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The Rise and Fall of CompUSA: The Dallas Giant That Ruled Computer Retail Before Best Buy Killed It

Subscribe to the channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb0ps9eCp0y6yP1Xg4sDDFw?sub_confirmation=1 CompUSA was the biggest computer store chain in America. Two hundred and eleven superstores. Six point three two billion dollars in sales in a single year. And nine years later, the entire brand sold for less than nineteen million dollars in cash. This is the full rise and fall of CompUSA — the Dallas company that started in a rented warehouse in Addison, Texas in 1984 as Soft Warehouse, taught a generation of American families how to buy their first home computer, and then made one decision in the summer of 1998 that its own SEC filings show it could not survive. We go straight into the numbers CompUSA filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission: sales per square foot falling every year from fiscal 1996, gross margin sliding from 14.1% to 12.7%, comparable store sales at minus 3.4%, a net loss of $45.7 million in the same year the company posted its best revenue ever — and the sentence buried in the 10-K where management promised to keep opening stores anyway. Inside this video: the $211 million Computer City acquisition and the former CompUSA chief executive who sold his old company his new one · the Apple store-within-a-store deal Steve Jobs announced in November 1997, and why every Apple Store on Earth is descended from it · why the popular story that CompUSA "ignored the internet" is contradicted by its own filings · Carlos Slim's $10.10-per-share buyout in January 2000 · the 126-store liquidation of 2007 · and the $18.9 million cheque that ended it. If you bought your family's first computer in one of those aisles, or worked the floor, tell us the store and the year in the comments. SOURCES — LINKED CompUSA Inc., Form 10-K, fiscal year ended June 26, 1999 (net sales, gross margin, store counts, sales per square foot, net loss, strategy statement) — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000880323/000104746999035798/0001047469-99-035798.txt CompUSA Inc., Form 8-K, completion of the Computer City acquisition, August 31, 1998 (purchase price, note and cash split, store counts) — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000880323/000094018098000714/0000940180-98-000714.txt Systemax Inc., Form 10-Q, quarter ended March 31, 2008 (18.9 million dollars for the CompUSA brand and e-commerce business; 11.5 million dollars for sixteen store leases) — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000945114/000110465908031366/a08-11634_110q.htm Cult of Mac — "CompUSA deal leads to mini 'Apple stores': Today in Apple history" (Jobs, November 1997, the store-within-a-store rollout) — https://www.cultofmac.com/apple-history/apple-mini-stores-in-compusa CNNfn — "CompUSA buys Tandy's Computer City", June 22, 1998 (the announced deal) OTHER SOURCES CompUSA Inc., Schedule 14D-9 and Schedule TO-T, January–March 2000 (Grupo Sanborns tender offer at 10.10 dollars per share; Telmex, Microsoft, SBC and Prodigy Communications named as partners), SEC EDGAR Maria Halkias, "CompUSA couldn't overcome obsolete practices", The Dallas Morning News, February 5, 2008 CompUSA press release, "CompUSA Announces Realignment Strategy", February 27, 2007 (126 store closures, 440 million dollar cash infusion) Systemax Inc. press release, "Systemax Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire Selected Assets and Retail Stores From CompUSA", January 6, 2008 TWICE, "Systemax to Cut Circuit City, CompUSA Brands", November 2, 2012 FundingUniverse, History of CompUSA, Inc. (Nathan Morton tenure, Halpin turnaround, SEC restatement) Wikipedia, CompUSA and Computer City (timeline cross-check) Computer History Museum and Smithsonian National Museum of American History (period hardware and retail context) This channel is made by an enthusiast who loves business and technology history — nothing more. All videos are for educational and entertainment purposes only and reflect my personal views and interpretations. I research each story carefully using publicly available sources, but errors or omissions can happen. Nothing here is professional, financial, or legal advice, and this channel is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any company mentioned.

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CompUSA was the biggest computer store chain in America. Two hundred and eleven superstores. Six point three two billion dollars in sales in a single year. And nine years later, the entire brand sold for less than nineteen million dollars in cash.

This is the full rise and fall of CompUSA — the Dallas company that started in a rented warehouse in Addison, Texas in 1984 as Soft Warehouse, taught a generation of American families how to buy their first home computer, and then made one decision in the summer of 1998 that its own SEC filings show it could not survive.
We go straight into the numbers CompUSA filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission: sales per square foot falling every year from fiscal 1996, gross margin sliding from 14.1% to 12.7%, comparable store sales at minus 3.4%, a net loss of $45.7 million in the same year the company posted its best revenue ever — and the sentence buried in the 10-K where management promised to keep opening stores anyway.

Inside this video: the $211 million Computer City acquisition and the former CompUSA chief executive who sold his old company his new one · the Apple store-within-a-store deal Steve Jobs announced in November 1997, and why every Apple Store on Earth is descended from it · why the popular story that CompUSA "ignored the internet" is contradicted by its own filings · Carlos Slim's $10.10-per-share buyout in January 2000 · the 126-store liquidation of 2007 · and the $18.9 million cheque that ended it.

If you bought your family's first computer in one of those aisles, or worked the floor, tell us the store and the year in the comments.

