Bye Bye CompUSA

LondonBridge

CompUSA is closing it's doors and all I can say is... not gonna miss you. Although it was cool when I was able to get my PNY 6800GT at 15% off when they launched back in 2004.

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9831235-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1040_3-0-5

Sad thing is when it comes to B&M we're stuck with limited supplies from Best Buy & Circuit City.

Fatty McBeardo

CompUSA barely changed from when it first arrived on the scene. Same store layout, same image, same high prices... they never did anything to really keep themselves competitive.

Ghostalker

Eh, no loss in my book. The CompUSA in Anaheim was and had been a complete disaster for years. The shelves were rarely restocked and what games they did have looked old and worn in their sleeves even if they were new releases. Couple that with the guys at the door bugging you for AOL subscriptions . . . yeah no loss.

ghstwrld

xWonderboyx

I haven't even seen a CompUSA in 3 years. I thought they went out before this.

TexiKen

Eh, they were all closing in Houston a few months back. The only one I went to that was ever any good was up in Austin off Brodie Lane.

It's not like they ever did anything wrong or had shit service like Circuit City seems to have these days, but they didn't do anything great either. And then they had a policy to keep the games locked away and only had about 3 copies of each game.

At least there's still Fry's when you need something for your computer and have to get it from a regular B&M.

HadjiQuest

Comp USA was pretty awful. Even when all the local ones were finally closing (they initiated a major clearance as soon as the closings were announced, but they were never given closing dates until months later), their prices still weren't competitive until the final two weeks. It took 3 or 4 months for that fucking place to finally board up, and they started from the get-go at a 25% off storewide clearance.

cr0w

TexiKen wrote: »

Eh, they were all closing in Houston a few months back. The only one I went to that was ever any good was up in Austin off Brodie Lane.

It's not like they ever did anything wrong or had shit service like Circuit City seems to have these days, but they didn't do anything great either. And then they had a policy to keep the games locked away and only had about 3 copies of each game.

At least there's still Fry's when you need something for your computer and have to get it from a regular B&M.

Yup, the one down here in Webster off of Bay Area was shit. I remember when I walked in with $1500 in my pocket looking for either a tower for my mom or parts to build the son of a bitch myself, I waited for 20 minutes before flagging down a manager because apparently I didn't look like I was there to spend money, being a young guy in a baseball cap and sort of baggy jeans and such. Of course, all they fucking had was Compaq/HP so I didn't buy shit. Thank God Fry's opened down here a couple years later.

Shoegaze99

Mine closed down a year ago. Worst store closing sale ever. The "sale" was mostly around 10-20% off.

Shitty store. Not sorry to see it go.

Ronen

Man, I loved my time at CompUSA. Granted, I was a student at the time so I wasn't relying on it, but I learned a lot about sales and working the retail system while I was there.

I was never the strongest seller in the store, but I was often the strongest one in my section because I had a really steady flow of return customers. I had a lot of people tell me that t hey wouldn't come into the store if they didn't see me working that way (my spot was right near the front doors) and they refused to deal with anybody but me. I can believe that, because I saw some bad salesmanship while I was there, but those guys were living paycheck to paycheck, every TAP counts. I was lucky enough to just be working for the experience and a little extra spending cash.

The store up by my school (315, Syracuse represent) actually close before the big wave of closings a few months ago. It was actually pretty sad for me since a lot of my friends still worked there and whenever I'd be back in Syracuse, I could just hop in the store and say hello to everybody. Oh well, apparently half of them work at the UPS store now.

Actually, my time at CompUSA is being referenced on my soon to be completed graduate school application, so this news is pretty sad. I'll always have fond memories of it from when I was younger, and even of my time working there. Can't say I'm surprised though.

One time, at the second CompUSA i worked at, the CFO came to visit. I was on register that day (long story, going from sales to register, I was none too happy about it) and the CFO was talking to our GM a few feet away from me. I called them over and asked my GM if I could make a recommendation. You see, we had just bought those electronic signature capture devices that every store has now, but you couldn't sign your signature on it... you could only hit "Yes" to approve the sale. But the PIN pads were new and the registers were old, so the software didn't like each other and the whole thing actually ended up slowing down the checking out process, which resulted in longer lines. I suggested to either upgrade the registers to a more modern setup franchise-wide or to get rid of the PIN pad altogether.

I guess they did actually did upgrade the PIN pads later after I left, which was good... but clearly the money wasted by implementing them wrong the first time didn't help. I'm also sure they didn't do it at my behest, but I like to think I made a little impact.

Edit: all of that being said, Frys needs to open on the east coast. Specifically, in New York, down the block from my house. Because they are fucking awesome.

ArcSyn

I never had a CompUSA around me. So I have no feelings of loss. It's a shame to lose a computer B&M store, but seeing how they never had one around, it's no loss on my part. I only recently got a Best Buy and Circuit City in my area in the last year, and I still don't go to them for parts because of the high prices compared to Newegg.

nexuscrawler

It would be nice if there was a decent component store somewhere. Compusa never managed to fill that niche. Their components were typically crappy and overpriced.

We need Fry's over here

LondonBridge

Fry's sounds pretty fucking cool. I live in North VA and the closest replacement we have to a CompUSA is a Microcenter.

Cylarana

I would commit felonies or fellatios to get a Fry's in Amarillo. Fuck compusa/BB/CC.

GrimDog420

good riddance.

when it went out of business by me last year, they did the "everything in store xx% off" where shit drops 5 % a week. It took like 4 weeks before shit was even the same price as newegg and the like. lol

Snowbeat

I haven't gone to a CompUSA in years, but it will always hold a special place in my heart as my original center of geekery.

