Will the New CompUSA Retail Stores Survive?

[Guest]

The new CompUSA's retail stores have tons of computer goodies for sale. Is this enough to give them an edge over competitors such as BestBuy?

Will the New CompUSA Retail Stores Survive? : Read more

 

[Guest]

Im sorry my friend your opinions are flat out wrong.

I worked for Compusa since Febuary of 2007 and still am working at the so-called "new" compusa. Im a tech and also a sales associate. Im the guy my co-workers come to when they have technical problems and solutions when it goes above their vocab in tech stuff. Since Im pretty tech savy with networking, pcs, tvs, and etc.

I can tell you about your exchange. Why not talk to another manager like the GM? If not you should of gotten the DM's number and call or write him. IF it was at our store and if you spoke to two particular managers or lead cashiers they would of bent the rules for you. When stuff like this happens I always tell the customer to come back at a particular time since I know that shift manager would have no problems with bending the rules.

Prices are much higher? Nope there not. If you do research with Newegg and Amazon our prices fall similarly to theirs, whereas BB and CC all have much higher prices since they have retail prices.

Attitude?

It depends what area your store is located. All of our sales associates except for the cashiers have no attitudes. We are here to make money in our pockets with commission. So we want to be as nice as possible to the customer as possible and try to build a rapport with that person.
The cashiers are pretty much brainless when it comes to anything except doing refunds and shit like that. And maybe a few managers that we had at our store were assholes and some would bend the rules to make the customer happy.

Are we going to stay alive?

According to my research our store is pretty much dead all the time. We are next door to CC. Literally next door meaning in the same shopping plaza about 150 foot steps away. While we have about 3-6 cars average, they have like 15-25 cars. I dont know where they get the money to pay us and keep the store open with all that electricity guzzelling. It looked pretty much the same way when we had those liquidators to come to the store to mark down prices.

 

[lopopo]

The new CompUSA has more goodies than competitors but ....these are the cheap crap that wont sell online (cpu coolers, fans) and their selection is much less than that of their equally crapy website.
Honetly TigerDirect.com is horrible. All online vendors should look at their website and compare it to newegg. Getting around, details and the overall of how a website works says something about the company you are giving your money to. TigerDirect tells me they are a mess like their new venture( CompUSA).

 

[az23]

Have you ever worked retail?

If so maybe you don't mind waiting 15 minutes of your evening just so some lazy person that waited until the last minute can finish doing whatever they feel like, but plenty of people like myself do.

If not then you really have no idea.

 

[az23]

Have you ever worked retail?

If so maybe you don't mind waiting 15 minutes of your evening just so some lazy person that waited until the last minute can finish doing whatever they feel like, but plenty of people like myself do.

If not then you really have no idea.

 

[kittle]

In some ways I miss CompUSA.. in other ways I dont.
The ones I visited (Chicago and San Jose) all had a decent selection of stuff. I got sound cards and keyboards and a few fans over time.

but what I dont miss is the apathy of employees. several times I spent 15-30min wandering around a display area waiting for a salesperson or associate to show up at the koisk-like counter nearby so I could ask for something. Several sales were lost because nobody ever showed up.

I havent seen any of the new stores in my area so I cant tell first hand whats really changed.

 

[dragoncyber]

I live in Florida where a large majority of the Revised CompUSAs have recently opened(3 months ago)and while I will agree that they do have a larger selection of more system building materials i.e. Motherboards hard drives and the like, I will counter that with the fact that it is all sub par mid range performance components. Here are some examples:

The highest performing processor they had in stock for three straight months was the Q6600. And it was 40 dollars more expensive then their online counterpart.

They had only one selction of DDR3 memory. The rest was base performance DDR2. and those were almost out of stock each time I've visited.

There pricing stickers are mixed and matched between their retail boxed and oem processors, so much so that I actually had to pull a manager over and show him there prices were incorrect on 4 different processors.

Their return policy has gone from 30 days to 7 days unopened or defective "exchange only" for all processors and motherboards and ram.

They were completely out of stock of all there hard drives except for their crappy CompUSA labeled externals.

Their Power supplies were the only thing I was impressed with as now they have PSUs available in the 1200Watt range, but the pricing stickers for those rang up wrong too as compared to what it said on the sticker on the shelf.

