Posted on 12/07/2007 4:02:27 PM PST by HAL9000
Excerpt -
CompUSA Inc. said it has been sold to Gordon Brothers Group, a restructuring firm that will wind-down the retailer's operations and sell off its assets. Financial terms were not disclosed.Dallas-based CompUSA, which is controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu, said its 103 retail stores will remain open and staffed during the holiday season as it works to sell off some stores and its Internet operations. The company has struggled with increased competition and had been looking at stratetgic alternatives.
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(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Not likely. I went to one of the closeout sales here in Los Angeles, and when I went to their blowout sale, I got into the fight with the head honcho.
Apparently a liquidator comes in and buys all the merchandise, and even hires the laid off CompUSA workers. I was buying some item, and noticed they were charging me more than what it was listed at on the shelf...which is against the law in California...if it is marked on the shelf, they have to sell it to you for that price...I brought this up with the floor boss, and I kept telling him he was breaking the law, and he ejected me from the store.
(They also have heavy outside security during these blowouts....not sure why...much more than the employee that would check your bags/receipt on the way out.)
So, I ended up paying more for something, because we needed to use it at the office that day, and I didnt want the hassle of driving over to Frys across town to look for it.
Also remember there will be no returns, no warranty, etc.
oh, I was ejected after noticing my receipt on the way out....and asking to see the liquidator boss...if that isnt clear.
There were time the Addison Fire Marshall shut the doors to additional customers due to overcrowding.
Errol Jacobsen and Mike Henoshowitz were from South Africa and seemed to truly love the US.
It seems that the seeds of their death was the purchase of Computer City and absorbing the real estate leases. Sucked the life out of the cash flow.
Nathan Morton collected his money and left, after populating management with his relatives. He valued loyalty over experience.
BTW, by the time that the liquidators take over, all of the inventory will have been sold. The liquidators try to maximize their profit so great deals are rare.
If a store had a good manager and a couple of good reps then customers loved them.
If not ...
I saw this coming as they downsized their business operations and pulled out of quite a few brick and mortar locations in Jan/Feb 2007.
Their prices sucked anyway unless you got it through the business group which got you just under common web pricing.
Like Fry's... Fry was just a west coast thing for a long time...and there all over now... ... in the early 90's Fry's were a techo geek paradise...
The place you could get a cpu some cat 5, and a can of jolt cola .. but Fry's has just gotten crappier and crappier....
They all seem to get away from there geek roots and become just consumer electrons stores
Have you never used them before?
what ever you order will be there in no more than 3 days.
Ive never had to return anything from New Egg.
I loath the checkout at Frys
I remember the store that started the Comp USA in Carrollton Texas on Marsh lane.
Too bad they collapsed but if they can’t compete in the marketplace, that’s capitalism. Someone else is ready, willing and able to fill the void.
As a matter of fact, I have. We ordered most of the parts for our apartment Media Center PC last summer, and I have built several desktops using parts bought from Newegg.
They are fantastic, especially since they got the distribution centers in New Jersey. Everything gets here in one to two days, the prices are fantastic, and...no sales tax!
:0)
And that's when the good deals started going away.
Oh, my gawd. I think I bought my first computer from Softwarehouse. A 286 back in 1989.
I’ve always found CompUSA, besides having poor selection and bad service, to be quite expensive to boot.
I used to think Microcenter sucked, but they’ve actually improved their price/performance over the years. What a concept. My friend was just looking at their website yesterday and noting that you can put together a bad-ass barebones system there for like $200.
Here in Houston we also have the good fortune of having Directron.com located locally. They are pretty good. Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, prettyyyyy... pretty good.
My buddy is going through the same problem with a keyboard and CompUSA right now. The company bought the Mac laptop through them and I guess they were forced to buy a service contract with them as well. He’s been going around and around with them for months.
Radio Shack does suck, but it still seems like two or three times a year I need some kind of widget and I know I’ll find it at Radio Shack and there’s one around the corner from wherever I am. I don’t know if they stay in business on widget sales, but they seem to keep trundling along. At least they stopped demanding my Personal Health Information at checkout time.
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