Legit Reviews News TigerDirect Closing Almost All Brick-and-Mortar Retail Locations

TigerDirect Closing Almost All Brick-and-Mortar Retail Locations

Posted by Nathan Kirsch | Thu, Mar 12, 2015 - 9:02 PM

This has been a pretty busy month for the computer supply company TigerDirect. The two South Florida brothers that were once top executives with the Systemax Inc. owned company were sent to prison last Tuesday after pleading guilty to federal charges for accepting millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks from companies doing business with them. We also heard late last week that Canadian entrepreneur, investor, and television personality Kevin O’Leary was signed on to help TigerDirec sharpens its focus on business-to-business operations. That news came out just days before the company reported that their consumer channel sales declined 1.6% to $260.4 million in U.S. dollars for the period ending in December 2014. During the same earnings call it appears that Systemax Inc. announced that they would be making some serious changes with regards to the TigerDirect retail stores it owned.

Systemax chairman and chief executive Richard Leeds made the following statement during a call with analysts.

“After an extensive review and planning process, we are taking actions immediately to accelerate our B2B and public sector customer focus in our North American Technology Products business.  These actions will include the exit of substantially all retail store operations; closing a distribution center; and implementing a general workforce reduction to realign our resources solely with our B2B focus.  We have engaged Gordon Brothers to assist with the retail store process and anticipate that all of these actions will be completed by the end of the second quarter.”

It appears that TigerDirect will be closing a distribution center and 31 of its 34 stores. The company will also lay off an unspecified number of workers and from what we can tell they are already starting the shutdown process by placing everything in in their stores on sale. The only stores that are going to be left open are in Miami, FL, Jefferson, GA and Guanynabo PR.
If you happen to live by one of the brick-and-mortar locations that is closing you might be able to get in on the store closing sales that began today.

tigerdirect stores closing

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  • Hennessy Hemp

    Having worked for them in the past, I can say with certainty, go ANYWHERE else. I think my first clue should have been the use of archaic mainframe computers to run their warehouses and back-end…it’s no wonder they had no idea what was going on…they are a technology company that refuses to use technology to manage their business.

  • Drakman

    Tigerdirect sold us a bad copy of Windows (which Microsoft confirmed was indeed a bad copy) and they’ve refused to replace the broken copy they sold us, so I’m not too sorry to see them go after they stole money from us. I used to be a big fan, but after getting ripped off by them, they can go to hell.

  • vision33r

    Eventually everything will go up in price. Amazon charges more than Newegg but has better service. There are not that many online shops left that sells computer parts when everyone demands high service and low prices. It doesn’t work out to be a profitable business for retailers.

  • DW

    I purchased a video card from TigerDirect on Thursday. I installed it and it was dead so tried to return it for another on Friday and they wouldn’t. So buyers beware…

    • Mou

      Yep, I was going to buy a hard drive and asked the person at the register if I could exchange / return if the drive was dead. Stated no returns for no reason. Needless to say, I left it there. In my opinion it was not cheap enough to risk that.

  • Terry Perry

    There prices are no where near as good as Newegg now Fry’s in under cutting Newegg. Like a 4690K 3.5 for 200 $ or a 4970K 4.0 for 250.$ they even had the 8350 for 150 $ All AMD M.B. for 10-15 % off. These are one day sales but still. I bought Both of the Intel and they are Fast.

    • Just My Two Cents

      Thank you Terry. You and consumers like you are one of the main reasons why they are closing. Your insight to the mindset of the 21st century consumer vs the convenience of having a local brick and mortar store says it all.
      1. The items sold by Newegg are not the most current versions of the product available on the shelves at brick and mortar stores. Usually, they are one or two versions older which, in turn, means they are inferior (in quality or speed) and should be sold for less money. (Manufacturers sell their older versions of product to Newegg at discounted prices to move it off their shelves and creates space for the most current product.)
      2. If you purchased an item at your local Tiger Direct and there was a problem with it, you could return it the same day for a refund or exchange it for another item. With Newegg, you have to wait days for it to arrive after the online purchase. If you don’t like it or if there is something wrong with it, you must not only pay to ship it back, you have to wait days for the replacement item to arrive.
      3. Sometimes it worth a few extra bucks for the newest product available and for the convenience of having it a few minutes from the front door of your home. It’s also usually easier dealing with the local store than trying to call an 800 number and depending on the manufacturer to provide the customer service you expect, especially on a two or three year old product from Newegg. The local store is more apt to take care of you than a stranger on the other end of the phone.

      • mark

        I think you may have been given some bad information. Newegg and other computer online retailers do offer products that are the “newest” but they also offer products that may be a generation older. This is typically something that brick and mortar stores cannot do based on their limited space. Although I also like the idea of being able to go to stores for the product base on the ability to return defective equipment, that is why current stores like Best Buy are implementing the new price match policies to compete with online retailers. As for this article, I usually shop around for products at many different retailers and have never found Tiger Direct to have the best prices without having to deal with mail in rebates. Most of the time that’s a deal breaker for me.

      • _G

        What a troll. Newegg was classes above Tiger Direct and none of their owners are in jail. Dream on. I am not sure you even know what the topic of discussion is about.

  • Kevin Clements

    I live less than 2 miles from the Flagler Street store. I guess eventually they will be just an online business.

  • DoctorT

    USA only, or Canada too?

    • Bob

      I have read Canadian stores are also closing down.