They have Water Cooling coolant, but no water cooling kits???
They only seem to carry generic CPU coolers, and the worst part is they are 2006-2007 models, and the pricing hasn't been updated.

I was extremely disappointed to find out that they wouldnt be carrying any of the higher end graphics cards when I went for three months straight the fastest thing I could find was an 8600!! And then they finally switched it up and got..(gasp) some 9600's!! All 8 of them to be exact.

They had the 790i Ultra boards on the Comp Website for 3 weeks before they finally got them in the store. The manager blamed SystemMAX and said they were not shipping any high end products because they were afraid of the stuff sitting on the shelves too long.

They took computer parts they had in the store and built what their OH so intelligent techs in the store were calling a super computer.
The crappy thing had an 8800GT and a q6600 processor running at stock speed. 2 gb of DDR2 memory and a 680i board. Needless to say they had it marked at over 3,000.00 dollars!! I laughed in the managers face and calculated the entire price of all the components and software. Total cost was 1873!!.. I said that one hell of a markup for such a poor performing computer. The best part was they were demoing the unit with the NVIDIA 8800 Series Demos and the "P.O.S".. Blue screened as he argued with me about the build quality in front of three other PC enthusiasts. I couldnt stop laughing.

Needles to say COMPUSA...You have a long way to go. At least the old CompUSA had stuff in stock and werent afraid to carry high end enthusiast level hardware because of a fear of not selling them immediately the same week.

Oh and on an even funnier note, several of the employees who used to work for the original CompUSA were transferred over to the new one, and were promoted to managment status, because system max didnt wanna higher anyone with real experience because they could not afford to pay them the salary they were asking for. Several of my friends even told me they were short changed on their hours, and were thinking that the place would close within the next 3-4 months with the traffic flow that was coming through the door.

 

[f00bar12]

I so agree with az23.

I worked for years in retail and there was always some tool you had to chase out of the store 10 minutes after closing who had walked in one minute before closing time. The same moron who would meander about, inevitably buying something for a couple bucks. Meanwhile half a dozen people are stuck waiting for this complete idiot to make up their mind, while the store is paying some of them time and a half to make like 30 cents profit.

I wonder how happy Tony would be if people wandered into his place of business every day just before close and made him wait while they puttered around, meanwhile his boss is bitching about overtime and payroll hours to him.

I completely understand that poor customer service is a fine reason to not go to a store, but often customers have no clue what time a store closes and employees have lives and families to get back to. So if your reason not to go to CompUSA was poor customer service then fine, if it's because you can't be bothered to get to the store before it closes that's a whole other issue.

I often found varying states of service at our local store before it closed and was often annoyed with them, I can definitely say the same thing about Best Buy and some of my experiences there in the past too though. I have never been 100% satisfied with any retail store I've shopped at, you can always find some annoyance or another. For me it comes down to convenience, price, and availability. If the store doesn't have what I want at a decent price then why bother going there?

 

[Guest]

Where IS this magical land you live in with a new CompUSA and an Arcade-selling Target amongst all these other guys?

 

[bliq]

first of all - "would have" not "would of" and "should have" not "should of"... For pete's sake it's not that hard.

Second, the reason they want to chase you out at 9 is because they don't want to pay their employees until 9:15- it blows their budget.

And I would like to see for myself a new compUSA- I agree with the writer that the old compUSA was ridiculously expensive for most stuff unless you were willing to deal with a mail in rebate.

 

[Guest]

Are you serious? why are you always shopping at an electronics store around 9. Employees have other commitments in life. You have no respect for other's people time. I used to work at CompUSA back in the day and people who we let stay in the store after 9pm would remain there for another 30-45 minutes after the store has closed (I assume you're one of them). Yes, CompUSA prices were higher (way too high, I agree) but the knowledge the people had far exceeded BestBuy. People would come in to get informed and then go buy it at Bestbuy.

 

[cyprod]

I want to know where this best buy is. I worked there for 3 and a half years, and though we wouldn't kick people out at 9, we were definitely trying to encourage them to leave. You know, blasting the song "Closing Time" over the PA.

