Technobabble

Do Bargains Abound as CompUSA Closes Stores?

Posted by on Mar 5, 2007 | 20 Comments

What’s that? You missed the news that CompUSA is closing down stores left and right? Love ‘em or hate ‘em, CompUSA is closing more than half their stores. Blame it on Best Buy. Blame it on economic realities. Or you could just lay the blame on lame. Here’s a list of stores that CompUSA is closing.

There were poor souls holding up 20% Off CompUSA Store Liquidation signs near the highway and street corners surrounding our local CompUSA store this weekend. I didn’t get to stop in to check out the scene, but online reports have run hot and cold. There have been some bargains, but many folks remain unimpressed with the pricing, so far. As with most fire sales, the discounts with this one will likely ramp up as the days click along.

What about it, my fellow Gnomies … found any great deals?

[tags]liquidation[/tags]

  • Chuck Givler

    Actually, the CompUSA here in Omaha had an interesting twist to their “discounted” prices. The 20% discount only applied to certain item of which none interested me. Their software was not included such as graphic editors which interests me. In a word, their idea of discounts “suck”.

  • Charles

    I found CompUSA overpriced, even with the closeouts. And they haven’t been following the typical closeout model, of increasing the discounts as they get further along.

    I picked up 3 expandable USB/5-pin miniclip cables to link my cell phone to my computer. The sign said “20 % off”, and the price tag was marked $7.99. When I got to the counter, they rang up as $9.99, with $2 discounts, to take it to $7.99. When I challenged the checker on it, she said that the tickets with dots on them were already reduced. Think it said that anywhere in the store?

  • Attila

    I found the following:

    Hardware and anything of value was 10% off

    Some software discounted as deep as 15%

    The rest of the 20% category of product was no worthe talking
    about.

    Bose products were excluded, Bose demo displays were gutted.

    This store is located in Woodbury, Minnesota

    I am not surprised at the closings as they have always had premium pricing and not competitive with Best buy or Circuit City. On the other
    hand they actually had people that had some expertise.

  • lodave

    If the liquidators follow the pattern of price “reductions” found when CUSA closed a nearby store several months ago, “Consumer Beware!” They marked UP computers and other expensive gear that had been formerly on sale for up to 50% off to full original MSRP, then ballyhooed their “fantastic savings” at 10% or 20% off weeks later! Some of the stuff must have been dredged up from forgotten warehouses, (previous year models and “dogs” sent in from other locations, most likely). Else how could one explain dozens of identical 17″ CRTs, but none larger? Pretty much any and all desirable merchandise was gone before the prices went below 30% off. After three futile trips to the store, I wrote it off as a bad scene, and got better deals by watching the Sunday paper ads for other stores.

  • Wil Welsh

    Total Crap at the Pittsburgh / Wilkins Township store that’s closing. 0 good deals. I got a ltd. edition manual for the latest Zelda game at a slight discount, and I got a 10/100 NIC for 13 bucks that I probably could have got at wal-mart for an equal price or at sams club for a lower price. Most of the items are NOT priced to move at all. It was nearly a total waste of time driving the 15 miles to the store. Newegg.com with shipping is still cheaper than going to a compusa brick & mortar store that’s closing.

    I always wanted to see the day when somebody would shoot one of these joints up for their legacy of the worst customer service. Too bad they’ll go broke first.

    I miss the Computer City chain of stores. They knew how to price things to lure geeks in. Too bad compsa bought them & shut down all of their stores.

  • Pullo

    Absolute crap. No wonder they are going out of business.

    I think they marked up everything, then slapped on this ridiculous 10-20% discount. My local Microcenter still has cheaper prices.

  • Brandon

    Here’s a fun story about the closing Compusa in Woodbridge, VA. I was looking at a case for the last few weeks, waiting for the % discounts to go up so that I could consider it a deal. They were giving 30% off an $80 case, which made it $56. I was hoping they’d stay open long enough to get at least 40% off. Well, surprisingly, they did get up to 40% today, however, when I look now, the base price has increased to $100. $0% of $100 is $60, which means they INCREASED the price on a going out of business sale. And any “we had the wrong price tag on it” is total BS since they had the former price up for over 2 weeks. Sayonara, CompUSA, we will not miss you,

  • compgeek

    I was in CompUSA on the 28th. I looked aournd and did not see any high end items except for the floor models. All the halfway decent computers were gone. There were no good graphic cards, no cpu, no hard drives, basically nothing good. the discounts were no better than the regular sales. Most of the remaining items were either junk, discontinued items, or over priced low end stuff. btw I know many will disagree with me. I know they still have windows Vista and office 2007 in most store, but Vista might be the worst operating system Microsoft ever released except for “ME”. I don’t have any experience with Office 2007 but it’s released as a companion software to Vista so it can’t be much better. The only reason to go back is if they actually lowered their prices than you might actually get a cheap printer at a reasonable prices.

  • Allen

    I’ve been going to the Woodbridge store a lot too lately. The sales for the most part are pathetic. What really got me mad was finding a sansa e280 mp3 player for $139 and they wouldn’t sell it to me at that price. They said it should be $199. The next day they put $199 stickers on all the sansa mp3 players (regardless of model). I asked about it and they said they should all be that price. Then a couple days later I check again, one has a sticker of $39.99 and $199 on it and when I brought it up to them, they removed the cheaper sticker and said it’s $199. Then I came back again and saw a sign in front of the Sansa’s that said original price $149, 25% off, $112. I asked them about it and they said that sign shouldn’t be there and again wouldn’t give me a sansa at that price. I don’t know about in VA, but in other states, if something is marked at the wrong price, they still have to sell it to you at that price. I’m so happy these stores are closing. Give it a few more months and the rest of the compusas should be closing too.

