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Death to CompUSA, Up With Micro Center

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I heard some rumors over the weekend, and now TechCrunch is reporting that CompUSA is shutting down. Good.

They shut down the store nearest me in Maryland a while back. It was replaced by a Micro Center, a chain I had never heard of.

To put it simply, they nailed it. A haven for both geeks and non-geeks. The place is clean, and well stocked with anything you would ever need. The staff is helpful and friendly (they have a novel system for ensuring that). A far cry from CompUSA.

What is more interesting for me is the promotional tactics used to get people in the store. They mailed almost everyone in the area a coupon for a free branded thumb drive or memory card. Just for walking in the door. I had no interest previously in checking out the store, but it got me in there. And I’ve since spent a ridiculous amount of money there, so it worked for them! I’ve seen tactics like that before, but on top of the coupon they sent to you, they attached a similar companion coupon to give to a friend. That’s awesome. What a great viral way to have people advertise for you.

They have done a great job of keeping people visiting brick and mortar stores, and their approach will hopefully be echoed by other chains.

And, especially important for me, their return policy is awesome :-).

1 comment

  • Microcenter here in Fairfax is geek nirvana. They open at 10am on Saturday mornings. About a year ago I was heading there to buy something and rolled into the parking lot at 9:45am. There were already 20+ people waiting outside.

    And their clerks actually know something… In the last three years, I’ve bought probably $3k+ stuff from them, even a few times when the price was better online.

By Zvi
Zvi Band Relationships are our most important asset.

Zvi Band

Founder of Contactually.
I'm also passionate about growing the DC startup community, and I've founded Proudly Made in DC and the DC Tech Meetup.

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