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Being as nerdy as we are, we tend to buy a lot of tech stuff, usually online. But sometimes, we want something now. Maybe we figure out we could reconfigure our comp to churn homemade ice cream right at our desk if we only had that one cord, so we just pick it up on the way home. No fuss, no muss, no waiting, no shipping charges. Kind of like how even though we use Netflix, we still skip out to Blockbuster sometimes when “Sylvia” sitting in our mailboxes feels like too much of a pick-me-up.
Our go-to place is CompUSA right off the Red Line Chicago stop. Sure we have to walk a few more blocks, but it makes up for the pizza-laden LANs that come later. Only now, it looks like those carefree geek days are over: CompUSA’s shutting down all of its Chicagoland stores, and they’re doing it within 90 days. (They’ve even taken Chicago store locations off their site; the closest hit is 98 miles away in Rockford.) Five stores total will be affected: the Chicago location, plus stores in Schaumburg, Highland Park, Skokie and Geneva. The beleaguered computer chain is hoping to cut costs by eliminating over half its stores across the nation.
Apparently Best Buy, Circuit City, Staples and the like are cutting into CompUSA’s slice of the market a bit too much. So what?! We know the bottom line is all that counts, but we can find fucking everything in that store. They’ve got it all, from consoles to routers, digicams to Mac stuff, top-notch video cards to game guides and business software. It’s been a rare experience to go to CompUSA and not get what we needed (or, more accurately, what we wanted). Plus – and this makes a big difference for us – their staff actually seems to know what they’re talking about half the time. What a concept! Nothing like getting some actual help from customer support.
Our one consolation is that because of this, CompUSA’s gonna have some bitchin’ sales between now and closing time. We just better not find our newly-bought HDTV there for $500. Oh, the hell to pay. More importantly, whatever shall we do? Wherever shall we go? The only place left we can think of for the hardcore geek is Microcenter. Fellow nerds, where do you spend your hard-earned dough?
Image via ericsenf.
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have you ever heard of tiger direct? it's pretty far south... like 143rd and harlem, but i used to get dragged there a lot! you may find your diamond-in-the-ruff tech stuff there... just a suggestion
I go the Apple Store, about 3 blocks away.
Tiger Direct bought up the Orland location at 153rd and lagrange not that long ago. (143rd and harlem is a forest preserve).
So fear not, tiger direct may just buy up all of the other compusa's as well.
@guy: heh, even if i had a car, i think that'd be a tad out of the way.
That Chicago Ave. store was a dump and everything was way overpriced. Good riddance!
Chicago desperately needs a Fry's...
Theres an independent supplier named Spartan Technologies in Elk Grove Village as well, you can place an order online and pick it up at their will call window.
for computer parts check out MicroCenter on Elston. it's walking distance from my house so that's the main reason I go. they generally ream you on cables and little items but the prices on networking equipment, books, and actual computer parts can be pretty good when something's on sale.
makes up for the pizza-laden LANs that come later.
What is a "pizza-laden LAN"? Transporting food via ethernet cable?
that'd be great if the compusa store were bought by another computer place. i personally never had a problem with their pricing; they didn't seem any pricier than competing stores.
Mac Dude, Chicago DOES havea Fry's it's in the Burb's At I-355 & Butterfield in Downer's Grove. It is the mecca for geeks with cars.
Tiger Direct also has a location in Naperville, but you can always order things online and have them shipped to your home. With local warehouses, shipping is pretty quick.
But seriously, how did you not notice all the CompUSA's closing down in the area sooner? They've been shutting down their locations since before Christmas.
This is such a tough business and esp to stock retail.
You have items like processors and memory that have daily (sometimes hourly) price fluctuations. If you buy too much you could get screwed... hard
you have peripheral cards that go out of date two weeks after they are released. (if your one of the lucky accounts to even receive product on the release date even)
You have people buying wrong stuff 75% of the time and only returning half of what they bought.
Then you have the russians in NYC ordering parts on your website with stolen credit cards at all times of the day.
Yep tough business... Don't miss it one bit.
CompUSA sucked... that's why they are closing. They never had anything I needed right away in stock, and the stuff they did have was seriously over-priced. Aside from loss-leader sales crap, they were worthless.
If you're a serious geek you should never be going to CompUSA over Fry's and TigerDirect... :)
But if you are transport challenged, CDW will same-day messenger stuff to you from the Hoth system, I mean, Vernon Hills.