  • Magicland

    One thing to note, the stores that are closing are NOT being run by CompUSA. They’re being operated by a liquidation company. That’s why “regular” prices don’t apply. The folks who’re operating them are not working for CompUSA, and are simply a bunch of theives looking to get top dollar for stock they paid pennies for. That’s why they can afford to pay all those derelicts to stand around all day with those sale signs. Not that CompUSA doesn’t bite all on their own, but these liquidators make them look like amateurs.

  • former employee

    If Magicland is right, that’s hilarious! Way to mess up even more CompUSA, hire a liquidation company that will just alienate all your former customers. Good luck opening back up in that market ever again. Then again, the employees which they were “screwing” probably would have said F it to CompUSA and sold everything for a dollar.

    Keep in mind that any new, expensive, and sealed product was probably shipped back to the main warehouses. CompUSA wasn’t closing as a company, and it could use much of its closing inventory at other stores, rather than sell it below cost.

  • Frank

    I picked up kensington power adapters Dc>DC 120 watt for 49. bucks. Sure i probably could have looked on ebay.

  • Dennis

    My wife and I decided to go to a CompUSA just to look around. What we discovered was that most of the prices where pushed back up to full retail prior to any discounting. In speaking with an employee of the liquidation company now manning the store, he said that it was done to all the products on the floor. Everything was reticketed to full retail.
    My wife saw a label on a print cartridge that was now selling for $22.95. She was able to peel the label back and see that it was originally priced at $19.95.

  • Jerry

    During the last two days I checked on the Ridgeland, MS store for a price on a Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS. I was told yesterday the price is $599.99. Checked the CompUSA website last night and they show the in-store price should be $499.99. Checked the Garmin website and their MSRP is $535.70. Went in today to aske the manager about the discrepancy and he asked me to leave the store! I asked his name, he wouldn’t tell me On the way out I asked a CompUsa employee who was returning to the store what is the manager’s name, he told me. I called the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General of Mississippi and filed a complant about their deceptive pricing (marking up before applying a ‘discount’). I called CompUsa to complain and was told that cock-and-bull about the liquidation company setting their own shelf prices and that CompUSA had nothing to do with it. I told them that all of the local advertising about the store closing mentions CompUSA, not some unknown liquidation company. They have a liability if they are allowing their name to be presented to the public as if it is CompUSA closing the store. If they don’t want that liability they should disassociate their name from the closing. Seems they are trying to have their cake and eat it too.

  • Peter

    I have been to 2 compusa in VA and 1 in GA. And most shelves are emty except for some of the high dollar items. I also noticed the retail prices are extremely high. Most items can be had for a lesser price at most online stores. One thing I did pick up for pretty cheap was in their fixtures department where items have been used in the store. These were the power bars with surge suppressor. Last week I bought 4 at $3 and then this week I bought 4 more for additional 50% off at $1.50 a piece. The sales clert I spoke to in GA said if you come the last few days, they might start giving away the remaining fixtures.

  • Nekojin

    Hit the local CompUSA yesterday, which had 5 days left on its liquidation sale at that time.

    They had a big banner out front that advertised 40%-60% off everything in the store (except computers and Bose sound systems). Went inside and found a store that was virtually gutted.

    Much of the stuff that was available was damaged, defective, floor models, or display racks and the like. Despite that, there were still some really sweet deals to be had. Everything we purchased rang up at the 60% discount, including:

    WoW: Burning Crusade for $16.
    Rag Doll Kung Fu for $8.
    A City of Villains 60-day time card for $12.

  • David

    I had two CompUSAs within seven miles of my home (they were also seven miles apart). The first visits was about 2 or 3 weeks after the announcement, and the place was all ready looking picked over, and there were few deals. Each store had a slightly different mix of products…one example had the CompUSA brand CDs and DVDs the other did not. At this point they had very few pieces of hardware still in the box, and they did have some hard drives, however, Fry’s down the street had a better deal on hard drives. The other store had no hard drives.

    Shortly before they both closed (11 days and 14 days) I went for another visit, but this time i was out for a new video card. Both stores had the same selection, and I bought a ATI X1950 pro agp card. The card sells for $299 on there website and it sold for the same price in the store, and i saved $90.

    In the end you have to know your prices because even the 99 cent stores have items that are not a good deal.

  • Joel

    Just found out from an employee in the know that the CompUSA near Albany, NY is eight weeks away from liquidation. They were supposed to be one of the few profitable units and this came out of the blue. The liquidator has placed a security guard near the exit to stop losses (the store never really had any security beyond the alarm gate). Best Buy and Circuit City never have anything near the product variety as CompUSA. Don’t know what pricing will be like and what they leave on the shelves to discount. Just know that they will not be re-stocking the store anymore. Was the entry into large screen tv sales too much for the company?

  • John Doe

    I have worked for CompUSA for multiple years, so please listen. Compusa will not enter true liquidation until January. Liquidation will be tiered from months January through March. Throughout those months, the prices will go down and down for ALL products, depending on what is left. The store is not just in a sale, they are liquidating ALL products, including POS machines, shelves, and every part in the store.

    Let me know of any more questions.

  • jim

    I was totally scammed by compusa. They sold me an iMac. Two salespeople assured me leopard would be included in the box. When I got it home, not only was the software not there… But the monitor was defective. They will not accept returns, even if they used deceptive practices. The manager told me it was the fault of the sales people. Buyer beware. Avoid compusa. In my opinion, they are using illegal tactics to offload substandard products on individuals. They have no shame.