And also, if you're staying in a store right up at closing time, it's rather inconsiderate of you, especially if you expect them to bow down and kiss your butt. Sorry, but those people are human too, and after the store closes they have a couple hours of work still to do to close, and they can't start until you leave. And trust me, working at best buy sucks, as does working at compUSA I'm sure, and I can't blame them in the slightest for wanting to go home when their shift is over.

And lastly, you're pissed because they wouldn't return an item after the 30 days? So you have a problem with a policy that is written all over and was in no way shape or form hidden from you? You do realize that a lot of stores have to eat it if they break those rules? The policy is, after 30 days, take it up with the maker.

You sir, are clearly one of those customers that when I worked in retail, I would have liked nothing more than to tape to a wall and kick in the crotch repeatedly. "Duhhhh, I want you to break the rules for me, even though I'm inconsiderate when it comes to your closing procedures, duhhh." I wouldn't be surprised if they wouldn't bend the rules for you strictly because they recognized you as one of the douches that was always there right around closing.

 

[Guest]

WOW. What a jerk. I worked at Office Depot for 3 years and I had my fair share of people walk in at 9:00 when I was closing. Many times they had nothing important to buy and caused us to stay an extra 15 - 45 minutes. And yep, the overtime issue comes up, meaning later in the week you have to leave early causing extra stress on your other co-workers who now have less help in the building. If you can't read the store hours on the front door, why are you even going into a Computer Store anyways? People like that are the reason all of our Tech support got exported overseas.. because they take no initiative for themselves.

 

[Guest]

This isn't about whether someone has ever worked retail. It is about having the customer be the focus. If management isn't giving employees enough time to close the store, then that policy must change to refocus on the customer, who is the ultimate generator of profit. (there are others, like kickbacks and incentives from distributors/vendors, but ultimately it comes down to drawing a crowd)

I really, really, really wanted to love going to the CompUSA in downtown San Francisco. It had a corner space that formed a 70 degree corner, so it was always just a little bit cooler, plus there was only one store that was its competition, Central Computer. But its prices were pretty high, usually as high as retail prices range. That wasn't my biggest fault with it -- because it was a place where you could go to get impulse items, I thought it should at least have the LATEST game so you could spend an exorbitant amount of money to play the coolest first. But you often had to wait 1-3 weeks for it to come out, when online retailers had it the DAY of announcement. Then to top it off, their service was just horrible. They employed LOTS of people, most of whom seemed to be focused on anything BUT the customer. Restocking (restocking what? Nothing ever sold out in that store), moving large amounts of used computer equipment to different parts of the store to be sold in a "fire sale". weird.

 

[mordenkhai]

Closing time is tough, however 9:00 is pretty solid. In Sacramento, Ca. Best Buy closes at 7:00PM on Sunday. One Sunday I bought a DVD while at work (I am a vendor for various electronic Manufacturers). throughout the day I did various things, then at night it was movie time. Popped the disc into my machine and it wouldnt read. No problem, popped in another and it didnt read. My player was bust. So I hopped in the car with my wife and we headed to Best Buy to buy a PS3, I had been wanting one and this was the perfect excuse. They were closed at 7:05. I couldnt believe it but I headed to Fry's, also closed at 7:00. I ended up hitting Wal Mart, thats the only thing I bought at Wal Mart in the last 12 months. I just do not enjoy the experience there.

So while I get that you don't want to feel unwanted as a customer, they also would really like to be done with their day, just like you are done with yours. While it makes sense for them to buckle down and do the right thing by their customers, it also says a lot about your manners how you just expect them to do whatever you want regardless of the effects.

Oops tried to post anaon

 

[khaydin]

WTF is wrong with people these days? Everyone is so inconsiderate and has this inflated sense of entightlement. What do you expect walking into a store near closing time? These people have been working for many hours on their feet and want to go home. I'm sure at places like this there are plenty of teens working who can't even drive and have people picking them up. Not only are you wasting their time but you're also causing their parents or whoever is picking them up to sit there and wait.

This whole article is just a cry fest about how little baby Tony didn't get his way. CompUSA prices higher than online? Of course, it's called supply and demand. If you want/need something for your computer right NOW, you go to CompUSA. If you want it cheaper you buy it online and you wait 2-x days depending on your shipping. It is true that their prices were kind of high compared to other retail stores before the mass closings, but before there were Best Buys there was only really CompUSA for computer parts. I guess none of the higher ups felt they needed to try to compete with Best Buys or maybe they simply couldn't.

