Ultimately, Tweeter serves as a cautionary tale of a once very successful specialist that turned into a tragedy and ultimately went out with a whimper.  I remember an organization in the 90’s that placed great importance in the notion that people who want something better out of their shopping experience will flock to your doors if you heavily invest in quality people, believe in the importance of a demonstration in upselling and price better products competitively in the market.  A company filled with fantastic people like Paul Shindler, Jamie Feuss and Chris Bauer and many more that I remember fondly.  But that Tweeter was going away in 2002 and was replaced by something else entirely.  Naturally, the quality people left and that was the beginning of the end.

Here is the lesson: you are either selling a commodity or you are adding value to justify your existence.  Choose.  Tweeter replaced the value that they added with nothing, sacrificing a successful vision for a flawed ones thought up by people who did not understand the business and mistakenly thought that it was more like Staples than Williams Sonoma.  Sad.

I couldn’t agree more, that is exactly what is happening with the electronics market. It is indeed sad.

What about Ultimate Electronics, did’nt they die a horrible death too.

I am one of the home town retailers that these guys have price busted to blow out the little guys.

I have seen them come and go.  The customer never learns.  In the long run every business will get Walmatius due to greed.  They are next…