CompUSA To Shut Down

[GoKyu]

I have to agree with neo, as I happen to work at the same store

Our manager has taken on a pretty heavy burden lately with all this crap going on, but he remains cool about everything.

I had a customer today looking at an iMac for some "video editing" projects, and ended up showing him a Mac Pro, and he's now seriously considering going that route instead....very good stuff! (I'm still waiting till Macworld to get mine though )

 

[TurboSC]

I have to agree with neo, as I happen to work at the same store

Our manager has taken on a pretty heavy burden lately with all this crap going on, but he remains cool about everything.

I had a customer today looking at an iMac for some "video editing" projects, and ended up showing him a Mac Pro, and he's now seriously considering going that route instead....very good stuff! (I'm still waiting till Macworld to get mine though )

Do you guys get good discounts on hardware there? You better use it before the doors close hehe.

 

[ReanimationLP]

How's RadioShack doing?

Well, I cant speak for the entire company, but my Radioshack that I work for is booming. We always have a ton of customers packing our store, and we're no less than 200 feet from a Best Buy.

Radio shack doesn't have much competition to it's core business. I really don't see Radio Shack disappearing any time soon.

I will say however that for a company that sells technology I've never really seen them apply it well throughout their own company. Nothing really brilliant in inventory control, or POS solutions.

What they have in place is something that is very functional yet fails to get the consumer excited about using it.

Like I said, I cant speak for everyone, but I enjoy my job, my coworkers, and all my coworkers are rather knowledgeable, and we enjoy assisting our customers, showing them all the stuff we have and getting them excited about it.

Our inventory control isnt nowhere near as great as Best Buy, but we do keep all the valuable stuff locked up.

Our POS systems. My god, I hate our POS systems.

Imagine running Windows XP Pro, on a 256MB Dell Optiplex that has a 2.0GHz Celeron and everything built on the mobo, and only being allowed to use Internet Explorer 6, tied to the world's slowest Comcast connection.

Actually, I think some of them have 128MB.

 

[Gizmotoy]

Do you guys get good discounts on hardware there? You better use it before the doors close hehe.

The word from employees on some other sites was that since the liquidators took over they ended all employee discounts on the day the closing was officially announced.

I remember going to CompUSA when I was just a kid. I'll be a little sad, but not surprised, to see it go. Their prices were always high, even way back then, and they're recently gotten hostile with customers which obviously worked out well.

 

[MacNoobie]

I say good riddance, after firing what 3000 of their top employee's and replacing them with cheaper labor in order to "cost save" instead of say key executives taking cuts on their end I said down with CompUSA.. I cant say I'm sad they're going and I cant say I'm surprised their parent company was bleeding cash.

 

[adlos]

Is just plain sad really. And even worse to see (or read) that Apple may be going to Best Buy!! After what they did to me! They sold me 2 used and defectives Macbook Pro's as new!! (I returned them, of course) I'm even still raged about it. I went to CompUSA and bought my macbook pro there and it's been perfect , and it was sealed and new!


Best-Buy is definitely in my store's black list. I just don't like how they treated me , don't like how they handle everything and I just don't wanna buy there anymore, specially not after spending almost 4 thousands dollars and then finding out the product I bought was used and defective. So I guess my only choice is to find an alternative to CompUsa or buy only online.

 

[aLoC]

C U later CompUSA.

6 years ago you searched my bag in your NJ store and ever since I have worked silently and vigilantly behind the scenes in the financial markets to bring you down. Today the final piece fell in to place.

 

[shadowfax]

Great. CompUSA was the only major Apple reseller in my state. Looks like Apple needs to build a new store.

Downtown Little Rock is really crying for one. Arkansas is so strange... lots of backwoods people, such a gorgeous--really gorgeous--state. Little Rock has some really great areas. I think an apple store would fit right in downtown.

 

[Cheffy Dave]

Ding ding ding! You get the gold star for that one, Kira. You're absolutely right. It's like the old saw about "the head of the fish rots first". I've worked for several big-box retailers over the years, and I can tell you that, all things being equal, management sets the pace for the store.


Well, I really have so little patience left at this point for computer owners this is one of those things which I could care less about. If someone doesn't back up their data, or have a spare computer from which to continue conducting their business, then as far as I'm concerned, it just sucks to be them. Any compassion I've ever had has long since been burned away (incinerated, actually).

nice to know I'm not the only one burned out of PC owner stupidity

 

[Buran]

And now, most of these management idiots have moved to New York and have opened no-return stores on-line such as Amazon and even Ebay.

You can return things at Amazon -- I've done it several times, mostly for things that were their fault (rare, but happens: damaged/incomplete goods) and once for something that was mine -- but you can return things there.

