When the American computer retailer CompUSA announced last week that it was shutting down its remaining 103 stores for good, nobody was surprised. The chain had struggled for many years; it was acquired in 2000 by Mexican mogul Carlos Slim Helu, who took it private and closed more than half the stories but never managed to turn things around.

I don't really know if CompUSA was well-run under Slim's ownership, and before he was on the scene the chain certainly had a very mixed reputation. But in the end, its fate is more than anything a function of some very specific industry dynamics.

On the one hand, as Steve Jobs and others have long predicted, personal computers intended for home use are now almost fully a part of the mass-market consumer electronics business. If you want to buy your kid a laptop for Christmas, you'll more than likely go to Best Buy in the US, or PC World in the UK, or, if you're a little savvier, straight to Dell or HP on the internet.

On the other hand, if you're buying computers for your business, you need better service and support than you can get from a retailer. And if you're willing to forgo that, you're probably pretty focused on the best price – which, again, is likely to come via the internet.

For these reasons, there is almost is no such thing as a real computer retail store anymore. There are mom-and-pop shops that will sell you (or build you) a computer, but their main business is the service and support, and it's not as if you can go to a store like that and browse the merchandise or otherwise have a serious shopping experience.

Then there are the consumer electronics stores, like PC World, where – despite the name – computers occupy only a few aisles amid the flat-screen TVs, satellite radios, video cameras and home theatres. While stores such as these have made a strong push with services such as the Tech Guys and the Geek Squad, my experience is that both the service and the inventory is often lacking. If that display model is not in stock and it has to be ordered from HP, well, I could order from HP myself!

The office supply stores are the other main retail outlets for PCs, and they have some of the same issues. Would you like a chair with that hard drive? How about a crate of Post-It Notes? You certainly don't have the feeling in these places that you're in the company of technology experts, and while I have no direct experience with the service and support I have my suspicions.

And finally there are a few places, like Maplin and Fry's Electronics, that are really about the parts. Plenty of expertise here, but you better know what you're looking for – and live in a place where there are enough geeks-per-square-mile to support such an outlet.

CompUSA lived somewhere between Fry's, Best Buy and the local small-business "solutions provider," and could never quite decide which way to lean.

Frankly, with the incredible array of options now available in the consumer technology space, I'd think there'd be room for a creative approach to retailing that technology. A cool store that featured desktop and laptop computers, hand-held music players and high-end phones, video game machines, and lots and lots of software and books and parts – that would be interesting. Think Best Buy without the stereos and cameras and appliances, but with a real selection of software. Or CompUSA with a lot more glitz.

Apple has in fact proven this concept with the Apple Stores; they actually make computer shopping fun, rather than nerve-wracking. True, the power of the Apple product line and the Apple brand mean the company can charge premium prices, and it would not be easy to transfer the Apple Store model to a more broad-based retailing concept. Still, this looks to me like an opportunity waiting for someone.

---

Jonathan Weber is the founder and editor in chief of NewWest.Net, a regional news service focused on the Rocky Mountain West in the United States. He was previously the co-founder and editor in chief of the Industry Standard

Times recommends

• Hackers target Apple Macs
• From joystick to helmet: it's all in the mind
• 'Maniacal' engineer takes city computers hostage