The 185,000-square-foot Incredible Universe store in Sandy, which opened a year ago to a degree of fanfare seldom seen in retailing, may or may not survive under a new owner as all but a half-dozen of the fledgling electronics stores go out of business.
Incredible Universe's parent company, Tandy Corp., said Monday that it plans to close all of its Incredible Universe stores as well as close or move some of its Computer City stores.Tandy said it has agreed to sell six of its Incredible Universe stores to another retailer, Fry's Electronics Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., but the Sandy store was not listed among the six to be sold. However, Tandy said it is talking with other companies regarding sale of the other Incredible Universe stores.
The company said it hasn't yet decided how many workers will lose their jobs as a result of the decisions. Presumably, the 150-200 employees of the Sandy store would keep their jobs if the store is among the six to be sold rather than closed.
Ed Brunisholz, one of the mangers at the Sandy store, insisted Monday that his facility is among those scheduled for new ownership rather than closure, even though it is not among the six scheduled to be sold to Frys.
"We are not closing this one," he said Monday. "It's actually a very profitable store. What they're doing is talking to people to purchase it. This store is open."
Brunisholz said the strong work ethic of local employees has helped keep the Sandy store's costs "way below others."
He termed Christmas sales at the store "very good" and noted that customers who bought extended warranties on products can be assured they will be honored. "Tandy will stand behind that," he said. "Tandy has been in the Salt Lake Valley longer than we have (with its Radio Shack division).
"They will honor all the warranties. Tandy Corp. is very, very solid, and they're going to stand behind anything, any debts or purchases that we make."
The fate of the Sandy store could not be confirmed with Tandy headquarters by press deadlines Monday.
It has been known that the Incredible Universe stores were in trouble since Tandy, based in Fort Worth, Texas, closed two of the "gigastores" last spring. But company officials had said the store at 11100 S. Automall Drive in Sandy was doing well enough to stay open.
"It is generating adequate sales volume to remain open, and we are at this time satisfied with its performance," Fran McGehee, Tan-dy's senior manager for media relations, told the Deseret News in May.
Tandy said Monday it is leaving the Incredible Universe business because the stores are not a "viable" economic model for the company. Incredible Universe stores sell electronics, music and appliances in warehouselike outlets of more than 150,000 square feet.
The company also said it is closing the Computer City stores as part of its strategic plan to focus on more-experienced small and home office users.
Monday's announcement follows another earlier this month; Tandy explained then that it planned to close its 53 McDuff consumer electronics stores by March, saying the outlets were unprofitable and no longer fit the company's strategy of running stores capable of a high level of service after a sale.
In addition to the six stores it has agreed to sell to Fry's, Tandy said it is in talks to sell the other 11 stores in the chain. The phase-out of Incredible Universe operations will take about six months, Tandy said.
Tandy said it will close 19 of its 108 Computer City stores and move two others.
Tandy said some 4,400 workers could be affected by the restructuring plan.
Tandy said the cost of the closings will reduce its fourth-quarter earnings by $170 million, after taxes. In the year-ago period, Tandy earned $90.2 million, or $1.39 a share, on revenue of $2.09 billion.
In morning trading, Tandy stock was up 3.8 percent, or $1.75, to $47.25 a share on the New York Stock Exchange.
Deseret News business writer Linda Thomson and Dow Jones News Service contributed to this report.