Squeezed by Retail Rivals, CompUSA to Shut Down

The Wall Street Journal (excerpt) ^ | December 7, 2007

[ichabod1]

Well, Microcenter in Houston has a very nice location inside the loop and they manage to keep their prices down somehow.

[tomkat]

Large dittos re NewEgg.

Fast shipping, great prices, good customer service.

[TheBattman]

Apple Store???!!!!! I didn’t know!!!! SWEEEEEEET!!!! When is it scheduled to open?

[mylife]

Last time I was in a compusa must have been 10 yrs ago.
Had to drive 40 mi to get there and they didn’t have what I wanted and the prices sucked.

Newegg never lets me down

[TheBattman]

I think the experiences posted here show the real problem with CompUSA - inconsistent management of their stores.

The store in Little Rock is generally clean and well organized. There is usually at least a few knowledgeable sales people or stock crew who would be more than happy to track stuff down for you or to just lend a hand.

I will miss having a CompUSA (but you can bet I will check out any store closing sales!). Heck, even my 3 yr. old daughter likes the place!

[mylife]

And no taxes!

[FlyVet]

Wow. I got some good rebate deals from CompUSA over the past few years. Sorry to see them go, but competition is competition.

[HAL9000]

According to ifoAppleStore - Spring 2008.

[ejonesie22]

They closed the one here in Jackson Mississippi during the original attempt to cut costs a few months ago.

I never realized how much I used them for stuff I needed in a hurry when I did not have time to get it from New Egg and such.

Sad that lesser stocked rivals bet them out.

[ejonesie22]

Great place, but still 24 hours out even with Fed Ex.

[mylife]

I dont mind the short wait

[Tall_Texan]

Altex is well-stocked and knowledgeable. They aren’t exactly a discount chain though. And you pretty much need to know what you want to get many answers from the sales staff.

If I want something at a good price, I go to Fry’s. If I want something specific that I *know* will work right, I go to Altex.

[ejonesie22]

I don’t normally either, but when a 16 port switch goes down at a clients office, I needed it then, so "IncompetentUSA" was a good thing .

Up until I got out of consulting and such last year, I ran a lot of money through NewEgg. Everything from flash cards to quad processor servers.

Best part is returns were easy to do, on the rare chance I needed to do so.

[mylife]

“but when a 16 port switch goes down at a clients office, I needed it then”

For that I have to depend on Staples. Its all we got.

[tomkat]

yep

 

[dfwgator]

Good riddance!

[Paleo Conservative]

If I want something at a good price, I go to Fry’s. If I want something specific that I *know* will work right, I go to Altex.

Unfortunately there is no Fry's in Corpus Christi. Either I have to go to Fry's in Austin or Houston, or I buy from PC Connection or Newegg.com. PC Connection allows ordering till 2 am CST and still getting next business day afternoon delivery. So I could Order it just before 2 am and get it just 13 hours later delivered to my door.

[dr_lew]

None of their salespeople knew anything about the software or hardware products.

They did have a service desk, though. I found this helpful when my fan started buzzing, and I wanted to replace it. I found almost the exact replacement but it had an extra lead for variable speed. I thought I could probably ignore it, but I asked the service desk guy, and he reassured me that that would be OK. Of course, he was way out on a limb with that, because technically the fan is part of the power supply, and you're not supposed to mess with it. The consumer literature for the fan is very careful never to offer any hint that it can be used as a replacement for a power supply fan.

Well, anyway, I guess this kind of poking around will soon become a thing of the past.

[CORedneck]

Hate to say this but too bad they are closing. In fact I went there today to look for a simple, cheap DVD drive but really didn't find one. I picked up a Sun Ultra 5 to play with - play with Solaris 2.10 which I can use at work. Instead, I found a drive in my parts box.

We use to have PC Club as well but they closed almost a year ago. Good part, it will help the small mom & pop computer shops.

I remembered Incredible Universe which was operated by Radio Shack, it wasn't too bad what I remembered but it is hard to believe they been gone for almost 10 years. On Radio Shack, they hardly have anything good anymore especially electronic parts.