CompUSA to close all stores after holidays

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After closing half of its stores earlier this year in an attempt to stay afloat, CompUSA is throwing in the towel. Last night, it announced that it will be closing all 103 remaining locations after holiday sales to reduce inventory. Started in 1984, the death of CompUSA marks the end of an era for B&M computer retailers that have been increasingly unable to compete with big-box stores like Best Buy and Circuit City.
 
good so i think we should all communicate so we know the good deals
 
It's not that they're having problems keeping up with Circuit City or Best Buy. The death of the B&M PC shops will be a combination of the advent of the etailers coming out in force and the electronics emporiums. When a true geek needs parts the last place he goes is to CC or BB, the markup at those places is horrible. Yeah, Joe Q Public might buy a drive or so from them when he's having work done but the only time an enthusiast will shop there is when they have good prices (for a change) on sales like BF sales.

BB and CC are getting new PC sales from mom and pop level buyers, PC repairs from them as well but the etailers are getting the majority of the business from those wanting parts because it's the cheapest route. Before etail was big we went to CompUSA and MicroCenter and Fry's. Fry's got smart and went as cheap as they could to keep their customers, MicroCenter's doing the same (at last) but CompUSA still wanted to sell stuff at the price level of CC and BB. Big mistake.
 
WOW. I had no idea they were doing that bad. There was a small CompUSA here many moons ago, but it didn't last very long. Poor location + use of an exisiting small building w/crappy parking didn't help. I'm sure places like Best Buy are dancing.
 
That's too bad. It was the only place near me that I could go to to get a part I had to have now and not two days from now. I have an Office depot and a Staples near me. But they never have anything I need when I'm in a pinch. This kinda sucks. Well, mayhap I can p/u a cheap 8800 series or 38xx series vid card on the cheap b4 they go away.
 
This is what happens when you take a good company,and hire ppl @ $7/hr
I loved going to my local Compusa(St Louis) but every time I would go in,no one had a f'n clue what i was talking about,it closed about a year ago,theres no reason they cant keep up with BestBuy,they sell and offer products that the other "PC" stores dont
 
As a former employee of CompUSA (Towson, MD - Store 467), I'm actually quite sad to see them go. The Towson Store is actually one of CompUSA's top selling stores. The lack of competition in both big box stores and also in Mom and Pop shops locally will definitely force me to make all my purchases online. I still rely on CompUSA to buy parts in a pinch; I guess no more. :(
 
Good riddance, the store was the worst computer store in town. Not to mention the manager of the one near me was a real dick when i applied their for a job. I dont remember exactly what happened but I recall when innocently applying for a job the end result was this fat dude with a mole telling me "this is my store, so, get out."

Anyhow the store has always been crap to me. and wasnt the thing originally owned a Mexican corporation? not that that's a bad thing necesarily though....
 
Now that BB is closing that leaves me with CC, Staples and Office Depot. CompUSA was the only pure computer store left in town after PCClub closed down about a year ago.
 
Another former employee here (Bellevue, WA #184) and I saw firsthand the "winning strategies" that the business employed. I've gotta say that their business practices were pretty pathetic, the managers treated the employees like crap, and most of the employees (except the techies) didn't know much more than your ordinary Joe about computers.

They tried to make us all do the BB thing and push stuff to people @ registers and during sales. You know the, "For only $799.99 you could get a replacement plan for that thumbdrive you're purchasing!". I know I hated that as a consumer, and I hated even more having to deliver it. I quit shortly thereafter.

Never missed working there, did miss the easy access to computer stuff they provided. I'm just lucky there's a Fry's near me now.
 
well, I hate to see competition going away, but I can't say I ever shop at a CompUSA unless I absolutely had to. Prices were not really competitive, a few sales that were good but kinda rare to be on something I needed or wanted.

Biggest reason was the rip off "add-ons" at the register. I'm glad I always look at warranty specs on the items I am buying. One time I was in a CompUSA buying 2 items. Item 1 came with a 2 year full coverage warranty from the manufacturer. The second item had a lifetime warranty from the manufacturer. The cashier tries to sell me CompUSA warranties on both of them. The CompUSA warranty for the first item was good for one year form purchase and covered manufacturing defects NOT covered by any manufacturer warranties... urm so it is never in effect. The warranty on the second item goes into effect AFTER the manufacturer warranty expires, OOO an extended warranty for an item that comes with a LIFETIME warranty from the manufacturer? SIGN ME UP!

