Dallasfortworthistan-based CompUSA Closing Doors

[Night Owl]

A shame it wasn't Office Depot. I hate that place.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1197...apl=y&r=216811

[darktiger]

Cool. Hope everyone gets their rebates... I admit a lot of there prices/stuff have not been to competitive the last 2 years. Come on half of their good stuff on Black friday requires MIR, while their other main competitors did not have as many good deals requiring MIR.....

[Cope]

I read months ago that many of their stores were closing, but I can't remember all of the cities involved.

[andyz]

The article I read said they were bought out and now the stores are all scheduled to close. I wonder what assets they had that made them a desirable buy, if they're being closed?

[JohnT]

I hate seeing specialty stores like this close.

[Night Owl]

Agreed that losing a tech store blows, but they still had that icky big box feel. Even though Fry's is biggish box, they have such a vast array of items that it kinda masks it. Too bad Houston's Fry's are geographically undesirable for me.

MicroCenter is a pretty decent spot. I could do some damage with a Visa in there.

[timbertoes]

there goes my local ink source...
fry's is hit or miss on having all the inks.

[Joe_Lorenzini]

Who remembers when they first opened their doors? I know I do. I used to travel far and long to get my computer parts. It was just plain fun to see all sorts of software and hardware under one roof. And it was pure computers. Rows and rows of software, no MP3 players, digital cameras, video cameras or cell phones... Back when a PC was a thing and not a just a term or a guy in a "fruit" commercial.

For a while there they were the only player, there was no Fry's, MicroCenter's, Best Buy's, etc...

Too bad, so sad.

_/oe

[dfwlens]

Yep and before they were bought by CompUSA the store was Software House.

Us old farts remember when computer stores were showrooms with commissioned salesmen... like car dealerships. SWH was the first store to open with the philosophy that consumers might be able to walk in and pick up what they need without going through sales staff. All the national publications took planes to DFW to see for themselves this crazy business model. I remember one story saying in amazement the computer store even had,,,, shopping carts! (gasp)

[jeffkohn]

Their pricing and selection hadn't really remained competitve, I stopped going to them long ago in favor of Fry's and MicroCenter. Although to be honest I do far more shopping at newegg unless it's something I need same day.

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by dfwlens

Yep and before they were bought by CompUSA the store was Software House.

Us old farts remember when computer stores were showrooms with commissioned salesmen... like car dealerships. SWH was the first store to open with the philosophy that consumers might be able to walk in and pick up what they need without going through sales staff. All the national publications took planes to DFW to see for themselves this crazy business model. I remember one story saying in amazement the computer store even had,,,, shopping carts! (gasp)

I bought my first system from SWH in Addison back in '87 or '88. It was a Hyundai 80286 with a 14-in. amber monochrome monitor. No Windows--just DOS. LOL

[Davidtxs]

Yep Software House in an office building right north of marsh and beltline i remember it well i bought my FIRST hard drive there a whoppin 5 MB lol
and a meg of memory was about 200 bucks

[bands321]

LOL, my sister used to work for the first "SWH" here in Houston, man, that seems like yesterday!