The customer is NOT always right and customers who are inconsiderate do not deserve good customer service.

 

[khaydin]

Wow this story about CompUSA is just a huge cry fest about how little baby Tony didn't get his way. Waaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!

The customer is not always right, and people who are inconsiderate to others do not deserve good customer service.

 

[mr roboto]

CompUSA = TigerDirect = Systemax = Shady business practices, False Advertising and a Rebate Rip-Off Scam of unbelievable magnitude. I won't ever buy anything from TigerDirect or any of it's affiliates because of this.

 

[blppt]

Oooh, goody, a store run by TigerDirect.

Pass.

 

[Guest]

Background: I worked at 2 CompUSA's - Houston,TX & Denver,CO - and I worked 3 different positions - Merchandiser (Stocker), Sales (Accessories), and Sales (Networking).

First, why would you expect someone to honor a warranty after the time has expired? Consider it bad luck that your item broke shortly after the 30 days. Would you expect McDonalds to serve you breakfast at 10:45 when they stop at 10:30? No, because if they did someone else would complain about not being given the same service and we would probably be sued. Side note ? my manager probably would have taken care of you, he liked making people happy.

Second, yes we did try to rally the customers around 8:45PM. After the last customer leaves we can begin to "close down". For the Accessories and Networking sections this involved restocking all products in your area, "facing" all products (bringing them to the front of the shelves), re-tagging and replacing missing tags with price updates, cleaning your section, and having the manager walk your section. The Tech Shop, Communications (phones/cameras/mp3,GPS,PDAs), Hardware (Complete PC packages & notebooks), Mac, Home A/V, Warehouse, and Cashiers all had similar but different closing procedures including shutting down all equipment. Generally this took experienced people about a half hour on a -good- day (light foot traffic) to a couple hours on a bad day (Black Tuesday for example). Not to mention the cleaning crew which comes in at a certain time, about 9:15PM and begins to empty trash cans, mop, vacuum, and buff the floors, office and warehouse.

There were about 10-20 staff members on hand when our store closed. The company pays about 2.50/15 minutes on average for each staff member (not including managers). That's $22.50-45 a night, $157.5-315 a week, $630-1260 a month, $7560-15,120 a year - FOR ONE STORE. Not including the costs for the extra electricity, manager?s pay, etc. I realize these numbers aren?t entirely plausible but they illustrate my point. From a business stand point, I would want your ass out of my store at 9PM too. From a workers standpoint, I would like to go home to my gf/bf/friends/family/homework/etc. as soon as possible. I doubt there is any reason you couldn't come back the next day or later that week. If you know what you need, find it, buy it, and leave. If you?re still speaking with a sales person - that's okay, we want you to be happy with your purchase and get you what you need. Please don't be so inconsiderate as to assume that anyone should accommodate you so that you may browse before we close without purchasing anything. Best Buy has a similar PA announcement when the store is closing and I?ve always made sure I? finished before 9 because it?s unfair to so many people for me not to.

Third, I agree with what you mentioned about their prices and selection of products. For the most part, the selection was awful ? off brand, lame models, too few choices, etc. and the prices were TERRIBLE. I made quite a few purchases when I worked there only because of my employee discount. USB Cables costs the store about $3ea. and were sold for 19.99! Ugh, I hated the pricing and selection. Every once in a while though, a good deal was offered.

Fourth, the employees there were terrible. Most had no idea about what they were selling, enough perhaps to fool a consumer. Few knew what they were talking about but used their position for evil - confusing the consumer, tricking them into purchasing more than they should, up-selling them on stuff that provided little to no benefit. One guy used to brag everyday in the break room about how much commission he made lying to people about the products. When we made a sale we were told to ?tag? the item (put a sticker on it with our ID #) or, on large sales, walk them to the register ? they required this to keep track of how many customers were ?helped? by sales people. Also, this was how your commission was traced to you. I barely tagged anything and rarely ever without asking the customer directly if it was okay that I make a commission on their purchase. I wanted to actually help my customers.

Lastly, I?m not putting too much stock into the livelihood of the CompUSA brand. TigerDirect blows. If they were more like a Directron (www.directron.com), or a brick-and-mortar version of Newegg, then might survive.