Both those warranties are complete ripoffs and are never valid. Thats right up there with lifetime replacement warranties on artificial heart valves in event of total failure.
 
Most of us are not going to be able to get "good deals" on their close-outs at the stores themselves, but keep you eyes very close on eBay for things you might like that you suspect CompUSA carried.

That's because CompUSA used a ton of liquidators to unload their stock, and the liquidators turned to eBay to sell the stuff. I got a crap-load of good stuff on eBay when the first round of CompUSA closings happened, and it will likely happen the same way this time.
 
Economic Darwinism.... the crap dies. Dont let the ass hit you in the door on the way out.

Maybe there will be good sales, but I doubt it, the same lousy management that caused the failure will not allow a sensible demise and good bargains to occur. Instead they will go under stuck with a bunch of $49 56K modems, etc. :eek::rolleyes::p
 
I guess I too will go completely online now.

The online reason I would buy PC parts from a B&M store was if I was in a pinch, or just really didn't wanna wait for a whole 3 days for shipping.
 
In my town it is big fish eats little fish.

Computer City comes in (years ago) and kills mom and pop PC retailers.
CompUSA comes in and eventually kill Computer Ciy and buys the remains
CompUSA starts selling Macs, kills local Mac retailers.
BestBuy moves in....right across the street from CompUSA
CompUSA annouces store closures and keeps only half of its stores open.
Our local CompUSA does a huge remodel (starts selling electronics / TVs)
CompUSA announces this



Online prices, BB really did them in. The only thing I really ever bought (in the last few years) at CompUSA was PC cases. I never order cases online because the shipping is as much as the case itself.

Sad to see them go....lack of competition in any town / market is bad for consumers
 
http://money.cnn.com/2007/12/07/technology/compusa.ap/index.htm?postversion=2007120719

The consumer electronics store will run store-closing sales during the holidays to get rid of inventory.

DALLAS (AP) -- Consumer electronics retailer CompUSA said Friday it will close its stores after the holidays following sale of the company to an affiliate of Gordon Brothers Group, a restructuring firm.

CompUSA operates 103 stores, which plan to run store-closing sales during the holidays.

Privately held CompUSA, controlled by Mexican financier Carlos Slim Helu's Grupo Carso SA, said discussions were under way to sell certain stores in key markets. Stores that can't be sold will be closed.

Gordon Brothers will also try to sell the company's technical services business, CompUSA TechPro, and online business, CompUSA.com.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Dallas-based CompUSA has struggled for nearly a decade with falling prices on personal computers, its most important product, and competition from big-box retailers such as Best Buy (Charts, Fortune 500).

Helu took the company private in 2000. The chain went through several CEOs and tried different turnaround strategies, such as a move this year to focus on core customers such as gadget users and small-business owners.

CompUSA closed more than half its stores this spring and got a cash infusion of $440 million to restructure.

During the wind-down, Weinstein and Stephen Gray, managing partner at CRG Partners, will run the company. The chain's current chief executive, Roman Ross, will serve in an advisory role, CompUSA said.

DJM Realty, a Gordon Brothers Group affiliate, will review leases of CompUSA's store locations
Click to expand...
 
In the late 1990's I worked for Comp USA and I saw many things while I was there including a number if retarded descisions and bad business moves. I left the company in 1999 and went somewhere else. In 2005 I went back to work for them on a part time basis for the discount and some extra cash. I later walked out the door for the last time in mid-2006. In that time the company never changed, an in fact only got worse. Despite changing CEOs several times many of the higher ups were the same idiots that were present during the late 90's. So even though the company went private and changed owners they never did clean house and get those morons out of office and replace them with good businessmen. Carlos Slim didn't bother with the damn company at all. In fact he was almost totally hands off. One has to wonder why anyone like that would purchase a business and not keep a closer eye on it. Comp USA hasn't hardly turned a profit in the last 10 years if ever for good reason.

The problem with Comp USA is that they had idiots for management and they never could figure out how to compete in the market. Their death is a result of stupid management that had no idea what the industry wanted or was doing. For example, buying out Computer City was a stupid move. Computer City was going out of business for a reason. By purchasing them Comp USA hoped to gain the customer base of Computer City and add them to their own. One thing they failed to take into account is that many Computer City customers hate Comp USA and only hated them more after the buyout. Beyond that Computer City had an incredible amount of debt which Comp USA essentially inherited. So they had their own debt, and now Computer City's debts to pay off. They also ended up with Computer City inventory a lot of which was stuff that couldn't be sent back to the manufacturers for RMAs for whatever reason. They also ended up closing almost all the Computer City stores they purchased. Really all they did was piss away a ton of money in that buyout.

