An interesting sidenote at the original article is that the owner of CompUSA is listed as the third richest person in the world. (And I didn't even recognize the name.)

Maybe he's thinking about retiring and sponsoring some new medical research? Or more likely he just sees a way to "get richer."

Fry's and BestBuy are cited as CompUSA's biggest competitors, but there isn't a Fry's anywhere in my area, and BestBuy doesn't handle much in the way of components/parts (in my area). The local CompUSA is the only one still listed in my state.

Circuit City is also listed as a competitor, and there is one here; but the three or four times I've tried to stop in the "background music" was amped up to a level that was intolerable, so I've never gotten far enough in to see what they have to offer. The noise is probably a "local thing," but their ads don't indicate that I've missed anything.

CompUSA does have quite a lot of "house branded" stuff, and what I've seen of it has been pretty good. They also handle (here) the MadDog line of components (mostly "multimedia" drives etc.), and despite some initial reservations, I've gotten good use from a couple of products from that line, at significantly lower prices than "name brand" comparables. The one gitch in the service has been with a couple of hard drives that I suspect were "pre-damaged" by careless stock workers, but in both cases the new Seagate warranty (5 year) took care of me (assuming the one now in transit comes back).

John