Groceteria.com

It is now official, CompUSA will be no more after the first of the year. I'm sure we all saw this coming years ago. Bad service, high prices, limited selection, high prices

From Reuters:

Earlier this year, the company closed more than half of its U.S. retail stores in a bid to streamline operations and bolster margins at top-performing stores.

Friday's sale did not come as a complete surprise to industry watchers.

News reports have suggested that Slim -- who is among the world's wealthiest individuals -- was seeking to unload more of his interest in the company.

A spokesman for Circuit City Stores Inc (CC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) told Reuters on Friday that representatives from CompUSA approached his company about possibly taking over properties.

Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Fassler said prior to the announcement of the sale that the closure of more CompUSA stores would be a positive development for rivals Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Circuit City , Office Depot Inc (ODP.N: Quote, Profile, Research), OfficeMax Inc (OMX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Staples Inc (SPLS.O: Quote, Profile, Research).

Consolidation in the electronic retailing sector has resulted in intense competition as large companies such a Best Buy Inc and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) undercut smaller rivals such as CompUSA and Circuit City. (Reporting by Lisa Baertlein, editing by Leslie Gevirtz and Andre Grenon)

Not surprising. They began slipping quite a while ago. The one in Atlanta had non-existent customer service (granted, Atlanta is a terrible place for service, but their folks were clueless, much like the crappy Tower Records next door). The last time I went to the one in Rockville, MD, it was sad how their selection had shrunk.

I don't think it was Wal-Mart (crappy computer selection) or Best Buy by themselves. Rather, things simply had changed. People buy their software and computers online and the basic level of customer service that CompUSA offered is too little for some people and un-needed by others. Perhaps even more than Best Buy or Wal-Mart, Staples and Office Depot have cut into their market share, along with Target.

A friend was a former employee for a few years at the CompUSA in Detroit. The word on the management wire was that Slim had 'gifted' the chain to his son as a birthday present or similar, and the son had no management experience to begin with, and subsequently ran the store into the ground over the course of 2005-06. After closing over half of its stores last year, CompUSA claimed their sales this year were half of what they were last year (duh?). Coupled with bad management down the chain, it was inevitable.

But then I moved to Washington, where we have Fry's. And life was good.

I can't help but feel a little sorry to see a retail establishment go: I have fond memories of their catalog and of visiting their Novi, Michigan location back in the early '90s when all the computers on display were running DOS and Windows 3.1. It was impressive!

That said, the chain definitely lost its way somewhere along the line in terms of furthering its purpose and distinguishing itself in its retail niche. My last few visits there were underwhelming experiences, to say the least, and after the last wave of store closings, the writing was already on the wall.

I still get a lot of email from this company, i wonder if compusa.com is going out of business also or is it going to be sold?

I'd be surprised to see Circuit City buy any of the CompUSA stores. A long-vacant CC location is about to become a Grupo Famsa electronics store in Victorville, CA near an Hispanic supermarket. I'd suspect they'll open in some of these CompUSA stores as well.

So what will happen to the name "The Good Guys", an electronics chain CompUSA bought, closed all the freestanding stores and rebranded their electronics sections to?

Daniel wrote:So what will happen to the name "The Good Guys", an electronics chain CompUSA bought, closed all the freestanding stores and rebranded their electronics sections to?

It'll likely remain in the possession of Grupo Carso and remain in limbo as it does now, and as the Lucky name was during the Albertsons days.

It seems they kept SOME CompUSA stores open....I went to the store locater on the website and it shows the closest one to LA is in bakersfield!! Looks like they will keep the website open since it has been updated since the announcement of store closures....

CompUSA isn't quite dead yet. The CompUSA name, web site, and up to 16 stores were bought by the parent of TigerDirect and they plan on using the CompUSA name on their retail stores.

http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=25222

All SoCal Good Guys were converted to CompUSA or had their stores become superstores. This was the case to the now-closed Chino Spectrum store (Grand and CA71). It first opened as a Good Guys and after CompUSA acquired GG it became a CompUSA superstore with a GG department. There is now a "For Lease" sign on the window but the "CompUSA" sign is still there. The City of Industry GG (across from Puente Hills Mall) is now Superco, a Chinese-run electronics/appliance store - this was a GG that first opened as GG but never became a CompUSA.

By the way, the West Covina GG (across from Westfield mall) is now a Fresh & Easy supermarket.

luckysaver

luckysaver wrote:All SoCal Good Guys were converted to CompUSA or had their stores become superstores.

Not all...the Northridge store was closed and not converted to a CompUSA. I don't think the Marina del Rey store (the one underneath Tower Records) became a CompUSA either.

I can state that the Cerritos Good Guys store became a Superco, without an intermediate stop at CompUSA. I've never been inside that store, but it was built near Fedco (redeveloped to Target.)

The Puente Hills GG closed since there was a CompUSA in the Mall.

The GG store in Monterey Park closed immediately when the chain liquidated. CompUSA was rumored to move in, but never did. It became a (very small) Staples store within months.

Reno, NV CompUSA is still open. Now 40-60 percent off with "final days" as a selling point to visit. They have liquidated very slowly and not been overly generous on the discounts.