Next the problem lies with Comp USAs stupid non-compeition agreements. An example of that agreement is the Belkin cable agreement. Basically Comp USA agreed to only carry cables provided by Belkin and no one else. Under the terms of the agreement Comp USA was never allowed to sell other brands of cables. Such agreements existed for quite a large number of products. This effectively tied Comp USAs hands in terms of what products they could carry over the long term. Sometimes this was benneficial and sometimes not.

Another problem was product selection. Comp USA only wanted to carry products that had high margins. Obviously that limits their choices as well. Products that weren't high enough margin were marked up 30% in some cases and at those prices, they were unable to sell them. When a product would get discontinued Comp USA wouldn't mark it down far enough to lose any money on it. An example of this: Comp USA would have a $300 motherboard that would get disconitnued and end up going for $150 online and the stores cost was already high at $250+ they would have lost $100 selling the product at a reasonable price. Well shit happens and some of that needs to be factored in. Instead Comp USA would keep that product on the shelf for $280 expecting to sell it and it would never move. That same product would end up in a back room and eventually they'd sell it to a liquidator for pennies on the dollar and instead of losing $100 they'd end up losing $250 or more on it.

Sometimes the store would carry good products but they would be obtained from a source that would have sold the product to the store for a extremely high price. Take for example motherboards and CPUs. Instead of getting them through a distributor like D&H or Ingram Micro they would purchase them through PC Connect or some website and basically pay E-Tail or close to E-Tail pricing for the product and then apply their 30% markup to the product. Most shoppers I think walk into a store like Comp USA and they know what they should pay for a product. They might even be willing to pay a certain amount more than they should just so they don't have to wait for it. But at the standard retail prices that Comp USA would have on some items people would simply decide to go somewhere else. They would also carry 40 different CD wallets and waste floor/wall space with stuff like that. As a result they ended up with many things like that they couldn't sell either. There would be a couple of brands (Case Logic for example) that sold well while the Chinese knock-off crap might not. Basically they'd buy and carry many things that wouldn't sell well and they never carried enough of what did sell. I have never been sure why that was the case only that it was idiotic to say the least.

Another problem they had was staffing. The week of Christmas 2005 they only had one person working the registers. That same person was also responsible for returns. Even though I was an employee at the time I ended up taking a video card or something back because it didn't work. Because I was an employee they always kept pushing me to the back of the line. The return line took 2 hours to clear through before they could get to me. When I arrived in the line at first, a couple extra people showed up, but for the most part it was the same people for that 2 hour time span. It is inefficiency at it's worst. Many customers walked out simply because they couldn't check out in a timely manner. This is Christmas week mind you, and they were that understaffed.

They also had lowered their hiring standards. In 1996 they wouldn't normally hire anyone under 18 years of age and they required anyone who wasn't there to run a register to have some experience in the field. Either previous technical experience or previous sales experience selling computer hardware. Well after the Computer City buyout they had to fatten up the bottom line to make share holders happy so they started hiring people with zero experience and the average store salary went from being respectible for retail down to bottom line retail. With less knowledgable people in the stores and lower standards in general, Comp USA became a worse place to shop. Employees would get reprimanded all the time for poor performance and it didn't make any difference because at $7 an hour no one cared if they lost their jobs. Even worse is that turn around increased which only amounted to moor ineptitude all around. The only saving grace is in the tech shops. Technicians were generally decently paid and they had a good experience generally speaking. Oddly enough some of the best technicians I've met came from Comp USA's in general. The average Comp USA technician is much better than the average technician at Best Buy or Fry's. Though the Best Buy service center is another matter. I worked there as well and the guys working in the service center are some of the best around.

To further hammer nails into the coffin Comp USA put most of their people on commision and placed strict requirements for selling add-ons, training and extended warranties which were another pain in the ass. They hoped a commision based sales structure would improve the customer experience and instead it had the opposiite effect. Then a year or so ago they put all the sales staff on an hourly wage and since that meant pay cuts for good sales people those people left leaving only the lazy and the bad sales staff in general. Another issue they have compared to Best Buy is that they have no dedicated sales staff. For the most part Best Buy sales staff do not merchandise the store. They have a seperate team of people that works earlier in the day to do that. This leaves the sales staff to be able to concentrate on sales and little else. Comp USA on the other hand makes sales staff merchandise, put out price tags and add related things, as well as handle their own checkout transactions at times.

