Incredible Universe

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.[2]

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

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 Texas Rangers, Sacramento Kings, Dallas Stars, Dallas Sidekicks and Dallas Mavericks professional sports franchises. 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.

Of the 17 stores, only six were ever consistently profitable; these six stores were sold to California company Fry's Electronics in 1996.[3] 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. In 1996, the Incredible Universe stores lost $90 million, and in 1997, Tandy announces the closing of 17 Incredible Universe stores. Tandy officials say "the stores were profitable but not 'viable.'[4] One of the former Incredible Universe sites located in Houston, Texas was acquired and redeveloped by Houston Community College which became the HCC Southwest campus. Another, in Woodbridge, Virginia, became a manufacturing plant for General Dynamics' line of amphibious war fighting vehicles, from 2002 to 2012;[5] it was later adapted to Gander Mtn. and Floor & Decor stores. 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,[6] retaining the original Incredible Universe façade. The location closed without warning in early 2018;[7] the site is currently unused. 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, leaving the property vacant. 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.[8] 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.

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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. News, Deseret (1997-02-01). "IT'S OFFICIAL: INCREDIBLE UNIVERSE IS DOOMED". Deseret News. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  5. "New Life Sought for ‘Incredible Universe’." Potomac Local. October 9, 2012. Retrieved on July 2, 2017.
  6. Auburn SuperMall on verge of bouncing back Puget Sound Business Journal article from 7 Mar 199
  7. Sam's Club abruptly closes in Seattle, Renton, Auburn KIRO-TV article from 11 Jan, 2018
  8. Incredible shrinking universe Columbus Business First article from 6 July 1998.
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