NCIX Retail Stores in Ontario Closed for Good

[slavikcc]

Source: https://forums.redflagdeals.com/psa-all-ncix-stores-ontario-closing-2113503/
 

Source 2 (Ottawa, Toronto, Mississauga closing): http://forums.ncix.com/forums/?mode=showthread&forum=192&threadid=2759050&pagenumber=9&msgcount=1&subpage=1

 

Source 3 (Ottawa, Toronto, Mississauga closing): http://www.redflagdeals.com/latest-news/17/07/19/ncix-closes-three-stores-in-ontario/

 

According to the internal email, leaked by somebody at RedFlagDeals forums, all NCIX retail stores are closing up show, leaving the Markham warehouse and showroom left in Ontario:

Quote

Subject: NCIX - Ontario Annoucement 

Dear Staff,

We regret to inform you that NCIX will be exiting the Ontario retail market and downsizing the Markham warehouse operations starting this week.

NCIX opened our first retail store in Toronto about 8 years ago.  We have made every attempt to develop the retail business there.  We had committed a lot of financial resources in supporting our four retail stores in Ontario but did not see the desired results.  With consumers continuing to make purchases more and more through online rather than visiting a retail store in the traditional shopping behavior, we made the tough decision to close our Ontario retail stores.

We are aware of the impact from closing the Ontario retail stores and downsizing the warehouse will have on our employees, but these measures are necessary to make NCIX stronger and better positioned to face the changes in the industry and the consumer needs in future.

We would like to express our appreciation to all the wonderful and supportive employees we have had through the years.  For those who are leaving NCIX, we wish you every success in your future careers.

Greg at NCIX publicly posted news of the three Ontario shops closing up in the NCIX message boards:
 

Quote

Hi Everyone,

The NCIX Ottawa, Mississauga, & Toronto Retail Stores are closed for business. The Markham Showroom remains open. To all our loyal customers in Ontario, we thank you for your business. We look forward to serving you online at NCIX.com for your computer and electronics needs.

Our staff will contact the customers who have pending purchase orders or service orders to pick up. For further inquiries, please contact NCIX Customer Care at 1-888-624-9888

http://www.ncix.com/contact/

From the RedFlagDeals news source: http://www.redflagdeals.com/latest-news/17/07/19/ncix-closes-three-stores-in-ontario/

Quote

The shift to online shopping likely played a significant role, as it’s simply easier to shop for computer components from various online stores instead of visiting a physical store, especially with the growing popularity of comparison shopping tools like PCPartPicker and forums like RedFlagDeals.
 

In addition, all Ontario stores were never in ideal locations, as four of five were situated in suburban areas while the Toronto location was located in Midtown, making NCIX an unfavourable option for many Toronto residents versus competitors with stores in the downtown core.

 

This is quite sad news as I received decent customer service from NCIX from the Ottawa store back in April 2017 when I had my Arctic Cooling AIO leaked, which destroyed my motherboard and CPU.  It goes to show that that sticking with retail shops for computer parts is increasingly nonviable, dealing with razor-thin profit margins. And yet tech retail stores like Best Buy manages to adapt and survive the ever changing retail landscape from away from their physical store model to online.  I'm sure a lot of us Canucks and Linus will lament the loss of the NCIX stores closing up in Ontario.  Six years ago, Linus was even at the grand opening at the First Markham Place (which has long since moved to the Markham showroom location), seen in this video below:

 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

Kindof shows how bad Canada is for retail. Many chains continue to downsize or pull out completely from Canada. Hopefully their BC operations will still be going for a few more years.

[themctipers]

what

no

NO

 

 

NO

 

thats my only place of buying tech stuff as i cant order online

[themctipers]

Just now, themctipers said:

what

no

NO

 

 

NO

 

thats my only place of buying tech stuff as i cant order online

nevermind, thank god the markham showroom one is staying alive.. for now.

[dizmo]

Not too surprising. There's very few thing you actually need to look at in store when it comes to computer parts. It's not like clothes where you need to try it on, or even a camera, where you want to see how it feels in hand. Most components are hands off, and the few that you could want to touch (keyboards, mice) don't make sense to hold a retail space for.

 

I think eventually there will be a point where owners of retail property have to offer their parcels for greatly reduced rates. That's when we'll see a stabilization of the retail sector.

 

2 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Kindof shows how bad Canada is for retail. Many chains continue to downsize or pull out completely from Canada. Hopefully their BC operations will still be going for a few more years.

I don't see the BC operation going anywhere.

Canada isn't too bad, most companies just don't tackle it properly.

[Yoinkerman]

They've been going downhill since their massive expansion.  Many people are choosing to shop elsewhere.

 

To be blunt, I'd rather pay the $8 shipping than try to buy an item list in store, because their service is terrible every fucking time.  Their "sales" are huge and unwieldy, many times the in store people having no clue as to what's on sale and attempting to charge full price for sale items.  You have to show it to them from the website.

 

Couple that with terrible stock issues on items showing "in stock" which clearly aren't, I've greatly reduced what I've ordered from them, choosing newegg or Amazon instead.

