[roccman]

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- CompUSA, the computer retailer that Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim owned since 2000, will shut its doors after 23 years, succumbing to competition from Best Buy Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Hmmmmmmm...wonder what else goes after Xmas?

I say most all box stores and retail outlets.

[emersonbiggins]

I've noticed several shopping centers where former anchor tenants once where taking on short-term leases, even here in a market that is supposedly as "hot" as Austin. One of the tenants I've seen in great number around here is simply named "Giant Book Sale," and they have 3-4 locations where various Circuit City and Best Buy stores used to be before they moved across highways to newer centers. They must be really short-term, as they often don't bother even putting up a permanent sign above the entrance, but rather a cheaply printed vinyl banner. The stores are, in my experience, in utter disarray, with shelves all over the place, with obviously no circulation thought out (think a Goodwill store). Another one is the seasonal Halloween or Christmas decoration store also taking up space from a former big-box anchor. Interesting times.

[emersonbiggins]

Here's one (not in Austin, though):



This just screams "permanence" and "resilience of our economy," doesn't it?

Can't wait until "Guns and Ammo Unlimited " opens, next to "Al's Dented Cans and Procurements Surplus." Talk about one-stop shopping.

[I_Like_Plants]

I've seen the "GIANT BOOK SALE" outfits, they'll set up in an abandoned bigbox store site, of which there are plenty....

Our local Welfare office is set up in an abandoned bigbox store, pretty cool.

I can see these sites being set up for seasonal things too, farmer's markets, I've been "BIG HALLOWEEN SALE" set up in them too. Never forget that wildlife LOVE abandoned supermarkets! Saw that in the early 90s recession in Southern California, the sparrows had their own little ecosystem in the empty supermarket (which was flanked by other empty stores, the laundromat kept going for a while though).

[pedalling_faster]

GIANT BOOK SALE <== entertainment

abandoned supermarkets <== housing !

sparrows <== food

there will probably be some very good deals on
laptops.

i won't miss CompUSA. if it was Fry's, i'd miss them.

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')ompUSA was founded as Soft Warehouse in Dallas in 1984 by Mike Henochowicz and Errol Jacobson. The chain opened its first retail store in 1985

[dinopello]

I guess I started out with a bad experience. Back in '91 my company bought a lot of their store-brand computers and they were the lousiest POS computers I've ever seen. But even without that, I'm suprised they lasted this long with all the mail order options from amazon to any one of the bazillion catelogs I get at work or you can find on the net.

[I_Like_Plants]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', 'I') guess I started out with a bad experience. Back in '91 my company bought a lot of their store-brand computers and they were the lousiest POS computers I've ever seen. But even without that, I'm suprised they lasted this long with all the mail order options from amazon to any one of the bazillion catelogs I get at work or you can find on the net.

[emersonbiggins]

CompUSA will be joining these former tech retailers in the binary abyss:





^^^ Incredible Universe was pretty amazing for its time.

[Tyler_JC]

Creative destruction anyone?

CompUSA was out competed by Fry's, Best Buy, Circuit City, and the rest.

This is a non-story.

List of Defunct Retailers in the USA

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pup55', '.')..The last several times I was in a CompUSA store, the gadget I needed was difficult to find, the staff was unknowledgeable, the checkout line was annoying, and the pricing was not all that great.

[I_Like_Plants]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '
')Worse yet, several times I tried to buy something only to find that the price at the register was higher, sometimes much higher, than was indicated on the shelf.

[jasonraymondson]

Can we have one thread where we don't use racial slurs.

Anyway, Comp USA was a friggen joke. All of these so called outfits suck. Shit, why go to a fucking store, when you get everything cheaper online.

[I_Like_Plants]

hey it's my neighbor who said it, and Orientals is what they are.

anyway, read consumer etc forums online and you'll find this practice, the amazingly expanding price, the bait'n'switch, the odd thing pilfered from your bag, are becoming common practice in the US.

[lawnchair]

It'll be hard to disentangle from the rest of the PO effects, but I'm curious how the decline of the big boxes might affect US geography.

I grew up in a pretty remote corner of the US (smack dab in the center of the lower 48, actually). One of the disadvantages of this was shopping. I remember being young and going into a full-sized computer store (in the days of the TRS-80 and VIC-20) in Tulsa. A huge eye-opener after the pitiful, expensive, and always way outdated stuff the local small merchants carried. Sure, there always were the Sears and Penny's catalogs, but the fact that you could go to "the stores" or even "the mall" was an excuse to drive 150 miles roundtrip every few months.

With UPS and web-shopping, someone in rural nowhere is in no real disadvantage at buying anything any longer. My family in the heart of the northern New Jersey clustermess buys from Newegg, because getting to the box store just 4 miles away is a 40-minute-long royal pain in the neck. Plus, the web stores have a wider selection and less attitude.

Same with music. My town only had a small record store, censored by the Mormon owners. In Jersey, there was a pretty big store run by a Deadhead nearby and several other stores within a few miles. Now, both are lost to Amazon. We had three country radio stations, while Jersey had 3 dozen widely varied stations. Now, we have Clear Channel, they have Clear Channel, and if you want to discover something interesting, you get on the internet or maybe XM.

I find that this change over the last decade, something as overall inconsequential as shopping, has largely negated one of the supposed advantages to big-city life. We'll see how long that lasts.

[I_Like_Plants]

Lawnchair - everything you said.

I saw this out here in the late 90s, you could buy POS computers and laptops down in Phoenix then take 'em up here to the swapmeet and sell 'em for a good $100 profit or more each time.

But, I miss the small local places, hell now even Tower Records is gone, I don't know how I'll get my VIZ Comic now ....

I look forward to re-localizing!

[evilgenius]

Newegg rocks, but I have a soft spot for CompUSA. They were a good place to pick up a power supply that day without having to wait or pay for shipping. Though, Big Lots has CD-Rs cheaper CompUSA was good for them too. If I was still in the USA I would be cruising by the soon to go CompUSA for whatever deals they had on the way out, because its always worth looking.

[I_Like_Plants]

Likewise, Fry's was always a good place to pick up a soldering iron tip or some heat-shrink at 8:30PM, they did generally have the best prices on a lot of stuff, decent coffee in the snack bar, etc.

Of course now I'm 100+ miles from a Fry's, not sure if I'll see it even once a year.

Hah snow on the ground, all white, nice! That's Arizona for ya! And we didn't even get the brunt of it, most of it slid by to the East of us, through Payson etc.