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Incredible Universe

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Incredible Universe
Company typeConsumer electronics, home appliances, personal computers and accessories
Founded1992[1]
DefunctMarch 31, 1997
Fate6 stores sold to Fry's Electronics, and one more acquired later from a third party owner Wal-Mart Stores or Target Corporation
HeadquartersArlington, Texas
ParentTandy Corporation

Incredible Universe was the name of a chain of American consumer electronics stores from 1992 to 1997. A typical Incredible Universe was 185,000 square feet (17,200 m2) of sales floor and warehouse, stocking around 85,000 items.[2]

The operation was conceived by former Tandy CEO John Roach. Many internal corporate philosophies of Disney theme parks were borrowed; in an Incredible Universe store, retail departments were "scenes", employees were "castmembers", customers were "guests", uniforms were "costumes", and so forth. The company was a joint venture between Tandy Corporation and Trans World Entertainment.

Layout

The stores featured a large rotunda area with an actual stage where sales presentations, product demonstrations, autograph signings, 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, an electronics company, decided to expand quickly, opening an additional 15 stores. In the mid-1990s, Incredible Universe was a sponsor of the Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Sidekicks, Dallas Stars, Sacramento Kings, and Texas Rangers professional sports franchises.[citation needed] During this time, however, with the growth of other retail outlets such as Best Buy, the market became more competitive, and the expense of operating such large facilities resulted in an overall lack of profitability for the entire enterprise.

Ultimately, the company was forced to close or sell all 17 of its locations between 1996 and 1997. Only six were ever consistently profitable; these six stores (Arlington, Dallas, Phoenix, Wilsonville, Sacramento, San Diego) were sold to California company Fry's Electronics in 1996,[3] which itself ceased operations in 2021.[4]

The closed buildings were so large that 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. In 1996, the Incredible Universe stores lost $90 million, and in 1997, Tandy announced the store closures. Tandy officials say "the stores were profitable but not 'viable.'"[5] One of the former Incredible Universe sites located in Houston was acquired and redeveloped by Houston Community College which became the HCC West Loop campus. Another, in Woodbridge, Virginia, became a manufacturing plant for General Dynamics' line of amphibious war fighting vehicles, from 2002 to 2012;[6] it was later adapted to Gander Mtn. and Floor & Decor stores, before becoming vacant, which it remains to this day. The Westbury, Long Island store was converted into a Target and no longer has the 'signature' look (bowed front) of an Incredible Universe. The Sandy, Utah store was converted to a Costco warehouse. The Auburn, Washington location, situated on the north side of the Supermall of the Great Northwest, was converted to a Sam's Club in 1999,[7] retaining the original Incredible Universe façade. The location closed without warning in early 2018;[8]. Today the site is a Fieldhouse USA,[9] a multi-purpose sports facility. The Lone Tree, Colorado store became a Great Indoors, until that chain closed in 2012, at which point it converted to a Sears Outlet, though that eventually closed as well, and it is now an At Home store. The Hollywood, Florida location remained empty for some time, but was eventually converted to a Home Depot which it remains to this day. The Columbus, Ohio location was converted into a Garden Ridge (now At Home) while the northern half of the parking lot was used to build a Dave & Buster's.[10] The Pineville, NC store closed abruptly in 1997 after being open for only six months. It was converted to a Sam's Club location, but the front entrance area retained the original two-level overhang. The Fishers, Indiana store became a car dealership,[11] but was taken over by Fry's in 2005.[12] The Doral, Florida location was converted into another store named "AAAA Universe", which later closed down. The store has since been demolished and a hospital is being built on the site.[13] The Atlanta, Georgia location became a Dave & Buster's location in 1998.[14] After that Dave & Buster's location closed, the building housed a succession of other business; currently the building is being rebuilt into an Amazon warehouse.[15]

References

  1. ^ "Tandy, Trans World team up for 'Incredible Universe'". allbusiness.com. Video Business. Archived from the original on 2012-07-21.
  2. ^ Tandy decides to sell or close the Incredible Universe stores Archived 2005-04-25 at the Wayback Machine, 1996 article from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
  3. ^ Fry's buys six Incredible Universe stores, a December 1996 article from the San Jose Business Journal
  4. ^ "Fry's Electronics, a favorite of tech enthusiasts, will cease operations". The New York Times. 2021-02-24. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  5. ^ Adams, Brooke; Elston, Bob (1997-02-01). "IT'S OFFICIAL: INCREDIBLE UNIVERSE IS DOOMED". Deseret News. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  6. ^ "New Life Sought for ‘Incredible Universe’." Potomac Local. October 9, 2012. Retrieved on July 2, 2017.
  7. ^ Auburn SuperMall on verge of bouncing back Puget Sound Business Journal article from 7 Mar 199
  8. ^ Sam's Club abruptly closes in Seattle, Renton, Auburn KIRO-TV article from 11 Jan, 2018
  9. ^ "Contact – Auburn FieldhouseUSA".
  10. ^ Incredible shrinking universe Columbus Business First article from 6 July 1998.
  11. ^ "Fry's is coming to Indianapolis". AnandTech. 2004. p. 2. Retrieved January 26, 2022. Incredible Universe & Auto Nation were concepts that looked good on paper but never panned out. Frys sounds like a well run version of Incredible Universe.
  12. ^ "Tandy Corp. Incredible Universe, Now Fry's in Fishers, Indiana". Trip to the Mall. December 24, 2015. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
  13. ^ Suarez, Nestor (January 22, 2019). "New Doral Hospital Provides Options to Miami Springs Residents". MiamiSprings.com. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  14. ^ Elom, Shade (November 2, 1998). "Dave & Buster's second location to be in Gwinnett". Atlanta Business Chronicle.
  15. ^ Atlantan99 (December 18, 2020). "[UPDATE] Amazon Opening New Warehouse Facility In "Incredible" Duluth Location". Tomorrow's News Today Atlanta. Retrieved January 26, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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