Incredible Universe

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Incredible Universe


Slogan	If it's not in the Universe, it doesn't exist!

Former Type	Consumer electronics, appliances, personal computers and accessories
Fate	Last six stores sold to Fry's Electronics


Founded	1992^[1]
Defunct	1996
Location	Arlington, Texas
Parent	Tandy Corporation

Incredible Universe was the name of a chain of very large American consumer electronics stores in the early to mid-1990s. A typical Incredible Universe was 185,000 square feet of sales floor and warehouse, stocking around 85,000 items.^[2]

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.

1 Layout
2 Locations
3 History
4 Status of former locations
- 4.1 Fry's stores
5 References
6 External links

[edit] 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.

[edit] Locations

[edit] 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^[who?] 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.^[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.

The Fishers, Indiana, store became an AutoNation automobile dealership. However, it was short lived and the property now houses a Fry's Electronics store.

[edit] Status of former locations

The short-lived store in Westbury, New York, was opened on the former location of the former Roosevelt Raceway race track. This store was eventually bought by Target and remains a Target store; Target also demolished the Incredible Universe style entrance (large round thing with red arches on it) when it was expanded in 2006.

The Sandy, Utah, store is now a Costco; the Charlotte, NC, and Auburn, Washington locations now serve as a Sam's Club, the latter as part of the Auburn Super Mall.

The former Houston location, now part of Southwest College.

The Denver, CO store is now The Great Indoors (owned by Sears). The Miami, Florida, store closed its doors, but the building still remains. The original sign for the Miami store is still standing, although the colors and logo have faded away over time. The Duluth, GA, store is now a Dave and Buster's and a PGA Tour Superstore. The Woodbridge, VA store is now a General Dynamics facility, in the unlikely position of being next to a major outlet mall. The Hillard Ohio store is now a Garden Ridge. The Houston store was sold to the Houston Community College's Southwest College, and now comprises their West Loop center.^[4]

The Elizabeth, NJ location later became "RexPlex", a large indoor theme park, skate park, and arena park. It closed in 2004. The current building will become New Jersey's first Super Target in 2009.

[edit] Fry's stores

The Fry's stores in Tempe, Arizona; Wilsonville, Oregon; Sacramento and San Diego, California; and Dallas 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 and San Diego stores still use the Incredible Universe-themed delivery trucks, although on Tempe 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.