yes, I think that some of these stores hire salespeople based on their looks instead of their brains. I've used the phrase "Do you actually know what you are doing or are you just here to look pretty" more than once.

Three answers: cost, visibility, individuality

[xx01dk]

Cost. The small "mom and pops" are prohibitively expensive compared to the big box retailers, and you are not necessarily garanteed better or more knowledgeable service. I love the idea of "supporting the little guys" but about the only way I'd consider buying from one of these stores would be if I had vast ammounts of disposable income and saving a few hundred bucks on a system was not worth my time; (mind you, that's a goal of mine, like not having to care how much gas costs). The ones that can stay in business and actually turn a profit must by definition have wealthy clientelle; and to posit a theory, I'm pretty sure you won't find many of those clients posting in slashdot.

Visibility. Once in a long while one or two of the little guys will actually offer some deals, like say if they buy large ticket items like LCD's, cases, memory and processors etc in bulk. The problem lies in the fact that these places are the kind the either only advertize online, or have flyers in the local free news magazines. Fry's, BB, CC and the others can afford to have giant, multi-page glossy color adverts in all the major publications and television, so naturally they get more business.

Individuality. The third and most damning in my mind is that the same exact parts are available everywhere. Would you purposely buy all of your groceries at the local specialty shop at a 5-10% markup when you can just as easily go to a big box outlet and save that money? Most reasonable and cost-conscious people would not. But what if the more expensive store offered something "special", like a bigger organics section or a larger selection of imported foods? Well then there is something to justify an increased cost, and you know you are buying into exclusivity when you make the choice to shop there. So then the only way to "make a difference" is to sell something unique or special that you can't get at a big box store... Like Voodoo or Puget Sound computers do, just to name two.

And just to get back on topic, I'm sad to see CompUSA go because the loss of competition in this sector is bad in the end for the consumer. And also because I used to work at Computer City (their flagship store in Wilmington) and I danced a happy dance the day that I heard they got bought out by CompUSA. :(

Same thing in Albany, NY

[Anonymous Coward]

Comp USA in Albany has always been a ridiculously managed store, but still for years they have really been the only go to place for tech hardware in Albany.

There's Best Buy and Circuit City, which both suck for tech hardware, and whose ridiculous sales people made the know-nothings on staff at Comp USA seem like geniuses in comparison. There's also a small local chain called Computer Rennaisance which I would love to frequent more, but they're more focused on selling refurb boxen and otherwise their hardware selection is light.

Comp USA for many years has also in Albany carried a full aisle of open source-related stuff (many different boxed versions of Linux distros; boxed versions of Star Office, etc). And they typically would have versions of Linux-friendly hardware on hand (for example, a health supply of ATI Radeon 9200 video cards). They knew they had some geek customers, and they made room for us.

Albany is always being touted as some new tech nirvana, so it would be hard to imagine some other company like Fry's not coming in to fill the gap if Comp USA closes. Locally, as shitty as Comp USA is, there is no other store like it. I'm going to miss it a lot.

Gresham's Law.

[argent]

I tend to think of CompUSA as the "Sears" of electronics. They're a bit more expensive than the lowballers but if I had a problem with something I bought at CompUSA they'd absolutely take care of it. They're the only retail store where an extended warranty really means "yes, we take it back, no matter what".

Which is probably why they've been driven out by Walclones. It's Gresham's Law: when people can't tell good money (or support, or products) from bad you get a race to the bottom as the bad money drives out the good.

For example, Sears hasn't always been "Sears", and there was a pretty long period in the '90s where their support went in the tank... but lately they've been winning me back again. Pity they don't have "Sears Electronics".

Re:Gresham's Law.

[Megane]

For example, Sears hasn't always been "Sears", and there was a pretty long period in the '90s where their support went in the tank... but lately they've been winning me back again. Pity they don't have "Sears Electronics".

You do realize that they got bought out by K-Mart a couple of years ago, right? The same K-Mart that a few years back closed a bunch of their stores (certainly any that I knew of in central Texas) because they were on the verge of bankruptcy? And yes, it was K-Mart buying Sears, and not the other way around.

It doesn't make sense to me either.

Re:Gresham's Law.

[argent]

You do realize that they got bought out by K-Mart a couple of years ago, right?

Yes, and yet somehow the last couple of times I've had a problem at Sears it's been "we'll take care of that"... and they have. Perhaps they decided that they'd lost the "race to the bottom" with Walmart and started trying another approach?

CompUSA Story

[ZorMonkey]

Heres my CompUSA story. A few years back I bought my sister a cd burner from CompUSA. I managed to talk her through installing it, although it took a while. When she finally got it up an running, she said "Sweet, you put a burned copy of 'MS Office' in it for me!"

