Computique Says It Plans to Reopen Stores
Computique, which Monday filed for protection from creditors, said Tuesday that it plans to reopen all eight of its Southland stores. They had been quietly closed in preparation for the filing under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
The problems besetting the 14-year-old company, which bills itself as Southern California’s oldest independent computer retailer, offer strong evidence of what declining sales, burgeoning competition and intense price cutting can do to a small retail operation in a market increasingly dominated by large nationwide and regional chains.
Tad Krusiewicz, who is Computique’s president and founder and controls the closely held company, said the filing was an emergency action taken because of a severe cash-flow problem. He declined Tuesday to comment further.
However, according to documents filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Computique had debts of nearly $4 million and assets of just $3.6 million as of March 31. The documents also showed that the company owed $2.9 million to creditors, ranging from suppliers to the landlords at its various shops, and $87,200 to the state in sales taxes.
According to InfoCorp, a market research firm in Cupertino, Calif., sales of personal computers, which account for most of a retailer’s sales, dropped nearly 25% in the past year.
During the same period, the Computer Retail Trade Assn. in San Rafael reports, the number of computer stores rose between 15% and 20% to about 4,800.
“It’s just terrible out there,” said David Russell, president of the trade association. “It’s the hardest time ever for the computer retailer. . . . Virtually everyone was too optimistic with their sales projections.”
Gina Cooper of InfoCorp said the current slow sales volume shows that computer makers and retailers have yet to tap the potential home market for the personal computer. “And that’s because the applications just aren’t there, and it’s just too hard to use for the average person,” Cooper said. “You can’t just plug it in and use it like a TV.”
