Seen at WSJ.com (subscriber link):
CompUSA Inc. said it has been sold to Gordon Brothers Group, a restructuring firm that will wind-down the retailer’s operations and sell off its assets. Financial terms were not disclosed.[...]
The article mentions that CompUSA stores will remain open through the holiday season, and that apparently the restructuring featuring the shut-down of over a hundred stores several months ago didn’t work out.
I feel a little nostalgic over this news. After college, when I was exiled to the then mostly internet-less realm of Southeastern Alabama, I roadtripped quite regularly to Atlanta, where part of my ritual was to wander around the CompUSA by Lenox Square, just enjoying a bit of a geek/technological vibe that you just couldn’t get from the Wal-Mart in Enterprise.
Even though that habit of mine has long since waned, thanks to the rise of online shopping and my disturbing trend towards ludditism (not to mention lousy customer service at the local store), I have noticed that locally CompUSA seemed to be the only local retailer that regularly carries (carried?) computers with nice enough specs to attract my interest, and indeed the laptop I’m composing this post on is one that I bought through CompUSA.com and picked up locally (I could have gotten it slightly cheaper through a pure online operation, but instant gratification was worth a small premium).
Ah well. Times are changing, I guess, and I hope you don’t mind my wistfully remembering the days when CompUSA was a big toy store to me.
1 response so far ↓
1 Martin // 11 Dec 2007 at 11:34 am
I remember going to the store near the Lenox Mall. It was a fun time and I just lived down the street, so I could go whenever I wanted. I wonder if people felt this way about the radio and tv store too.