Uh, actually no I hadn't. It was a normal (or so I thought) shrink-wrapped box when I bought it. Amazing. I cant imagine that it was a returned burner (the burned copy of Office worked fine) although anything's possible. My hunch is that some employees used it to burn some software quick, re-shrink wrapped it, and put it back on the shelves - forgetting to take the last burned copy out.

CompUSA completely disrupted the marketplace

[vaporland]

I remember working for a major wholesale distributor in the early 90's. CompUSA's pricing hit a lot of independent resellers hard. We told our clients they could go for volume sales or become specialized consultants. Wholesale margins went from 40% to 8%.

CompUSA, is like my ex...

[TexArcane]

I use to love them then ended up hating them. For the longest time the only thing CompUSA was good for was finding Mac software on the shelf. When the Apple store opened up about 20 minutes away that was the end of even considering going to CompUSA. Like many people have said their management sucked hard. I remember a couple of times where I got a cashier who would mumble under their breath how much they hated the place. I guess the biggest irony for me was they shut down all the CompUSAs in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area except for two. Home of their HQ and they only had two stores. Where the hell are the rest of these stores located?

Re:CompUSA, is like my ex...

[Megane]

I'm glad to hear that they at least had the brains to close most of their DFW stores. The very existence of Fry's and Apple Store makes CompUSA redundant. I'm just surprised they didn't close the NW Austin store earlier this year.

Re: ... now with deceitful titles!

[PitaBred]

Wow. You have no self-respect, do you?

Yay!

[adapt3r]

As an employee of the 107 location in Salem, NH I am happy. I am so sick of this place. I hate being forced to shove a warranty down a customer's throat. I'm now stuck with finding a new job, but it can't be any worse than CompUSA.

Re:EggHead became NewEgg dummkopf

[JackMeyhoff]

Why not buy from the maker direct from China or Taiwan or Japan? I do :) All the retailers do is put their stamp on it and charge more.

Re:Bad purchasing dept. was:Re:Meh.

[scottgfx]

I think you're talking about the special on CNBC. It was very interesting. The specials on American Airlines and Starbucks were also good.

Mmmmm, PopTarts.

Re: Commission

[zakezuke]

Commission

The last bit of data would suggest they were on commission in 2002.

Still on commission?

Stills looks like they are.

For more on radioshack sucking visit radioshackstucks

Did you hear that sound?

[Anonymous Coward]

That "whooshing" noise you heard was the sound of a joke going completely, and quickly by you.

Not only Comp USA

[frankjg2]

The major owner of Comp USA also balied out of Circut City. He was a %10 owner. Hard to compete with FRY,s

The last time I went into a CompUSA...

[Anonymous Coward]

...I swore I'd never go back.

Went in to find a couple of IDE hard disks. Not SATA, IDE. Some idiot 'working' there tried to tell me that SATA was compatible with IDE. After arguing with him for about 3 minutes, I realized that I could not convince him otherwise... So I said thanks for the help, I'll just look around now. He then went and got his manager and convinced him that they were compatible and that he needed to come tell me so... The manager got really belligerent about it, so I asked to see if he had an example of both drives in their shop that he could show me so that I could see for myself. Oh, he was so happy that he was going to be proven correct. When we got back to the shop area, he went to the back and came bounding out with an IDE and a SATA drive. 'See, there's no difference!' At which point I showed him the hardware interfaces on the back of the drives. His jaw dropped and he stammered something to the effect of 'but, INSIDE they're the same...' 'Yeah, well, you have to connect to the outside to get to the inside.' I handed him back his drives, laughing at him and the rest of the morons, all the way out...

So, good riddance to bad rubbish. Newegg rocks!

What about my warranty??

[ksieburg]

I puchased a laptop from them 2 months ago with an extended 3 year warranty. What happens now after they shut down?

Re:Wrong name: CompChina is the right one

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the other end of globalization. You're partially to blame, and no amount of jingoistic isolationist rhetoric will save your economy from the downward spiral it's trapped in.

Please, Santa, bring me a Fry's for Christmas...

[Miamicanes]

If there's a god, maybe we'll finally get to have a Fry's somewhere between West Palm Beach and Miami now (hint: Fort Lauderdale, Sawgrass Mills area). Or god forbid, one in Broward @ Sawgrass, and one in Miami (Dolphin Mall, or NW 25th St @ SR826 (former Incredible Universe store).

They're all the same

[Avatar8]

As someone who lives in the Dallas area, I have had the opportunity to shop at all of the stores being discussed here.

Computer City was good for the little things and gadgets: cables, CDs, accessories, books, etc. It was not a place from which anyone with any intelligence would purchase a computer. Good prices and decent customer service. When CompUSA bought them, it changed drastically. It still was not a place from which to buy a computer, but with CompUSA at the helm prices went up and service went down.