SOURCES — LINKED
CompUSA Inc., Form 10-K, fiscal year ended June 26, 1999 (net sales, gross margin, store counts, sales per square foot, net loss, strategy statement) — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000880323/000104746999035798/0001047469-99-035798.txt
CompUSA Inc., Form 8-K, completion of the Computer City acquisition, August 31, 1998 (purchase price, note and cash split, store counts) — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000880323/000094018098000714/0000940180-98-000714.txt
Systemax Inc., Form 10-Q, quarter ended March 31, 2008 (18.9 million dollars for the CompUSA brand and e-commerce business; 11.5 million dollars for sixteen store leases) — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000945114/000110465908031366/a08-11634_110q.htm
Cult of Mac — "CompUSA deal leads to mini 'Apple stores': Today in Apple history" (Jobs, November 1997, the store-within-a-store rollout) — https://www.cultofmac.com/apple-history/apple-mini-stores-in-compusa
CNNfn — "CompUSA buys Tandy's Computer City", June 22, 1998 (the announced deal)

OTHER SOURCES
CompUSA Inc., Schedule 14D-9 and Schedule TO-T, January–March 2000 (Grupo Sanborns tender offer at 10.10 dollars per share; Telmex, Microsoft, SBC and Prodigy Communications named as partners), SEC EDGAR
Maria Halkias, "CompUSA couldn't overcome obsolete practices", The Dallas Morning News, February 5, 2008
CompUSA press release, "CompUSA Announces Realignment Strategy", February 27, 2007 (126 store closures, 440 million dollar cash infusion)
Systemax Inc. press release, "Systemax Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire Selected Assets and Retail Stores From CompUSA", January 6, 2008
TWICE, "Systemax to Cut Circuit City, CompUSA Brands", November 2, 2012
FundingUniverse, History of CompUSA, Inc. (Nathan Morton tenure, Halpin turnaround, SEC restatement)
Wikipedia, CompUSA and Computer City (timeline cross-check)
Computer History Museum and Smithsonian National Museum of American History (period hardware and retail context)

This channel is made by an enthusiast who loves business and technology history — nothing more. All videos are for educational and entertainment purposes only and reflect my personal views and interpretations. I research each story carefully using publicly available sources, but errors or omissions can happen. Nothing here is professional, financial, or legal advice, and this channel is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any company mentioned.

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VIDEO DESCRIPTION

Subscribe to the channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb0ps9eCp0y6yP1Xg4sDDFw?sub_confirmation=1 CompUSA was the biggest computer store chain in America. Two hundred and eleven superstores. Six point three two billion dollars in sales in a single year. And nine years later, the entire brand sold for less than nineteen million dollars in cash. This is the full rise and fall of CompUSA — the Dallas company that started in a rented warehouse in Addison, Texas in 1984 as Soft Warehouse, taught a generation of American families how to buy their first home computer, and then made one decision in the summer of 1998 that its own SEC filings show it could not survive. We go straight into the numbers CompUSA filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission: sales per square foot falling every year from fiscal 1996, gross margin sliding from 14.1% to 12.7%, comparable store sales at minus 3.4%, a net loss of $45.7 million in the same year the company posted its best revenue ever — and the sentence buried in the 10-K where management promised to keep opening stores anyway. Inside this video: the $211 million Computer City acquisition and the former CompUSA chief executive who sold his old company his new one · the Apple store-within-a-store deal Steve Jobs announced in November 1997, and why every Apple Store on Earth is descended from it · why the popular story that CompUSA "ignored the internet" is contradicted by its own filings · Carlos Slim's $10.10-per-share buyout in January 2000 · the 126-store liquidation of 2007 · and the $18.9 million cheque that ended it. If you bought your family's first computer in one of those aisles, or worked the floor, tell us the store and the year in the comments. SOURCES — LINKED CompUSA Inc., Form 10-K, fiscal year ended June 26, 1999 (net sales, gross margin, store counts, sales per square foot, net loss, strategy statement) — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000880323/000104746999035798/0001047469-99-035798.txt CompUSA Inc., Form 8-K, completion of the Computer City acquisition, August 31, 1998 (purchase price, note and cash split, store counts) — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000880323/000094018098000714/0000940180-98-000714.txt Systemax Inc., Form 10-Q, quarter ended March 31, 2008 (18.9 million dollars for the CompUSA brand and e-commerce business; 11.5 million dollars for sixteen store leases) — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000945114/000110465908031366/a08-11634_110q.htm Cult of Mac — "CompUSA deal leads to mini 'Apple stores': Today in Apple history" (Jobs, November 1997, the store-within-a-store rollout) — https://www.cultofmac.com/apple-history/apple-mini-stores-in-compusa CNNfn — "CompUSA buys Tandy's Computer City", June 22, 1998 (the announced deal) OTHER SOURCES CompUSA Inc., Schedule 14D-9 and Schedule TO-T, January–March 2000 (Grupo Sanborns tender offer at 10.10 dollars per share; Telmex, Microsoft, SBC and Prodigy Communications named as partners), SEC EDGAR Maria Halkias, "CompUSA couldn't overcome obsolete practices", The Dallas Morning News, February 5, 2008 CompUSA press release, "CompUSA Announces Realignment Strategy", February 27, 2007 (126 store closures, 440 million dollar cash infusion) Systemax Inc. press release, "Systemax Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire Selected Assets and Retail Stores From CompUSA", January 6, 2008 TWICE, "Systemax to Cut Circuit City, CompUSA Brands", November 2, 2012 FundingUniverse, History of CompUSA, Inc. (Nathan Morton tenure, Halpin turnaround, SEC restatement) Wikipedia, CompUSA and Computer City (timeline cross-check) Computer History Museum and Smithsonian National Museum of American History (period hardware and retail context) This channel is made by an enthusiast who loves business and technology history — nothing more. All videos are for educational and entertainment purposes only and reflect my personal views and interpretations. I research each story carefully using publicly available sources, but errors or omissions can happen. Nothing here is professional, financial, or legal advice, and this channel is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any company mentioned.

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