CompUSA to Close Stores After Holidays

[Ian]

Not that I'm a big fan of CompUSA, but I'm sad to see them go. They had some good deals every once and a while.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071207/compusa_sale.html?.v=3

Consumer electronics retailer CompUSA said Friday it will close its store operations after the holidays following sale of the company to Gordon Brothers Group LLC, a restructuring firm. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

CompUSA operates 103 stores, which plan to run store-closing sales during the holidays.

Privately held CompUSA, controlled by Mexican financier Carlos Slim Helu's Grupo Carso SA, said discussions were under way to sell certain stores in key markets. Stores that can't be sold will be closed.

Gordon Brothers will also try to sell the company's technical services business, CompUSA TechPro, and online business, CompUSA.com. It would be up to the buyers whether to continue the CompUSA name.

[CowboySlim]

Yeah, it figures. It's been over a year now that they shut down their stores here. By and large when a failing business starts shutting down one piece in order to save the rest, it is usually just that a piecemeal approach, that is, just one piece after the other until they are all gone.
Kinda like the US auto industry, kill off 20 models last year, 25 this year, and..........

[deinabog]

It's a shame to see them go out like this. I remember walking into the location on 5th Avenue hear in NYC back in '95 and being amazed. All the different computer brands and products jumpstarted my inner geek.

I bought a 750-watt Coolermaster PSU from the Columbus Circle store just over a a month and even decided to buy the TAP protection plan too (since the unit was on sale anyway). Looks like that'll be my last purchase from them.

[Ian]

I drove by CompUSA yesterday and they had a big sign out front saying that everything was 20% off.

[jacktheripper]

Sound like a good time to get some last-time deals. The spoils of the sinking ship.

[Ian]

I'll wait til they drop to 40-50% off. At 20%, their stuff is the same price as other places.

[LoneWolf]

I'll wait til they drop to 40-50% off. At 20%, their stuff is the same price as other places.

I'd actually venture to say that it's still higher.

I've seen too many liquidators take over businesses in my area in the last 5-10 years. Raise all the prices to MSRP, and then start making markdowns. Since MSRP is a ridiculous price to start with, markdowns do nothing.

When CompUSA closed here, by the time they closed, the 75% markdowns were within maybe 5-10 bucks of NewEgg's prices, but it was 5-10 bucks higher. By that time, anything worthwhile had been purchased by people who didn't do their homework, and genuinely believed they were getting a deal. I bought one item --an iPod battery. The only reason that it was a good buy was that I'd have had to pay shipping to get it online; the price wasn't any better.

CompUSA was once a pretty decent chain --too bad that was before they even moved into my area. By the time they came in here, they had fallen pretty far. Their fine print (great mega deal provided you fill out 2-3 mail-in rebate forms and hope they are fulfilled), their poor sales knowledge, their failure to compete with even local big box stores on price, completely doomed them. CompUSA is an example of what happens when corporate execs forget what really makes a business --servicing your customers.

[Dartman]

I used to hate CUSA because they had a lousy return policy and my nearest store was far enough away to only be worth going to for a truely smokin' deal.
Then they opened a store right next to my favorite Best Buy so I went in a few times and got goodies I knew I wasn't going to return when their price was good or they were the only ones that had it, like my Connect Computers retail 1655
THEN they closed it and the predators bought it out and like said jacked prices back up till all the good stuff was bought by idiots, with no returns, or warantee.
Now they are back to being to far away to bother with, they killed themselves.

[Wesociety]

Although I only occasionally purchased from ChumpUSA, they did have some good deals once in awhile. And for that, I will miss them.

I won't miss their notoriously horrid track-record for fulfilling their rebate offers and their other bad policies...

[Jim]

I stayed away from CompUSA mostly because of the terrible return policy like Dartman. I did buy an Apex DVD player on sale there and received the rebate, but this was before they became rebate city. If everyone was like Dartman and me and only bought the rare sale item that wasn't going to be returned, I can see how they went out of business.

Having said that, just by their existence they exerted some competitive pressure on Best Buy and Circuit City. I hope Circuit City stays in business to keep the pressure on Best Buy. I was there again tonight to pick up a GPS unit I bought on their website and the store always seems vacant compared to BB. CC's online purchases are pretty flawless. The in store pick-up is simple and inventory accurate. For shipping they have a lot more items that qualify for free shipping than BB and they arrive quickly.

[Ian]

The local CompUSA has everything marked down 30% now. I still didn't stop.

[Ian]

I finally stopped this weekend. Besides some iPod accessories, I didn't see anything that was 30% off. Media was 10% off. Drives were 15% off. The best deals were with power supplies as they were 25% off but I could still get them online for less.

[Wesociety]

It looks like TigerDirect will be buying at least some of the former CompUSA stores. http://www.dailytech.com/TigerDirect+Ey ... e10230.htm

TigerDirect B&M coming soon!

In other news, I also read that Circuity Shitty had a massive loss for 3Q 2007. I hope they don't close down for competitions' sake.

[Ian]

I can't say I like Tigerdirect any better. They're more rebate happy than CompUSA and will sell your email address to spammers.

[aviationwiz]

We're getting a Staples where the closest CompUSA to me was, first one in the metro area! CompUSA closed up shop in Minnesota last year though.

[TheWizard]

I can't say I like Tigerdirect any better. They're more rebate happy than CompUSA and will sell your email address to spammers.

I agree. Purchase one thing from them and they not only sell your Email address, they also bombard you with catalogs by snail mail.

[Ian]

I drove by the local CompUSA after work and was surprised to see that they were still open. The few things they had left were marked down by 50-70%. I still couldn't find anything worth buying.