Compusa was ok for it's time, The problem was all their advertised prices always included the ever present Rebate in small letters below the price. Rebates suck and are a pain in the butt.
The alternative stores are no better. try finding a current video card at Best Buy or worse, Circuit City. Their top of the line cards are what were top of the line 2 years ago.
Zipzoomfly and Newegg ect.. are the way to go.
New egg is my store of choice. Incredible selection and 3 day shipping for cheap. Their website is one of the best retail sites I've ever seen for any product.
So very true. I shop for all things to do with computers at newegg now unless it's something I need right away. I sill run out to wal-mart if I need to pick up some disks or something.
To be fair, CompUSA isn't the only one to pull the rebate scam with advertised prices - Best Buy is horrible at doing that. That just drives me crazy, because it's usually next to impossible to get the rebate. They keep demanding more and more documentation, or claim they "lost" your original documentation, until they wear you down and you just give up.
I've had one exception to that. Last year, I bought a Pentax DSLR camera that came with a $100 rebate offer - I would have bought the camera anyway, even without the rebate, but I went ahead and sent the receipt and the proof of purchase, frankly expecting the usual routine. Nope - Pentax sent me the rebate check in about four weeks, no questions asked. So I give them a big thumbs up, and would be very happy to give them some future business.
But sadly, that kind of service with a rebate is far and away the exception. It's so bad that if I see a price and then notice that that price is valid only after a rebate, I consider it a deal killer. IMO, it's borderline fraudulent advertising, since the manufacturers and the stores know that most people will never get the rebate.