Computer City Limits Keep Expanding : Retail: Tandy’s super-store chain, which already has locations in Garden Grove and Santa Ana, will add outlet across from Brea Mall.
Computer City, the large-volume computer retailer that just opened a mammoth store in South Coast Plaza Village, plans to triple its presence in Orange County, including adding a store in Brea.
Alan Bush, president of Ft. Worth-based Computer City, said the 23-store chain would open four stores in Southern California by year’s end, including the 30,000-square-foot one in Santa Ana and a store across the street from the Brea Mall. The company, owned by Tandy Corp., already operates a store in Garden Grove.
The openings signal the acceptance of the computer super-store concept in Orange County and a potential boom in sales taxes. The concept is similar to consumer electronic super-stores: high volume, broad selection of brand-name equipment and low prices.
“We don’t think Southern California’s economic problems manifest themselves in this kind of business, where 40% of our sales are to other businesses,” Bush said. “If you’re very intelligent about placing stores, we think the region can handle 12 to 15 stores. And with this (Santa Ana) location, you can’t do better than being next to Planet Hollywood.”
Nathan Morton, president of competitor CompUSA, said Tuesday that his Dallas-based company also plans to open two additional super-stores in Orange County later this year, one in South County and another in the eastern portion of Orange County. The chain has six stores in Southern California, including a store in Fountain Valley, which average 25,000 square feet.
“We do believe that customers need more help than general merchandise retailers can give them so we believe our super-store format is the most convenient way for people to buy computers,” Morton said.
Bush, of Computer City, said he expects the Santa Ana location could generate $30 million a year in sales. On a given weekend day, other stores in the chain can generate foot traffic of 10,000 people, he said.
Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young, who attended the grand opening, said the city could receive as much as $300,000 in sales tax revenue from Computer City, making it one of Santa Ana’s top 10 producers of retail sales tax income. He said C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, owners of South Coast Plaza, initiated the contact with the Computer City chain.
“This is the kind of high-tech business and leading-edge retailer that we want to attract,” Young said.
Bush boasted that the store has 5,000 types of merchandise. He also said the upper floor of the three-level store, housed in a former Barker Bros. furniture store, has “California’s largest selection of Macintosh computer equipment.”
Bush, who declined to disclose other details about the proposed Brea store, said Computer City would open stores this year near Del Amo Fashion Square in Torrance and in Cerritos near the Artesia Freeway.
John Roach, president of Tandy Corp., also said that the company is searching for retail sites for its new Tandy Incredible Universe consumer electronics and appliance stores, which would dwarf even the Computer City format in size and sales volume. Several are open around the country.
The Computer City store employs about 60 full-time and part-time people, but the Incredible Universe stores employ about 300 and occupy more than 100,000 square feet, Roach said.
He said that a number of cities, including some in Orange County, are clamoring to be chosen as sites for the new super-stores. The stores feature hundreds of different models of TVs and refrigerators.
In order to focus on its retail expansion plans, Tandy recently agreed to sell its computer manufacturing assets to AST Research Inc. in Irvine for as much as $175 million. The money from the sale could fuel the expansion of Tandy’s Radio Shack, Computer City and Incredible Universe chains, Roach said.
Computer City opened its first store in 1990 in Garden Grove, though that store is about half the size of the Santa Ana site. The coming expansion in Orange County could shake up smaller computer retailers.
Bush said competitors’ employees have been checking out the store’s prices and merchandise during the past week when the store had its unadvertised “soft opening.”
“We had to throw them out,” he said. “It was obvious, since they had cellular phones and were talking quietly to themselves. You know it’s either the competition, or the Secret Service, and we’re not expecting the President to visit.”
Computer City at a Glance
Business: Computer retailer.
Parent company: Tandy Corp.
Headquarters: Ft. Worth
President: Alan Bush.
Santa Ana location: 30,000-square-foot super-store in South Coast Plaza Village employs 80 people. Estimated first-year sales: $30 million.
Other U.S. locations: 22, including Garden Grove.
Expansion plans: 16 stores worldwide in each of the next three years. Will include Brea and Cerritos locations.
Source: Computer City