Another huge problem was the warranites. They used be underwritten by Warrantech and other companies and eventually Comp USA thought they'd have a better time under writing their own warranties. This was a HUGE error.

Companies like Warrantech (which I think is now defunct) made their money selling warranties in the hope that the products wouldn't need warranty work beyond the first year. During the first year most costs were actually deferred to the manufacturer or OEM of the product. After that time it was the extended warranty company footing the bill for everything. The extended warranty company hoped to be able to sell the warranties which is pure profit and like any insurance company they counted on taking more money in than they'd pay out for the claims that they did have to deal with. Another shady practice was denying the warranty for any reason they could come up with. This was advantageous for Comp USA as they could then charge the customer which in turn made them even more profit as tech labor was cheap compared to the money they'd rake in. At the time I left the only part of the stores that made money was the tech shops. Though they never made enough to cover the rest of the stores losses.

The problem is Warrantech ended up paying out more money than they took in. Comp USA basically used a similar model to the warrantech model but with higher prices which they hoped would offset the fact that they'd have to pay out for so many claims. Because of the outrageous prices of their warranties they didn't sell as many and they still had to pay out a ton of cash. Since Comp USA underwrote their own warranties they ended up paying all these claims themselves putting them further in the hole.

The reason why extended warranties work for companies like Best Buy, Fry's and Circuit City is simple. They sell other higher margine items like TVs and home audio equipment. Those items are far less likely to need repairs over the duration of the warranty and even if they do they are cheaper to repair or replace than computer equipment is. Even if they do have to pay out for claims it is often less money, and because of the high margin of those products they end up taking in more money than they pay out overall. Something Comp USA can't do selling computer equipment alone.

Which brings me to the final flaw in the Comp USA business model. They purchased Good Guys which was an electronics chain similar to Tweeter if I had to make a comparison. Unfortunately Good Guys was in about as good a condition as Comp USA itself was at the time they made the purchase. This move was about as stupid as the purchasing of Computer City. The goal there was to bring higher margin items into the store like Best Buy and Circuit city have. Unfortunately Comp USAs version of the business model was again severely flawed. Basically they only sold high margin brands of equipment and therefore didn't carry the stuff people actually wanted to buy. They offered the employees no training on the new products and that meant a horrible sales experience for the consumer. So as a result, they couldn't move the high margin home electronics. Beyond that they never advertised that part of the business so people would come into the store for computer related things and completely ignore the TVs and other high margin items.

Anyway, that's my observations of Comp USA and to a lesser extent Best Buy and why Comp USA failed as a company.
 
Sorry, I ended up ranting and I didn't realize how long the post was before I hit submit.
 
So long Bummer & don't come back! Shopping at ChumpUSA was worse than being in a loveless marriage.
 
Man I bought (well my Dad did) our first 8088 XT machine from these guys back when they were a single store called Soft Warehouse in Addison, TX that spawned into CompUSA.

Memories. CompUSA didn't get with the times, sadly. They were founded by innovators who really got it, and they were run into the ground by businessmen who didn't.

I'll be sorry to see 'em go, but I can't say I'm the least bit surprised.
 
This is a good thing for the industry. This isn't a loss of competition, because CompUSA was simply unable to compete with other B&M stores and especially not with the online stores. I think the last time I visited a CompUSA was at least five years ago, and I live fairly close to at least two of them. The typical CompUSA experience, if memory serves me correctly, was walking through a store mostly stocked with crap, and if you had a question trying to find an employee to answer it took about 10 minutes, only to have the guy pick up the item you have a question about and read the side label, just as you had done 10 minutes ago. Running a business like that, I'm surprised CompUSA lasted as long as they did.
 
I only ever used them for business sales, and their sales counter sucked so much that even for parts I needed now, it was less annoying to order it overnight. This is excluding both money and time factors as the company was footing the bill for both.
 
nice model Dan... i used to work for best buy for 6 years and circuit city for 2, the only thing keeping them 2 up is their name and best buy at least is the fact that there are so many of them. Honestly both of those companies do the same exact operating procedures in terms of hiring employees, when i first started at best buy everyone in the computer dept i was in has computer experience, now go to a best buy and trust me they don't know dick. Its sad to see but these retailers are doing these days.
 
