Analysis: Why I'll Miss CompUSA

I agree with what you're saying about how they used to be. However that's been at least 5 years ago.

Your article is the first I've seen on here about anyone missing them. Check the original article link: http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/12/10/CompUSA-closing-shop_1.html

[My local CompUSA, in Salem, NH, didn't go downhill as badly as some of the other stores. The nearest Micro Center to me is by MIT, which is too far from Andover to be useful. Note that I gave the original news article link at the top of this article, and had already seen your comment there, along with the others saying "good riddance." -- mh]

Say what you will about CompUSA's policies or prices, I agree with you. I don't think we as consumers should ever be happy about having one less choice.

The good news for me is there is still microcenter around where i live. Its virtually the same thing as compusa. And it has a few bonuses. For instance, you can get thumb drives and SD cards from them cheap. And their repair dept. is actually good. Comp USA's repairs were very hit and miss. For instance, once i had to get a motherboard replaced. So they order it and tell me we are ready to go. So i inconvenience myself mightily to get out to them, and hand off my laptop. A few minutes later, they come back and tell me the new motherboard was cracked. Now logic tells you that either they just broke the damned thing, or it was broken and they didn't notice until now. They claimed they didn't break it, but I have my doubts, and either way, it was an incompetant mistake.

By comparison my mother-in-law has taken computers into microcenter several times and gotten good service.

Thanks it seems most people who are posting about this are happy that the stores are closing and do not seem to even care that people will be losing their jobs.

[Good luck, Patrick. Do you know yet whether your store will be staying open under another name? Or whether you'll have a job in January? --mh]

I don't know if anyone outside of the older tech circle will even know that they've left the scene. Were they bought up by someone and consolidated out of business?

[Follow the news link near the top of the posting, Steve. -- mh]

Fry's is a more than worthy replacement for CompUSA, from the standpoint of computer hardware and software selection. They have all of the stuff for the geeks who want to build a system from scratch, and good prices. I don't use them for service, since I would do that myself. I definitely would not buy an extended warranty from them or anyone else.
Sorry if you do not have a Fry's in your location, but they cover that market pretty well here in Dallas.
For everything else, Best Buy or On-line stores meet my needs.
I used to go to CompUSA all of the time. I have not been to one in more than 5 years.
Good Luck

Hopefully, some of those CompUSAs will turn into Micro Centers! It would be nice to have more than one Micro Center in a metro area... (This excludes Chicagoland & Atlanta, which already have 2).

Re: "Say what you will about CompUSA's policies or prices, I agree with you. I don't think we as consumers should ever be happy about having one less choice."

You could look at it a different way... by eliminating the "dead wood" it may make way for new growth offering new and hopefully BETTER choices.
Based on the recent decisions they've made we've gotta label their management as "tired"... they need to cash in their chips while they can get anything for them and get out of the way for the next best thing.

Best Buy and Circuit City are no better. True we've scraped every last ounce of profit out of this food chain but I see absolutely no creativity in those store business models.

Here's the "pillars" as I see them:
- inventory,
- expertise,
- touch & feel.

Inventory is a done deal. Sites like pricegrabber etc. already provide dang nice price/inventory hunting w/very low time investment.

Expertise is out there, but advice is a complex concept so it's probably always going to take an inordinate amount of time to cull a reliable opinion. So I think that's the pillar that needs to turn into a new business model, namely building a truly trusted mecca for paid advice... is it out there already anybody?? Figuring out a price for _personalized_ advice is going to be fun... something like the "perfect printer for my needs" is going to be TOUGH!!! The amount of research it takes to pick the "right" $100-$200 commodity is astronomical... but still, my time is valuable so i'd pay somebody even $50 (literally 30%+) to truly go figure that out and tell me the 5 top best, but _FOR ME_ is the key... sites like CNet, etc are just raw reviews... the next level is matching all that data to my personal wish list.

I think the personalized comments and photos on eBay are the best evolutionary answer to a lot of this.

"Touch and Feel" space seems like what the brick and mortars should be focusing on... everybody knows it but them... we all go into "Best Borrow" ;) and check stuff out and then go buy it online for $50 cheaper. Well I guess there's always a profitable segment of people that need something _right now_ right off the shelf. So how does a storefront make a profit on "display space"??? I don't have a good answer for that... dang I knew I should've taken a marketing class! Do you just sell perifery items like Starbucks?

