Tweeter and all the other high-end stores that I know of are going out of business.

[HDTV1080P]

It appears all the high-end stores are closing that I know of. Tweeter, Sound Advice, Showcase, and HiFi Buys are closing 94 stores in 17 states. All 4 of these stores are Tweeter companies.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/consumer/17887452/detail.html

http://www.tweeter.com/


I really enjoyed the Sound Advice store and I am sad it is closing, they had excellent high-end equipment with sometimes cheaper prices then Best Buy. The sales people were knowledable and were one of the last electronics retail stores that paid commission. Circuit City and Best Buy pay hourly. Commission
employees in general most of the time know more about the products they sell.
When I went into Sound Advice they had dozens of Sony LCD BRAVIA's for sale but all the 60 inch Pioneer Elites including the floor model was gone. They did have one older 50 inch floor model left. When Sound Advice and the Tweeter stores cut prices for the going out of business sale the first thing to go were the Pioneer plasma screens. The sales rep said to me the other day, this is a paraphrase and not a exact quote "The consumer has spoken and they are more interested in lower prices compared to quality when it comes to consumer electronics."
What high-end stores are left in the USA? Circuit City and Best Buy were considered medium quality electronics with Walmart the lower quality products. Circuit City most likely in a year or two will close all of their stores. It looks like Best Buy will become the new high-end in electronics and Walmart will be the new Best Buy. Consumers that are just interested in price over performance will shop in Super Walmarts which have a excellent selection of 1080P's under a $1,000. For those consumers that want higher quality products with a bigger selection then Best Buy is the place to go.

[ixlegitballinxl]

lol wow, sound advice is one of the few higher end stores in my area. Looks like the economy is effecting our hobby.

[Clark Kent]

I think this has more to do with a general shift in our culture than the actual state of the economy. With the commoditization of electronics, consumers have been taught to ruthlessly seek out the lowest cost provider or seller of goods. Now with the wealth of information and reviews available on the Internet, most consumers do not have the same need for high end service when buying speakers and other products like them. Big ticket items were the first wave of products affected since consumers realized they could save a large amount of money.

[crackinhedz]

how come tweeter does not let you browse the listings anymore?? did they shut down the website?

[UPSandy]

all around illinois they had the elite 110's for 2899.....thats a steal man

[RazorFromHRSnet]

Best Buy has also significantly scaled back their Magnolia Departments compared to the way they were when they first started appearing in stores.

[ixlegitballinxl]

passed by Sound Advice today... had a big banner hanging outside the store..... ( CLOSING )

[Seeking_Alpha]

Don't worry, others will rise up in the future.

Downturns in the business cycle tend to close businesses you know. But once things get going again, new ones, hopefully better more robust ones, will open up.

[HDTV1080P]

I forgot that the high-end Ultimate Electronics store is still in business. They use to have tons of stores nationwide several years ago but they closed many of them down. At least they are still in business in a few states. I do not have a store in my state but many years ago I visited one of the stores and they had a lot of highend products. According to their website they still carry Pioneer Elite and many other products.
Here is a weblink that lists all the stores nationwide. Hopefully Ultimate Electronics will not go under like all the other high-end stores have.
http://www.ultimateelectronics.com/storelocator/storelocatormain.jsp?ruleID=45&itemID=0&itemType=S tore_Finder&sFolderID=33

[Matt W]

Ultimate used to be a great chain until Mark Wattles got ahold of it. He's the guy who founded Hollywood Video and sold it after playing piggy bank with it. Then he took THAT money to buy into Ultimate Electronics and messed it up too- badly. I'm glad they are still around because they are high-end without being snooty.

Matt

[saprano]

How many audio dealers are out there exatly?