Retail? C'mon gang, you can save a ton by hanging around bensbargains or techbargains. At the very least, you can always save by going on eBay.
I miss Computer City.
Tiger Direct in Naperville (if you want to go west), and Fry's Electronics (I think it's Downer's Grove/Lombard one I go to) are my go-to. But, then again, I've transplanted my city self to the 'burbs for work so in the city I can't help with, sorry.
One word: newegg.com.
This sucks!
I know the place was overpriced, but as a Streeterville resident where am I supposed to go now? Should I buy my Wii & PSP games at the Virgin store instead? Sure, if I want to pay 25% extra.
As Shannon mentioned, Micro Center is definitely the best, but sometimes I don't feel like driving all the way up there.
I'm sure someone else will pick up the store - maybe Fry's or ABT? Would be pretty nice to get discounts like that downtown. Then again, Best Buy is going into 700 N. Michigan soon, so it won't be a techie wasteland for long.
And TigerDirect is a complete scam. They sell refurbished/returned products as well as products that didn't sell overseas. Good deals, just be careful. And it's brutal that IL residents have to pay tax on their site now, due to the stores in the South 'burbs.
I guess I'll have to learn patience and order on the Internet. CompUSA was the only place within hiking distance from downtown (and saved me once when my AC adapter bit the dust at a customer site) and my home in Streeterville
Guess it's good I switched to Mac so I can still get stuff at the Apple store. My poor PC will have to wait.
newegg.com or other online stores are cheaper and you don't have to pay for the insanely high 9.5% sales tax.
NewEgg.com. If you want to touch something before you buy it, go to Fry's. You'll never shop anywhere else.
Myself and a few of my friends have boycotted CompUSA for about 7 years. Some of the reasons for this are:
-Failure to honor advertised (and store-posted) rebates
-Misdiagnosing PC problems
-Recommending the wrong solution
-Implementing the wrong solution and then not testing to make sure the solution fixed the problem and sending the customer home to find out the solution does not work
-Not refunding the full amount paid by the customer when recommending and implementing the wrong solution and sending customers home with broken PC
-Poor customer service
Needless to say, I'm glad they are closing 50% of their stores and would be happy to see them go completely out of business.
Devastating! However, to be honest, now that a Best Buy opened up near me, I rarely go to CompUSA anymore. But there was always something special about that Red line trip to one of the largest escalators that revealed tech heaven in Chicagoland! It will be missed, but not by much. (They seemed more expensive to me, now that I think about it.)
I can't remember the last time i ever bought anything from compusa. I live near downers grove so i don't live too far from microcenter, fry's and tigerdirect. It is nice to go on tigerdirect's website and just go there and pick it up.
The only reason I've ever wanted a car in this city is this:
Fry's in Downer's Grove.
Everyone in here is spot on. CompUSA sucks, Tiger Direct is ok, MicroCenter gets you by if you only have CTA access (even then it's a hump for me from the Western/Elston corner) but Fry's... arrrrrrrrrrrr(nerd drool from corner of my mouth) It's a geek wonderland. I must have blown 75% of all my paychecks there out west.
Tiger Direct is the runner-up for computer stores in Chicagoland. One of their main locations is in Naperville, but I believe they have a new one that opened up in Chicago, and a few others in the area. Look for them to take over all of the territory that previously belonged to CompUSA.
Ah yes fry's... A.k.A "The Cyberian Outpost" did they buy outpost.com or did they change their name from outpost to fry's?
Microcenter rules! I always feels like its 1984 and I'm in Wargames when I go there. I bet you could buy an acoustic coupler modem there.
I hated the CompUSA on Chicago because the security people were often super-aggressive about looking in your bags and such after you came down that looong escalator for the exit. It was like they were waiting there to pounce. They did have a good selection of Apple stuff, tho.
Are we talking about the same store? You describe the location perfectly but not the contents of the store. I've never been able to find anything I wanted/needed there for the most part, the prices are unimpressive and the staff is totally useless.
I've long ago stopped going in there, tho I will prolly check the clearance sales. Walk down Elston and you can hit Circuit City, Best Buy and MicroCenter. If you have to walk into a store those are good choices. Or go to a true geek Mecca and hit Fry's in Downers Grove.