Plus I pretty much NEVER see what I really want to test out on the shelf. It's too hard to keep up. They shouldn't even try. They should just give up and focus on ordering what we ask for into store and let us kick the tires. And the idiots walking around the store are NEVER worth the time they're being paid for. It's a joke, typically they're too busy talking to eachother about how hammered they got last night... the obnoxious looks you get when asking for help... not knowing where the keys are to the dang display case... not knowing anything about anything... just get rid of the staff and all the glitzy blue and gold and maybe the prices would be close enough for us to actually buy something there!!!

Aww heck, now I better go take my blood pressure pills :)

I won't miss CompUSA. For me, they might as well have closed a while ago. I used to shop there, but they were always the most expensive place to shop, when compared with Best Buy. Then, when I later discovered the prices at MicroCenter, I was shocked at the difference. In fact, BestBuy and CompUSA were closer by many miles, but the price difference was and is enough to make me drive all the way to MicroCenter instead. And for PC stuff, the selection at MicroCenter is as good or better than the other two. End of story for me, except that I too wish MicroCenter could have a greater presence than they do.

I've never had anything but trouble with our Micro Center. Terrible technicians and, as I was leaving for the last time, I mentioned the issue to a manager ... all I got was "Oh, sorry you won't be coming back ... ". (It was a problem with a certain computer they had sold where the MB was actually shorting out on the case because the solder points were too long.) On the other side of the coin, ComUSA could not seem to fix a camera we bought (nor could the MFG). By the time everyone had given up, it was out of warranty and the warranty company wouldn't do anything. Their management then said, take the price of your camera off ANY camera in the store. THAT was customer service. I will, indeed, miss CompUSA closing. /sigh

I liked the selection at CompUSA, it was by far the best in town, especially for peripherals and things like graphics cards. They really had a lot of stuff to choose from.

Why didn't they succeed?

1) Low "Prices" that were actually based on rebates and/or buying a computer and monitor or printer. You'd see what looked to be a great price, only to find out that you either didn't qualify, or had to hassle with a rebate and maybe get it, maybe not. (And here in Washington state, lose 9% of it to sales tax you paid on the amount that was rebated

2) Very agressive sales tatics on extended warranties. I once had a guy who said he wouldn't sell me a system unless I signed a piece of paper saying I'd refused the extended warranty. He finally gave in when I said "You're about to blow this $1,500 sale. So either ring it up now, or I'm leaving..."

The moral for retailers?

Annoy your customers enough and they WILL go away.

[I wonder whether they'll have someone covering all those extended warranties. I think that's a legal obligation. I sure hope so. --mh]

It's the Rebates, plain and simple, that killed them, and they deserve it.

Every time you thought you saw something you wanted at CompUSA, there was a rebate.

Hopefully other retailers will see that consumers (at least enough of us to count) can and will find a way to buy what we want WITHOUT a ridiculous rebate.

I cannot remember the last time I actually bought something at CompUSA. Wait... yes I do... Before Fry's came to Indianapolis, I bought a generic sound card. That was over 6yrs ago.

I have been there many times since, to follow-up on Ads in the paper only to find, like many have said, many rebates were involved or the deal was so good, they never had any left in stock!

Most of the "kids" (I say that because it seemed the average age of their associates was about 17) that worked at the one at the Indy location were annoying to say the least when it came time to ask any questions. Their "I am a hacker and know way more than you do old man" attitude always made me want to just slap them silly and walk out of the store.

In today's day and age you either adapt and survive or you try to make changes for the wrong reasons. When they decided to compete with "office supply" stores, like Staples and Office Max were not around, instead of sticking to and improving their bread and butter... the writing was on the wall.

I hate that there is one less place for competition, but for years now, they have not been there for product selection or pricing compared to Fry's, Best Buy, or Online retailers... so good riddance! Maybe we will get one of these Micro Centers I keep hearing about.

Thank the Lord we have Fry's and Microcenter in Orange county. Athough I miss CompUSA, we're glad we have them two here.