Best Buy, the running joke of technology stores. Poor choice of brands to sell, jacked up prices, the most ignorant computer salespeople I've ever encountered, close to the worst customer service I've ever experienced and protection plans for generating more income everywhere you turn. Let's not even talk about the useless-before-they-were-exposed-for-collecting-porn-and-personal-information Geek Squad.

Circuit City is less of a computer store than Office Depot. They carry a small variety of name brand computers which they buy straight from the manufacturer in bulk and then jack up the price. Besides being as ignorant as Best Buy salespeople, Circuit City people work on commission last I heard, so you get attacked as soon as you look at any high dollar item.

CompUSA used to be reliable and would provide good customer service... if you worked at a business that could afford it. Home users were SoL. As someone else posted if you were unfortunate enough to relinquish your PC to this store, when you got it back not only had two successor computers been released but the amount you paid for the repair could have bought you a brand new computer. They definitely fell behind the curve of every technology they tried to sell. As with most brick and mortar stores, they're structure doesn't allow them to stay ahead of the availability or price curve.

Microcenter makes CompUSA look affordable and friendly. Unless the item you want is on sale then you'll likely pay 25-50% more for it than you would if you bought it online. The only item I've found Microcenter to be useful for is books. They have an extensive selection of technology books and thankfully, they don't mark them up from the cover price.

Fry's, the current darling of geeks everywhere, is showing some of the worst practices of any of these stores mentioned above. Fry's must keep their shrinkwrap machines running at full speed. This mainly centers on computer components. It is rare to see the always-long return line populated by people carrying TVs or small appliances; they almost always have a computer component in their hands. I know that's what put me in that line three times last year until I finally learned my lesson. I suspect that since Fry's has its own computer service department that this group has free will over the components that come into the store. They "borrow" from inventory to troubleshoot and then package the item back up and put it on the shelf. Ever notice how *every* motherboard box on the shelf is only sealed by strapping? How easy is that to re-package? Aside from creating/allowing product defects, Fry's also has poor customer service. Good luck finding someone to help you in any department except printers and TVs where they obviously get commission. Read the fine print on the back of the receipt carefully and ignore it, because if you show any signs of frustration from your experience with them, they'll likely refuse your exchange/return and blow you off. I also feel Fry's deliberately causes store rushes by offering irresistable sales on items and only carrying a limited number per store. (I recall going to Fry's at lunch to check on a sale item. When I asked about it, the employee laughed and said, "Oh, you have to get here before we open for those items.") I strongly suspect that Fry's has a great many underhanded dealings going on as well, and I predict within the next five years they will be exposed.

What choice does that leave anyone who only has a choice of purchasing computers or components

Re:EggHead became NewEgg dummkopf

[jdjbuffalo]

I saw a program several months ago detailing NewEgg's process for managing a warehouse. They were featured because they were doing several things that hadn't been done in warehouses and shipping.

They are very efficient as you say and do get most orders out the same day. The $2.99 guarantee's that it will go out the same day. The way they ensure this is by having a separate conveyor belt for picking and packaging their express orders. This means that it will be ready to send out within about 15 minutes instead of several hours.

Re: 21st Century emails

[Raenex]

Everyone emails That's not true, and some do it more than others. I also refuse to buy from Tiger Direct because of their abusive email practices. Not only that, I made it a point to call up their order line and get my email address removed from their list. It cost them money and let them know I was a pissed off customer.

I understand that you can't boycott every company, but there are dozens of online places to buy electronics from.

Adverserial?

[hawk]

I haven't seen *adversarial* in my travels to various Frys.

Clueless, inept, indifferent, incompetent, can't speak English, etc., all the time. Adversarial, however, would take effort and thought.

OTOH, the one here in Las Vegas is generally stocked with employees that find you and help you--in English! My father and brother think I'm making it up, but I can still prove that it's a Fry's by the near impossibility of exiting the parking lot . . .

[It's south of almost everything in Las Vegas, and you can only exit heading South (it's shortly after the Strip). To turn North (or East, for that matter), you have to make a mad dash across a couple of lanes in the rare gap in traffic. Oh, and believe it or not, it's a destination for Chinese tour groups--tour buses will stop in front disgorging entire loads of eager Chinese on a regular basis.]

In wisconsin...

[sys_mast]

there is MilwaukeePC they have several locations around Wisconsin, I think more locations than CompUSA ever had. In the past I was not very impressed by them, but my last few stops have really improved my opinion of them.

see their locations on their site
http://milwaukeepc.com/Locations.asp

Cyberguys isn't bad

[abb3w]

These folks have more kinds of cd/dvd holders than you could possible need.

Cyberguys doesn't carry the 80mm paper sleeves for miniCD/DVD-Rs, but do carry a six-in-one DVD case as well as the four-packs. Some of the stuff they carry can be found cheaper elsewhere (even ThinkGeek, in some cases!), but there's enough unique-and-cheap stuff there that it's on my regularly visited tech shopping bookmarks.