Don't blame ebay for whether or not you can return things -- that's up to the seller you buy from. I sell things "as is" when I sell there, and blaming ebay for the fact that I don't take returns (which I disclose in the listings ahead of time) is silly.

I don't, and won't, miss CompUSA. I build PCs now from parts bought from newegg (no BS, better selection, and good prices) and Mac stuff I buy either from Amazon or from Apple direct. CompUSA is a joke -- dirty stores, ignorant staff, warranty harassment, and bad selection. I once went in to buy something simple, and the PDA section was gone and the racks were covered with, I kid you not, 50 different ipod cases. While I like ipods and I have a few, I don't need 50 cases, I just wanted a PDA stylus. I bought my Macbook Pro direct from Apple, and I've bought a lot of computers, or influenced purchase of them, direct from Apple. Who wouldn't go to a clean, pleasant place that doesn't push extended warranties when the alternative is a slum dirthole that harasses you to buy one?

The last thing I ever bought at a CompUSA was a pack of stuffbak.com stickers. I'll be buying those from stuffbak.com in the future -- the ones that CompUSA had started flaking and peeling within months. They couldn't be bothered to stock the real-metal type that can actually stand up to hard use.

 

[dwl017]

Yeah, I feel sorry for the folks like the guy above, not for the company. Having gotten that out of the way, I plan to be swooping down regularly on my local CompUSA store in the next few weeks to check out the going out of biddness deals

Don't waste your time they will have nothing but junk.

 

[KiraDouji]

nice to know I'm not the only one burned out of PC owner stupidity

I third that.

Me: "What operating system do you have?"
Guy: (With a heavy southern accent) "Ex-Ell?"
Wife: (From a short distance away also with a heavy southern accent) "Ex-pee!"
Guy: "Eex-pee."

Apple customers are so much nicer (most of the time). Either they know what they want, or they freely admit they have no frellin' clue what they're doing and actually listen to me when I explain things to them. It's horribly biased, but whatever, I basically acted as an Apple employee for the last month or so anyway.

- Kira

 

[nxent]

this is unfortunate. where else am i going to impulse buy my computer equipment. i liked compusa as a non shady, reliable alternative to the apple store for my upgrades.

 

[evilted]

Won't miss CompUSA too much

I wouldn't be surprised.


Best Buy is killing them on price, store locations, depth of stock, and layout. Our CompUSA's (Nashville) haven't been refreshed since the late 90's. They have a very "Slummish" vibe, while the Best Buys are all crisp and clean.

It's also apparent that someone at CompUSA loses a bonus every time they open a cash register line, because they seem to view it as an absolute moral defeat any time they have more than one open! Best Buy seems to staff at a level that keeps checkout quick rather than painful.

Man, I agree with just about everything you said. I've noticed this strange one-register-open behavior since I started going into a CompUSA in Concord, CA back in 1999, and it was the same in the now-closed stores here in Georgia as well. That plus the fact that they never seemed to have correct pricing on large amounts of stock (like PC games) and occasionally offered "Manager's Special" discounts of maybe $300 on year old $2500 laptops. Prior to that I had (99 -> 95 or 96?) been to the CompUSA on 5th Avenue in NYC, and thought that was a pretty well run store.

But excepting the NYC store, they had, as you said, a slum-like quality to them.

They did, however, carry a much deeper selection of product, mostly accessories, than Best Buy, and you could even get a good deal on something there occasionally. At least we have a couple of Fry's Electronics in the area now, and they stock even more parts and accessories than CompUSA ever did. Plus the customer service is, from what I've seen in both CA and GA, a lot better.

Oh, and the help at the CompUSA stores was generally not helpful. Either they were not too interested in helping, or -- more often the case-- they were just not very knowledgeable about the products they were supposed to be selling. Same thing can be said of Best Buy though. If I had a nickel for every time I heard a sales associate at either CompUSA or Best Buy give a customer flat-out wrong advice on a purchase, I might be wealthier than Carlos Slim.

My $.02.

 

[chameleon81]

during my 15 months long stay in USA. I bought close to 10 computers - and sold them back in my country of course- none of them was from CompUSA. COmpUSA was always more expensive than circuity city and bestbuy.

 

[elgruga]

What exactly does this mean for my CompUSA Credit card bill????

You dont have to pay it. When a store closes all debts are wiped out.

Another horrible retail outfit goes down. Who cares?
The history and background of these places is always shady and ugly.
Computer City, Best Buy, Future Shop and others HATE customers, only want to sell you the dreaded, and in Apple's case totally unnecessary, 'extended warranty'.
I bought a $9 item that happened to run on batteries in one of these stores and the idiot at the till asks me 'do you want extended warranty?" WTF?
On $9? Are you insane?