 

They've done it to themselves, it's not the retail landscape.  I'd shop at memory express 11/10 times compared to in store at ncix.

[Matu20]

43 minutes ago, themctipers said:

what

no

NO

 

 

NO

 

thats my only place of buying tech stuff as i cant order online

Why can't you?

[themctipers]

Just now, Matu20 said:

Why can't you?

because i dont have a card because im under 18 because anyone under 18 cannot manage their funds at all and will go into 100k+ debt

[goodtofufriday]

I wonder how a used computer parts store where you can test the hardware, or pick out hardware like a boutique would do. 

I think in populous areas that could work. 

[Matu20]

23 minutes ago, themctipers said:

because i dont have a card because im under 18 because anyone under 18 cannot manage their funds at all and will go into 100k+ debt

Debit cards can be issued to underage AFAIK, atleast I've had mine since age 15 or sth. Do not really know how banks operate in your country tho. 

 

But have you considered using your parents' credit cards to pay and just pay them back from your own account? I used that method before I got my own debit card.

[themctipers]

Just now, Matu20 said:

Debit cards can be issued to underage AFAIK, atleast I've had mine since age 15 or sth. Do not really know how banks operate in your country tho. 

 

But have you considered using your parents' credit cards to pay and just pay them back from your own account? I used that method before I got my own debit card.

im 13

i dont have a banking account because ...

parents dont want me spending or selling my own shit (i tried to sell my 3770k/mobo/ram for $550, got a buyer... parents nope'd)

[AshleyAshes]

I won't lie, I never 'shopped' at an NCIX in Ontario, I just picked up orders there to avoid paying for shipping... >_>

[Matu20]

18 minutes ago, themctipers said:

im 13

i dont have a banking account because ...

parents dont want me spending or selling my own shit (i tried to sell my 3770k/mobo/ram for $550, got a buyer... parents nope'd)

Then you really need to talk some sense into your parents. And againt, I don't know about the culture in your country, but most younglings here get their own bank account before they even remember their life, I'm talking about 4-5 year olds.

 

They are really hurting you by not allowing you to manage your own funds.

[themctipers]

Just now, Matu20 said:

Then you really need to talk some sense into your parents. And againt, I don't know about the culture in your country, but most younglings here get their own bank account before they even remember their life, I'm talking about 4-5 year olds.

 

They are really hurting you by not allowing you to manage your own funds.

ive gotten around them a couple of times.

here where I am, you don't get any money until you get your own job... 

 

i think that im doing a good enough job on keeping my money no problem for me except for spending it, which is a pro or a con. 

[divito]

Before HST, I always bought from NCIX because even with shipping (and especially with the cheap express shipping option on some items), you weren't charged PST, and it was cheaper than buying locally.

By the time HST rolled around, and NCIX finally made a presence in Ontario, Canada Computers was fairly ubiquitous enough here to not have to bother with NCIX anymore, and the prices were essentially the same.

[S w a t s o n]

Kinda sucks, Canada Computers really is not that great. NCIX chose pretty bad locations though, the scarborough location was tiny, extremely out of the way (literally the northeastern edge of Toronto) and carried a tiny amount of products due to the small size. When I built my computer nearly every part had to be shipped to the store and I used pretty popular/standard parts.

 

They also need to improve their web ordering experience. Their web site is barely servicable, the UX/UI is super dated and the ordering process (as in checkout) feels like it's from another century. The Canada Computers website is pretty shit too but the checkout isnt quite as god awful.

[GoodBytes]

I don't know what happened to NCIX. I recall they had great service, decently fast shipping, and great prices.... A few years after Linus left... I guess other left as well, because prices were less compelling, and shipping processing and time took more time, like it can take 1-2 or even 3 days after the before they actually start the shipping process (I recall reading some people waiting more, and where the part was back-ordered).

 

But NCIX mistake is the retail store. It is smart to turn a segment of a warehouse as a retail store. But opening individual retail stores is not. Stores are costly to operate. Rent is expensive (they are no regulations in most provinces on commercial space.. so if a landlord wants to pass 1 year charging 8,000$ per month, to 15,000$ the following year, then too bad. They either pay or move), electricity is a lot more expensive for commercial space than residential, plus you need to pay for additional employees, training them, operation cost, and so on, all while being price competitive against Newegg and others, which doesn't have retail stores. Margins on computer hardware are limited.

 

[S w a t s o n]

9 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

I don't know what happened to NCIX. I recall they had great service, decently fast shipping, and great prices.... A few years after Linus left... I guess other left as well, because prices were less compelling, and shipping processing and time took more time, like it can take 1-2 or even 3 days after the before they actually start the shipping process (I recall reading some people waiting more, and where the part was back-ordered).

 

100% agree on the shipping times being too long. It's happened to me a few times, including when I built this computer. They forgot to ship the gpu to the store or something and so the rest of my build arrived without the gpu. The stuff that did arrive took 3 days to ship since it was all on the west coast.

