Unfortunately in my area there really is only one "computer shop" that carries significant in house stock. The "next best" would be one or the other of numerous "Office Supply" outlets, and their selections are rather limited.
(We do have Circuit City and a few other big box stores, but I don't, and never did, consider them a suitable place to look for things of that sort.)
I must give CompUSA credit for being meticulous about provided all the paperwork for rebates, including "rebate duplicate" receipts, and for having their registers programmed to automatically spit out the rebate vouchers - even for things that showed no indication on the shelf that a rebate is offered.
I am extremely annoyed that there is no place I can go to get computer related items (and a lot of other things) where I don't have to screw with a rebate on virtually everything I need.
In many areas where there are state and local sales taxes, the sales tax is assessed on the amount before rebate. That means, in my area, that when you get an $8,000 "rebate" (claimed in today's adds in my newspaper) on your new car, you pay sales tax on the price including that $8,000; and there's no way of getting it back, even though the actual "price" (always quoted "after rebate") of the item supposedly doesn't include it.
Currently, in my area, the "sales tax" on that extra $8,000 is $680, which the buyer would not pay if the dealers were allowed to deliver the item with the after rebate price, which they claim is "what you really pay," shown on the sales contract.
(A proposal to exempt the "rebate" from state sales tax was introduced in the current legislature here, but has been "tabled for study" and has no chance even of being considered for a vote in the current session.)
A rebate just means that the maker planned to overcharge you, but found out he couldn't sell it at the original price. So he decided to cheat you a little less than he thought he could.