The only surprise is they lasted as long as they did, probably because Carlos Slim needed
a money loser as a tax writeoff.

They won't be missed and will be long forgotten.
 
That makes sense now that I know why the CompUSA I was at today had a huge clearance section. Nothing really impressive on sale... just the normal... We overpriced this thing by $150 and then "clearanced" it by marking it down $70.... still way overpriced even with "clearance" pricing.

Anyhow, I worked at a mom & pop computer store a few years ago and the people from CompUSA would send customers to us because they didn't know where stuff was located in their own store.

And to top it off BB, CompUSA, and CC have all gone way down in quality over the past few years. They have absolutely no good selection of computer stuff.. and the stuff they do have is WAY overpriced.

Hardly ever step into one of those stores unless I check prices online first to see if they have some huge "sale" for the specific part(s) I need at the moment.
 
They closed the only store near me in the first round of closings. I only ever went in there a couple of times - I don't remember if I even bought anything. What I do remember is merchandise so old it was dusty, so old I wouldn't be interested in it at any price much less what they were asking. I also remember not seeing anyone in there except employees. The place just looked dead. There's still a BestBuy near me, but the only hardware I'll buy from them is hard drives, and only if they're on a good sale. My other option is a Fry's, but that's an hour's drive away. I've needed some things in a hurry (thermal paste, power supplies, etc), but "right now" doesn't include an two hours in the car. So it's going to be Newegg for most stuff, and the Asian place with used CRT monitors stacked floor to ceiling (I shit you not) for those desperate moments.
 
I drove by our local CompUSA today on my way to Frys. I also passed Best Buy. All three stores are a minute drive away from each other. Visiting CompUSA never crosses my mind

I think the last time I went there was to find some of the last Logitech MX Duo keyboard packages before they disappeared.
 
Well, they are a bit pricey... Who pays $29 for a generic brand floppy drive in 2005?
 
madmat said:
It's not that they're having problems keeping up with Circuit City or Best Buy. The death of the B&M PC shops will be a combination of the advent of the etailers coming out in force and the electronics emporiums. When a true geek needs parts the last place he goes is to CC or BB, the markup at those places is horrible. Yeah, Joe Q Public might buy a drive or so from them when he's having work done but the only time an enthusiast will shop there is when they have good prices (for a change) on sales like BF sales.
Click to expand...

True, but that's the case with Frys too.

madmat said:
BB and CC are getting new PC sales from mom and pop level buyers, PC repairs from them as well but the etailers are getting the majority of the business from those wanting parts because it's the cheapest route. Before etail was big we went to CompUSA and MicroCenter and Fry's. Fry's got smart and went as cheap as they could to keep their customers, MicroCenter's doing the same (at last) but CompUSA still wanted to sell stuff at the price level of CC and BB. Big mistake.
Click to expand...

I can't speak for those on the West Coast, but Frys has always been expensive, except on those items that are on sale. If one's only impression of Frys is from the online specials and the ocasional link to a Friday ad, then you don't really know. Frys has been in Dallas since roughly 1999, and I can't ever recall buying any major parts from them, unless they were on sale (mostly hard drives). Normal prices on all of those items are roughly MSRP and normally they're cheaper online.

Frys succeeds, because they have EVERYTHING. My friends and I went there every Saturday just to look around. Oh sure we bought stuff, but it was normally little stuff....personally I can't walk out of the place without a box of Sour Jelly Belly Jelly Beans ;)

With that said, if you're shopping for some shrink tubing or some other item where etailer shipping will eat you alive (unless you're buying a lot of it), Frys is great.

With that said, Frys has good deals on parts more often than the other places (which don't sell many parts) and tech people like them more. OTOH, the average Joe does not. I've watched my Dad, brother and sister-in-law walk in one and they don't like Frys at all, which is why there are so few frys (34 stores, half of them in California and 7 others in Texas).

Dan_D said:
The reason why extended warranties work for companies like Best Buy, Fry's and Circuit City is simple. They sell other higher margine items like TVs and home audio equipment. Those items are far less likely to need repairs over the duration of the warranty and even if they do they are cheaper to repair or replace than computer equipment is. Even if they do have to pay out for claims it is often less money, and because of the high margin of those products they end up taking in more money than they pay out overall. Something Comp USA can't do selling computer equipment alone.
Click to expand...