Lukin

I'll miss CompUSA. There was definitely something to be said for being able to go to a store to get PC equipment, however more expensive than Newegg.

I knew things were going to go badly for CompUSA (or at least the one near me at the time) when they changed their store layout. Now, instead of being a "Computer superstore", they tried to become Bestbuy Lite. They brought in TVs and a DVD section, which was just sad. There wasn't enough room to show off lots of merchandise, so it looked pathetic.

Lucky Cynic

Unfortunately, I have had decent experiences at Comp USA but not at Fry's.

Shyfted

Even the clearance sale sucked since they put everything at MSRP. It was still cheaper to buy online or the next closest store.

And I'm not sad to see it go at all. What an abortion of a company.

That_Guy

Bye Bye and good fucking riddance. I went into the local store when it was having its "going away party" and found the prices to still be over the top. Most of the store was empty, but all the most overpriced shit was still there. I will not miss them.

On a related note, fucking Fry's is a 30 min drive (without traffic. Over an hour with) from my house. There is a great lack of computer parts stores withing a reasonable distance from me.

Doronron

I'm kinda sorry to see them go. CompUSA was my first geek store back when they were still Softwarehouse. I remember getting introduced to Might & Magic, King's Quest, Quest for Glory, Syndicate, Mechwarrior, Red Baron, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, and Wing Commander through that branch. I bought my first batch of computer components from them when I built my first box.

So many good childhood memories wrapped up in that place. It's really too bad.

Graviija

My local CUSA sucked ass. It was always disorganized as hell, the game section was missing Nintendo stuff completely (I mean it - No GBA, DS, GC, games, nothing), and really had only the biggest games. Also, the prices tended to be outrageous.

Can't say I'm gonna miss it.

TelMarine

compUSA wasn't too bad but got overshadowed by fry's and best buy around here. I got my voodoo3 there a long time ago and the gamecube on launch day (they had a lot and no one was there at all). Also fry's and best buy kinda dominate around here. Within an hour drive of my house are almost all of the Northern California locations.

Frem

CompUSA was pretty decent like six years ago, when we bought a linksys wifi router from them. Unfortunately, I haven't been to one since then.

MicroCenter is currently my B&M store of awexome. They won me over with lower prices and salesmen who pointed out better equipment less money.

shryke

I feel this needs to be linked.

Doronron

I've got a Fry's five minutes from my apartment. Compusa was a block away from that.

EDIT: Is. Is a block away from that.

ghstwrld

shryke wrote: »

I feel this needs to be linked.

0blique

Sounds like someone's had a bad experience.

Urian

I had a lot of good experiences with my local CompUSA, I brought my computer in whenever I needed a dust cleaning or to upgrade it with new parts. Got a few games there when I was younger, the prices seemed good enough.

Now Best Buy is the only place I go to for computer stuff, for games I just go to EB. I'll probably take my computer in to the geek squad

meatflower

I think that's why they're so shitty Urian. You paid them god knows what to take off two screw on the back of your case, grab a $1 can of compressed air, and point it at the dust.

Urian

Yeah.. this was back when I was really young and didn't know about that shit. It was like 100 dollars for labor on installing the parts and 50 for the cleaning. I wonder if geek squad prices are better.. though i'll definently clean it myself this time.

meatflower

We're going off topic here but please just learn some basic computer maintenance skills. I feel like that indian with a tear running down his eye in that commercial every time I see somebody walk up to that counter in Best Buy and hand over all their money. There's nothing those guys do that cannot be done by the average user with a little knowledge, things that could be gleaned from a Google search.

Tahldon

Yeah.. I totally didn't dig CompUSA at all.

Now they can use those buildings for something more important... Like another Best buy.

TexiKen

Tahldon wrote: »

Yeah.. I totally didn't dig CompUSA at all.

Now they can use those buildings for something more important... Like another Best buy.

I'm calling it first that most will be Linen's & Things or Bed Bath & Beyonds.

jedijz

From what I read, since the store in my area is their top seller, they're probably going sell it off rather than close it.

MichaelLC

Doronron wrote: »

I'm kinda sorry to see them go. CompUSA was my first geek store back when they were still Softwarehouse. I remember getting introduced to Might & Magic, King's Quest, Quest for Glory, Syndicate, Mechwarrior, Red Baron, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, and Wing Commander through that branch. I bought my first batch of computer components from them when I built my first box.

So many good childhood memories wrapped up in that place. It's really too bad.

That's where I bought all my games too. Only place for PC components too. Then they had to go and fuck everything up by trying to be like BB, only shittier. Why would I go to a computer store w/ commissioned reps to buy a TV?

Still have good memories of the people I worked with, though. Worked well as a team in the Parts dept., selling laptops to CC thieves then watching them get busted.

Darmak

Man, I don't have ANY computer stores near where I live. The closest Fry's near me is an hour and a half away.

brynstar

I really liked my local CompUSA...up until a few months back when they gimped their games section. They still have a decent PC games section, or at least they will for the next few weeks. Sad to see it go, though these days I prefer Fry's or Best Buy.

MegaMan001

Can't say I've ever had any bad experiences with CompUSA because I don't think I've ever actually shopped there.

Honestly, I don't know why anyone doesn't just shop at places like CostCo or Wal-Mart. They have fucking everything in stock and you don't get hassled.

steve-o99

I've never been in a Compusa...
being in jail is the only excuse not to go to Fry's

STATE OF THE ART ROBOT

there is not a computer store near me so I pretty much just use Newegg. Never went wrong with them before.