CompUSA: Where are the bargains?

When it was announced just over a week ago that CompUSA had sold out to a buyout firm and that all its stores in the U.S. would close for good early next year, many consumers probably saw visions of holiday fire sales in their heads. The only problem is that the "all products must go!" prices that should have been rolled out with the chain's liquidation announcement are not much of a bargain.

After visiting a CompUSA location this past week to judge prices for myself, the "up to 20% off" sign which adorned the entrance was found only in a few select product categories within the store. In the categories that mattered to many -- flat-screen TVs, laptop computers and GPS devices (among others) -- discounts ranges from 5% to 10%. That is not going to be enough to liquidate inventory, Gordon Brothers.

To really prepare a national electronics chain to shut down, inventory has to be marked down from 20% to 40%, and even more in the case of high-margin products like accessories and other products already marked up 300% or more. Although I wasn't impressed with the discount levels displayed at the local CompUSA location I visited, the marketing of these bargains was fantastic at the door and within the store. Too bad the reality did not match the hype. We'll see how much inventory is sitting on store shelves come the first of the year, CompUSA. Best Buy's (NYSE: BBY) and Circuit City's (NYSE: CC) sale prices are, in many cases, lower than the "clearance" prices at CompUSA (yes, I did some comparisons).