CompUSA brand lurches back from the grave
CompUSA, the computer retailer and Apple hardware vendor that went belly-up over a decade ago, is back from the dead featuring curated selections of technology deals.
Shuttered CompUSA store. The same branding is in use for the "rebirth" of the brand.
Rather than selling tech gear, CompUSA now just refers users to other sites for a curated selection of tech items. You won't find all gear, but games, gaming systems, computers, TVs, headphones, and more have already been added to the new site.
Currently in beta, CompUSA.com -- which still uses the same vintage logo as its retired brick and mortar counterparts -- allows registered users to set a price for an item they are looking for and are notified the second it drops below that threshold. They can also get stock alerts as well for tech items, which may prove useful for gaming systems or new Apple gear.
The new CompUSA giving product information on a Sony 4K TV
CompUSA has a history, starting in 1984 as Soft Warehouse before being renamed to CompUSA in 1991. It was one of the few big-box retailers to stock Apple's higher-end products, in conjunction with the Performa line that saturated the market elsewhere. For most of its life, it was derided by Apple users for poor after-sale support.
By the mid-90's it grew to big a nationwide big box store with 229 locations. During the '90s, it was one of only a handful of locations that carried a large selection of boxed software for the Mac beyond home and educational basics.
The chain was an early victim of the shift to online sales. Things quickly turned sour for the chain in the early 2000's with many locations closing down and the final few being converted into physical Tiger Direct establishments -- many of which have since closed.
Eventually the name was sold off, finding its way to Tuesday's relaunch of the brand.
Shuttered CompUSA store. The same branding is in use for the "rebirth" of the brand.
Rather than selling tech gear, CompUSA now just refers users to other sites for a curated selection of tech items. You won't find all gear, but games, gaming systems, computers, TVs, headphones, and more have already been added to the new site.
Currently in beta, CompUSA.com -- which still uses the same vintage logo as its retired brick and mortar counterparts -- allows registered users to set a price for an item they are looking for and are notified the second it drops below that threshold. They can also get stock alerts as well for tech items, which may prove useful for gaming systems or new Apple gear.
The new CompUSA giving product information on a Sony 4K TV
CompUSA has a history, starting in 1984 as Soft Warehouse before being renamed to CompUSA in 1991. It was one of the few big-box retailers to stock Apple's higher-end products, in conjunction with the Performa line that saturated the market elsewhere. For most of its life, it was derided by Apple users for poor after-sale support.
By the mid-90's it grew to big a nationwide big box store with 229 locations. During the '90s, it was one of only a handful of locations that carried a large selection of boxed software for the Mac beyond home and educational basics.
The chain was an early victim of the shift to online sales. Things quickly turned sour for the chain in the early 2000's with many locations closing down and the final few being converted into physical Tiger Direct establishments -- many of which have since closed.
Eventually the name was sold off, finding its way to Tuesday's relaunch of the brand.
Comments
Imagine that concept.
I'm buying clothes from Amazon now. With returns at Kohl's making it a lot easier than returns at UPS, it's not that bad. Frustrating that clothes size charts is more of a general direction than actual dimensions though, or maybe it's all about the fashion.
You can read all the reviews you like, at some point you realize most people doing reviews have no idea what they are talking about or they are complaining because they bought the wrong product and some how it is the product's fault. Then the professional reviewers are all bias since they get paid in some way to write reviews and they are careful about how they say a product sucks, it is not like Top Gear where they rip on cars which really suck.
Last time I bought a new TV which was 8 yrs ago, I went into HH Greg and lucky for me the 4 TV's I was most interested in were very close to one another on the wall of TV's. Because it was late in the day I was able to convince them to turn off all the TV's I was not interested in, then play a nature scene verses a CGI video like Avatar (no naturally occurring colors) I was able to really compare TV's. If you only looked at the bright and pretties color TV you eye went to Samsung (the bug light), if you look for the best picture with nature color reproduction your eye went to Sony. If you only interested in the easiest smart TV interface LG was the choice. But LG and Samsung sucked at natural color reproduction of a nature scene since their colors were over saturated but for Avatar the picture looks great. No review I read at the time talk about this, unless you got into the real techie stuff which required a degree in digital images.
Not sure how I am going to buy my next TV if I can not do the side by side since I did not buy any of the above mention ones, I would have gone for Sony but it was not worth the extra $600 for the slightly better image it offer over everything else, and I did not care about smart TV's since I only use the ATV.
With Kohl's dedicated Amazon line, it's basically in-and-out, because it is as you describe. Give them your return item, scan your code, then go.
I would have named it something better though, I mean it's like "Radio" "Shack" coming back with that awful outdated name. Remember Carphone Warehouse? YUCK!
Have you seen the Magnolia store inside Best Buy? It is exactly what you describe. A dark room to test TVs in. That is the closest thing we have to the old days of shopping at the original concept of Circuity City and The Good Guys....before they dropped their commissions and changed their stores to look like Target. Back when salesmen knew what they were selling and knew how to demonstrate a product.