2 points. One, BB and CC do not underwrite their own warranties. I can't remember who does Best Buys', but I believe AIG underwrites Circuit City's. I doubt Fry's underwrites their own warranties, but I've never bought one there and don't know anyone who has either. Nevertheless, I can't see why anyone would underwrite their own. The warranties from these other companies are cheap and are resold at huge markups.


With that said, I agree that CompUSA had a bad business model. I can only think of a handful of things I purchaseed there: a Saitek Joy Stick, heavily discounted hard drives, my ATI X800XL (which was cheaper than it was anywhere else). Probably bought a game or 2 there at some point. But I also had Frys and Microcenter, so there were lots of choices.
 
good riddance compusa, i never shopped their cause their return policy sucked ass..
 
Liquidation begins Wednesday. Sunday's ad runs thru Tuesday. After store closes Tuesday night, out comes the Liquidation signs and down goes the CompUSA signs. They will honor ad all week though. Every store in chain has been taken over by Liquidation team on Saturday. Liquidation leader runs the show. Liquidation cycle goes thru end of Feburary. Same graduated Liquidation cycle pricing as the first round of closing (rather stupid not to blow it out quickly). Liquidation team says they were called upon in a hurry and thus it looks like the rumors of Carlos washing his hands of things last week is true after negotiations broke down, and he simply turned it over and takes the tax loss this year. Sounds like he gave up trying to cut a deal.
 
hoyhoyfeats said:
Liquidation begins Wednesday. Sunday's ad runs thru Tuesday. After store closes Tuesday night, out comes the Liquidation signs and down goes the CompUSA signs. They will honor ad all week though. Every store in chain has been taken over by Liquidation team on Saturday. Liquidation leader runs the show. Liquidation cycle goes thru end of Feburary. Same graduated Liquidation cycle pricing as the first round of closing (rather stupid not to blow it out quickly). Liquidation team says they were called upon in a hurry and thus it looks like the rumors of Carlos washing his hands of things last week is true after negotiations broke down, and he simply turned it over and takes the tax loss this year. Sounds like he gave up trying to cut a deal.
Click to expand...

Would these Liquidation people happen to be the ones running around in black shirts?

After reading the OP, I went to my local CompUSSR (317) that I worked at 10 years ago. Some people I worked with then are still there now. From the overall mood of the place, you'd have thought they were carrying out hourly ritual kitten-scalpings.
 
hi,

Doing a happy dance... again. Every time I hear something about CompUSA I do a dance. The first time was when I heard 1/2 the stores were closing. The second time was when I paid my C USA CC bill off on the TV since I was sick and tired seeing the bill. Then I closed the account about 4 days after the payment went through. Another happy dance. Now this...

Man am I tired with a smile!

shaggy
 
But do you guys still support the local mom & pop stores?

I've run one for a long time now, and i'm seeing a shift in business toward almost pure service. Seems that people would rather buy the product from Newegg and damn the warranty.

Is having a really knowledgable person across the counter still worth money to any of you?

(I'm actually asking out of interest, since the death of CompUSA is both good and bad for small guys like us. It's less competition, but could also be a sign of retail computer and parts sales going the way of the dodo.)
 
I worked at the store across from their corp hed. here in Dallas for about 6 - 8 months. Was absolutely dismal. Stupid management and choices led to this and I cant say I am too sorry. What got me to quit in the end was the store director locking the door saying tag and you can go home....right...thats legal :\ got him fired and then the CEO comes in and wants to return product promos sent to him from HP and others back to his credit card no history.... thats legit .. yeah. :rolleyes:
 
I think mom and pop stores have stayed afloat by doing computer repairs. Let's face it, most people don't have the time or any real experience with fixing a computer. Personally, I will probably never have to use their services but I do see these types of stores as the mechanic shops of the PC world.

As for comp usa...bye bye!
 
No matter one's feelings on the end of CompUSA, I think that it does mark the end of the brick and mortar PC retail era. CompUSA was basically a computer store, unlike CC or BB which are more like department stores.

I actually love to window shop, and the two CompUSA's near me where not all that bad for that. The one problem with online shopping is just that. As technology get more and more complex and less and less ability find solid answers easily online, I do see an opportunity for a new type on retail. On where consumers get to actually see the product in action.

How many of of buy stuff based on the opinion of some one else? When do we actually get to see a product at work before buying it?

The web often trades experience for convenience,.
 
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