Fantasy Crappy Big Retail Store revenge scenario:
"Do you need any help, Sir?"
"Yeah, my car is filthy - can you guys wash it while I aimlessly browse your crappy store and turn all the stereo's to max. volume?"
"Oh, and hey, is there a Foozball table setup somewhere?"

 

[EagerDragon]

Cr@p! I just made my parents buy a mini @ a compusa because it was the closest place to buy a mini. And got a year contract instead of applecare, since there was no store within 250 miles!!! So are they closing down all stores or what?

I hate to tell you this.... but the one year contract was a rip off, see if you can get your money back. As the device is still under warranty, technically the new warranty is not yet active. Good luck with that.


For the next time...... You do not need a store close to you. You can buy applecare from the Apple Online store and you can wait until you are close to runniong out of warranty before you purchase the Apple care. Just don't cut it to close.

Apple will let you mail in the equipment if there is no store close by.

 

[EagerDragon]

You dont have to pay it. When a store closes all debts are wiped out.

You could be right, but I highly dough it.
Most credit cards are issued by a bank not the store, the store is just a front to push the card. Also the store may get a cut of you monthly payments or a flat "finders" fee equivalent to n % of the initial charge. Have you notice how most of these cards have 18% to 22% interest. Just for laughts ... see the fine print interest on the card offered by Apple.

 

[evilted]

You dont have to pay it. When a store closes all debts are wiped out.

That advice is patently absurd.

Debts are not just wiped out when a store closes. Maybe if Ma & Pa's Computer repair closes nobody will come looking for the $75 you owed them, but outstanding debts accrued on the CompUSA card will undoubtedly be assigned to creditors, who will likely collect through the CompUSA card issuer (which is not CompUSA) as per normal. The debt doesn't just magically disappear in the consumer's favor.

Sure, you can decide not to pay, but you put your credit report at risk and they can always take you to court if they think it's worth their time.

 

[Mac OS X Ocelot]

I've never bought from them but I hear their service and prices suck; almost at the Best Buy level.

 

[Ibjr]

I didn't have team to read all the posts but posters need to realize this is bad news.

CompUSA was the only source of Apple computers and laptops in some areas. A few years ago when a power adapter broke (just think how often that happens) while on the road, we had to run by a CompUSA. The service was terrible but I got what I needed. Without a CompUSA, we would have had to overnight one from a mail order or Apple.... That just doesn't work.

CompUSA provided a venue for potential switchers to play with OSX -- not everyone lives by an Applestore.

This is bad news.

-- IBJR

 

[compuguy1088]

I have a slightly different take. In the cities I've lived in CompUSA has never been the major Mac retailer. There is a store called MicroCenter that is based in Ohio. These stores have Apple stores in them that go beyond an isle or back section of the store. Perhaps they along with Fry's (which has a complete line of Mac products) has given them a run for their money. I understand the comment about CompUSA's slummy vibe. The overall "look and feel" of the store is largely unkept. Now Fry's is the "Walmart" of electronic stores however they keep their inventory up to date. Best Buy I don't consider an Apple Retailer any more than Guitar Center or Sam Ash. These stores are also places that you could purchase a Mac, but the scope of what they carry is limited to the overall stores focus. You can buy an iMac or Mac Pro with FCS but you cannot buy Aperture because its beyond what a music store would ever need to stock even though its made by Apple.




Then again...............maybe CompUSA just sucked?

CompUSA's in my area were closed in the first set of closings (NoVA area). Lucky for me we still have a Microcenter in Vienna. Though, with the closing of CompUSA there is one less competitor. It would be nice if Frys would come to the East Cost.....but that will never happen .

 

[timclarke07]

Only one left in Cincinnati. In the last year I have been there only 4 times.

The reason I stopped shopping there was that during those last 4 visits most of the store employees were up at the service desk or managers office BSing and not on the floor helping customers who just would walk out of the store.

Today was the last day. I walk in the store 7 employees at the service desk just BSing while 8 customers were on the floor trying to find product. You actually had to walk up to the service desk to ask a question and get help!

No way to run a business!

 

[DiamondMac]

CompUSA used to have 1-2 more stores down here and we would go to them.

When they shut down, we just stopped going since the only other store is extremely out of the way (and really out of the way for anyone in New Orleans)

 

[jkeithh]

Great. CompUSA was the only major Apple reseller in my state. Looks like Apple needs to build a new store.

Same here in the New Orleans area because the Best Buys here are a joke.