Incredible Universe

Incredible Universe

Former type	Consumer electronics, home appliances, personal computers and accessories
Fate	Six stores sold to Fry's Electronics, and one more acquired later from a third party
Founded	1992
Defunct	1996
Headquarters	Arlington, Texas
Parent	Tandy Corporation

Incredible Universe was the name of a chain of American consumer electronics stores in the early to mid-1990s. A typical Incredible Universe was 185,000 square feet (17,200 m²) of sales floor and warehouse, stocking around 85,000 items.

The operation was the brainchild of former Tandy CEO John Roach, who envisioned an empire of retail stores that combined shopping with entertainment.^{[citation needed]} Many internal corporate philosophies of Disney theme parks were borrowed; in an Incredible Universe store, retail departments were 'scenes,' employees were 'castmembers,' uniforms were 'costumes,' and so forth.

Layout

The stores featured a large rotunda area with an actual stage where sales presentations, product demonstrations, or even occasional musical acts were performed, and various retail departments (software, music and video, and accessories) were accessible from this rotunda. Moving through the rotunda area would lead one to the main storefront where larger consumer electronics and computers were sold.

A store would also generally contain from four to eight sound rooms where particular combinations of audio/video equipment could be demonstrated, and some stores contained McDonald's restaurants (the Wilsonville, Oregon store contained a Pizza Hut) and temporary day care facilities where parents could leave their small children while they shopped.

Many stores also had a second floor which housed a cafeteria for the staff as well as training and demo rooms. The training rooms were used for demonstrating new product from vendors to the staff as well as public training on computers, software, and audio/video gear for purchase. Rounding out the computer department was a computer upgrade center which could add new memory, a sound card, or a modem in just a few minutes.

History

Initially, two stores were opened, in Arlington, Texas, and Wilsonville, Oregon; when these proved profitable, parent company Tandy decided to expand quickly, opening an additional 15 stores. During this time, however, with the growth of other retail outlets such as Best Buy, the market became more competitive; this, coupled with what some saw as poor locations for the additional stores and the expense of operating such large facilities, resulted in an overall lack of profitability for the entire enterprise.

Of the 17 stores, only six were ever consistently profitable; these six stores were sold to California company Fry's Electronics in 1996. The others were all closed in that same year. As the buildings were so large, they could not be readily adapted to other business purposes, and buyers were so scarce that Tandy sold the empty buildings for mere pennies on the dollar.

The Hollywood, Florida store became a Home Depot.

The Miami, Florida store now houses AAAA World Import-Export, an importer-exporter.

The Fishers, Indiana store became an AutoNation automobile dealership. However, it was short-lived and the property now houses a Fry's Electronics store. The building's outside appearance still largely resembles that of an Incredible Universe store.

The Houston, Texas store became a Houston Community College campus. The building's outside appearance still largely resembles that of an Incredible Universe store.

The Lone Tree, Colorado store became a unit of Sears-based The Great Indoors.

The Duluth, Georgia store is now divided into a Dave and Busters and a PGA Tour Superstore.

The Dale City, Virginia store located near Potomac Mills mall was eventually purchased by the Prince William County government and converted to house multiple local and federal government offices. This was short-lived and now U.S. defense contractor General Dynamics Land Systems division has a presence.

The Pineville, North Carolina store located near Carolina Place Mall and is now the world's largest Sam's Club.

The Auburn, Washington location now also serves as a Sam's Club.

The Sandy, Utah Incredible Universe store sat vacant until 1999. Costco purchased the building and eventually converted it into one of their warehouses, which opened July 2000.

The Westbury, New York store (which shut its doors on 2/23/1997) became the first Long Island Target store.

The Hilliard, Ohio store is now home to Garden Ridge, a home decor store.

Fry's stores

The Fry's stores in Tempe, Arizona; Wilsonville, Oregon; Sacramento and San Diego, California; Fishers, Indiana, Dallas (Garland), and Arlington, Texas are all former Incredible Universe stores. These typically featured little in the way of remodeling or renovation prior to opening as a Fry's store; internally, they still have many of the light displays originally set up for Incredible Universe, and the Tempe, San Diego and Wilsonville stores still use the Incredible Universe-themed delivery trucks, although on Tempe and Wilsonville store trucks the words "Incredible Universe" were painted over in black. The San Diego Fry's Incredible Universe trucks have not been painted and remain intact.

Recently, the Tempe, Arizona store started a large-scale remodel and is now being done in a cowboy golf theme, removing and changing a large amount of the more than decade-old Incredible Universe signage and display items. A section of the overhead walkways was removed and all sections of the store have portions roped off for construction work.

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  Golf mural above office products section of Fry's Tempe Store

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  Golf mural above appliances section of Fry's Tempe Store

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  Golf floor art at entrance of Fry's Tempe Store

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  Golf cart counters at customer service section of Fry's Tempe Store

External links

• Former Incredible Universe Employees Reunion website
• A case study about the store's real estate assets from retailtrafficmag.com