零售竞争CompUSA关店多半
作者： UNION-TRIBUNE
责任编辑： 阚智
来源： 《电脑商情报》
时间： 2007-03-01 12:10
CompUSA, the Dallas-based consumer electronics retailer, plans to close more than half its stores nationwide in the next 90 days ? including all four stores in San Diego County.
In a short statement issued late yesterday, the company said it will close 126 stores in the United States “to focus on initiatives that enhance its top performing locations.”
The company's operations in Southern California were hit especially hard. CompUSA plans to close 29 stores throughout the state, including retail outlets in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.
CompUSA will continue to operate eight stores in California, said Jessica Nunez, a spokeswoman for the company.
“The company overall is going through a pretty comprehensive realignment,” Nunez said. The restructuring will leave CompUSA with 103 stores in 39 states and Puerto Rico.
She could not say how many employees would be affected by the closures.
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Each CompUSA store employs about 70 to 100 workers, said George Whalin of Retail Management Consultants in San Marcos. By that estimate, the closures would affect as many as 400 employees in the San Diego area and close to 3,000 statewide.
Nunez said the four local stores that will close are in La Mesa, San Diego, San Marcos and Encinitas.
She said the eight CompUSA stores to remain in California are in Bakersfield, Emeryville, Fresno, San Bruno, downtown San Francisco, San Rafael, Santa Barbara/Goleta and Santa Rosa.
The announcement came as no surprise to Whalin, who said CompUSA has been struggling for years.
“California has been tough for them, and Southern California has been a brutally competitive market for them,” Whalin said.
Consumer electronics is one of the most competitive retail categories, dominated by major players such as Best Buy and Circuit City, along with discounters Wal-Mart and Target.
Whalin said Fry's Electronics has been particularly successful in expanding beyond its original store in Sunnyvale, which specialized in computers, integrated circuits and components for high-tech do-it-yourselfers.
After initially specializing in computers, CompUSA “tried to reinvent themselves and develop new formats for their stores,” Whalin said. “But they didn't have any success with that at all.”
CompUSA's Nunez described the closures as part of a comprehensive corporate restructuring that included a recent overhaul of the senior management team and a $440 million cash infusion from U.S. Commercial Corp SA, a holding company controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.
But Whalin was pessimistic about the company's prospects.
“I think this is probably the beginning of the end for them,” he said.
CompUSA has been up for sale since the fall, when its Mexican parent company hired Credit Suisse, the investment banking firm, to explore strategic alternatives for the company.
On Friday, the Dallas Morning News reported that six executives ? including CompUSA's chief information officer, executive vice president for merchandising and general counsel ? had resigned or been asked to leave the company.
On Friday, the company named a new chief financial officer and a new vice president for sales and operations.
The company's chief executive, Roman Ross, was named to the top job in September. He worked previously with Philip Morris' Mexican affiliate, which is jointly owned by Grupo Carso SA, a related parent company also controlled by Slim.
Last September, an official from Slim's conglomerate Grupo Carso told Reuters that Slim, the third-richest man in the world, was considering selling the loss-making business.
Intense gross margin pressure, especially in the flat panel television category, has plagued others in this sector, contributing to Circuit City's announcement earlier this month that it was closing 70 stores.
CompUSA competes with Best Buy and Circuit City.
In a short statement issued late yesterday, the company said it will close 126 stores in the United States “to focus on initiatives that enhance its top performing locations.”
The company's operations in Southern California were hit especially hard. CompUSA plans to close 29 stores throughout the state, including retail outlets in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.
CompUSA will continue to operate eight stores in California, said Jessica Nunez, a spokeswoman for the company.
“The company overall is going through a pretty comprehensive realignment,” Nunez said. The restructuring will leave CompUSA with 103 stores in 39 states and Puerto Rico.
She could not say how many employees would be affected by the closures.
Advertisement
Each CompUSA store employs about 70 to 100 workers, said George Whalin of Retail Management Consultants in San Marcos. By that estimate, the closures would affect as many as 400 employees in the San Diego area and close to 3,000 statewide.
Nunez said the four local stores that will close are in La Mesa, San Diego, San Marcos and Encinitas.
She said the eight CompUSA stores to remain in California are in Bakersfield, Emeryville, Fresno, San Bruno, downtown San Francisco, San Rafael, Santa Barbara/Goleta and Santa Rosa.
The announcement came as no surprise to Whalin, who said CompUSA has been struggling for years.
“California has been tough for them, and Southern California has been a brutally competitive market for them,” Whalin said.
Consumer electronics is one of the most competitive retail categories, dominated by major players such as Best Buy and Circuit City, along with discounters Wal-Mart and Target.
Whalin said Fry's Electronics has been particularly successful in expanding beyond its original store in Sunnyvale, which specialized in computers, integrated circuits and components for high-tech do-it-yourselfers.
After initially specializing in computers, CompUSA “tried to reinvent themselves and develop new formats for their stores,” Whalin said. “But they didn't have any success with that at all.”
CompUSA's Nunez described the closures as part of a comprehensive corporate restructuring that included a recent overhaul of the senior management team and a $440 million cash infusion from U.S. Commercial Corp SA, a holding company controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.
But Whalin was pessimistic about the company's prospects.
“I think this is probably the beginning of the end for them,” he said.
CompUSA has been up for sale since the fall, when its Mexican parent company hired Credit Suisse, the investment banking firm, to explore strategic alternatives for the company.
On Friday, the Dallas Morning News reported that six executives ? including CompUSA's chief information officer, executive vice president for merchandising and general counsel ? had resigned or been asked to leave the company.
On Friday, the company named a new chief financial officer and a new vice president for sales and operations.
The company's chief executive, Roman Ross, was named to the top job in September. He worked previously with Philip Morris' Mexican affiliate, which is jointly owned by Grupo Carso SA, a related parent company also controlled by Slim.
Last September, an official from Slim's conglomerate Grupo Carso told Reuters that Slim, the third-richest man in the world, was considering selling the loss-making business.
Intense gross margin pressure, especially in the flat panel television category, has plagued others in this sector, contributing to Circuit City's announcement earlier this month that it was closing 70 stores.
CompUSA competes with Best Buy and Circuit City.
