CompUSA going out of business

CompUSA has decided to close or sell all their bricks and mortar stores after being sold to an investment firm that intends to liquidate it's assets.  They are attempting to sell stores in major retail markets, and close them in markets that are not profitable.  The local CompUSA in Rochester is already starting it's going out of business sale with discounts of 5-20% on everything in the store.  Popular and expensive products like Apple, HP, Audio Visual etc. are at the lower end of the discount range while products that have typically carried higher margins such as power supplies and computer cases are closer to the higher end of the spectrum.  Since they are selling fixtures I'll assume the local store is to be closed.

So what does this mean for the average consumer?  Well for one thing - if you know EXACLTY what you want and are happy with the manufacturer's warranty on it you can save some dollars buying during their "close-out sale".  No doubt discounts will deepen as the end approaches, and some real bargains can be had (current discounts just bring the price of the retail products down to roughly what you'd pay online for them).  But these discounts come at a cost.  Every receipt is tagged "no refunds, no warranty service" - you cannot trade the item back in if it's the wrong thing or not what you expected.  In addition, there will likely be no one on the other end of the phone to assist you if you have problems installing it or configuring it with your system.

It also means anyone who bought extended warranties from CompUSA directly will likely be out of luck. Once they close their doors - there will be no one left to fix anything.  Similarly if you have an item in for repair - better be sure you get it back within the next week or two - whether it's fixed or not. 

It's interesting that perhaps the last of the computer-only retail chains is closing it's doors.  It says something about the industry: over the years computer products have become more and more commoditized and the manufacturers firmly believe that the day of the specialty computer store is done.  Even at CompUSA you could see in recent years that they had branched out into peripheral sales more aggressively marketing stereo, video, mp3 players, phones, and cameras, in a manner similar to Circuit City and other vendors.

Although you could certainly question the depth of a CompUSA employee's computer knowledge it was without a doubt better than the knowledge at most of the other electronics chain stores.  Now consumers will be even more in the dark when evaluating what is a good deal, or the right buy for their uses.  The internet helps some, but there are as many opinions on the internet as their are blogs about technologye :)

I'd suggest that those that used to comb the floors of CompUSA's store for interesting computer information and products give your local small reseller a chance.  There are dozens in town and all of them have more information and support than even the chain stores did - in addition you'll be keeping your computer investment more in the Rochester area - building our local economy rather than one in another town.  It's not as if going with a big store like CompUSA you got any more certainty that they'd be around to support your product down the line.

Comments

[Fergal]

Most electronics companies offer their own warranty, and Sony's documentation for the TV I bought already says not to take it back to the store... so a store warranty wouldn't be worthwhile even if CompUSA wasn't going under. So hurry up and get your cheap TV before the Super Bowl, people!

Also, Target has added a $250 gift card offer with the purchase of many of their TV's. (Not sure if that's just locally to compete with the CompUSA sale, or what.) If you subtract that $250, some of their prices are only a little bit more than the "blowout" prices at CompUSA!