I had to buy one that they had in-store (one of like 3 choices) and get a refund for the one I ordered. The one I ordered was a windforce 680 2GB btw, not exactly a rare item back then Switched to an EVGA Superclocked 680, they only had EVGA models at the location.

[AshleyAshes]

3 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

I don't know what happened to NCIX. I recall they had great service, decently fast shipping, and great prices.... A few years after Linus left... I guess other left as well, because prices were less compelling, and shipping processing and time took more time, like it can take 1-2 or even 3 days after the before they actually start the shipping process (I recall reading some people waiting more, and where the part was back-ordered).

 

But NCIX mistake is the retail store. It is smart to turn a segment of a warehouse as a retail store. But opening individual retail stores is not. Stores are costly to operate. Rent is expensive (they are no regulations in most provinces on commercial space.. so if a landlord wants to pass 1 year charging 8,000$ per month, to 15,000$ the following year, then too bad. They either pay or move), electricity is a lot more expensive for commercial space than residential, plus you need to pay for additional employees, training them, operation cost, and so on, all while being price competitive against Newegg and others, which doesn't have retail stores. Margins on computer hardware are limited.

Not to mention that any Brick and Mortar location can really only have so much selection.  Even warehouses, sometimes my order's have to come from BC because the Markham warehouse doesn't have stock.  Brick and mortar stores are about immediate purchases.  Most people walk in with the intention to walk out with product not walk out with an invoice and a tracking number.  Plus fewer and fewer people WANT that brick and mortar experience these days.

 

I have a certain nostalgia for 'The Computer Store' because I certainly remember a time when those stores or even the PC parts area of Future Shop was the place to go to see what cool stuff you could put in your computer but the time has past.  (Also, I fondly remember browsing the PC software isles!  Reading all those colorful boxes!)  Today I research parts on online reviews, put SKUs into ShopBot.ca to find the best prices at every online store in Canada, then use NCIX's price match function to get the best price all in one store.  The physical NCIX stores were just where I picked up my orders.  I rarely looked at what they had on display while waiting for my turn in line even.

[Ertman]

I always found their Ottawa store lacking in terms of selection. However it was great to be able to order something for free instore pickup. 

 

Unless the deal is really great or offers free shipping, I think I am going to have to look elsewhere for parts.

[Paranoid Kami]

I've always ordered online from NCIX and picked up at the closest store. No shipping costs that way. The store itself only has a small percentage of what they have online so there's not really a point in going in. There's a Best Buy close to me I've looked at and there are displays for most things where you can try things before you buy them. It's really nice. Wish NCIX had that as it's just a few keyboards and a random few mice. ALL their monitors at the store are varying degrees of 1080p(which is a terrible resolution for a monitor) so there's nothing else to look at other than the mice and keyboards to test their clicking.

[Rune]

Sad to see one of our last cool competitors folding up shop. When all people know about is best buy they won't bother to come look for us because they won't think that anything else exists.

[Jito463]

2 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

But NCIX mistake is the retail store. It is smart to turn a segment of a warehouse as a retail store. But opening individual retail stores is not. Stores are costly to operate. Rent is expensive (they are no regulations in most provinces on commercial space.. so if a landlord wants to pass 1 year charging 8,000$ per month, to 15,000$ the following year, then too bad. They either pay or move), electricity is a lot more expensive for commercial space than residential, plus you need to pay for additional employees, training them, operation cost, and so on, all while being price competitive against Newegg and others, which doesn't have retail stores. Margins on computer hardware are limited.

2 hours ago, AshleyAshes said:

Not to mention that any Brick and Mortar location can really only have so much selection.  Even warehouses, sometimes my order's have to come from BC because the Markham warehouse doesn't have stock.  Brick and mortar stores are about immediate purchases.  Most people walk in with the intention to walk out with product not walk out with an invoice and a tracking number.  Plus fewer and fewer people WANT that brick and mortar experience these days.

I don't know about Canada, but I work for a small computer store (essentially, a smaller version of Microcenter, where Rune (quoted below) works at.  We are a service center, system builder, parts retailer, etc, and we do quite well for ourselves.  Yes, margins are thin on parts, but there are ways to improve those margins by researching good deals from our vendors.

 

Of course, it doesn't hurt that we're the only place around (possibly in all of Nebraska) that carries parts on hand.  That allows us to fill a niche that no one else does.

 

27 minutes ago, Rune said:

Sad to see one of our last cool competitors folding up shop. When all people know about is best buy they won't bother to come look for us because they won't think that anything else exists.

I'm not sure about where you live, but the BB near us (literally 2 blocks from our store) doesn't carry much in the way of computer parts.  They have RAM and HDD's, along with power supplies and a few video cards, but no motherboards, processors or cases.  It would be impossible to build a system just from parts they carry on hand.

 

Ironically, we've gained such a reputation that even their employees have sent customers to us; both for parts they don't carry, and - on a few occasions - even for service work.

[Rune]

2 minutes ago, Jito463 said:

I'm not sure about where you live, but the BB near us (literally 2 blocks from our store) doesn't carry much in the way of computer parts.  They have RAM and HDD's, along with power supplies and a few video cards, but no motherboards, processors or cases.  It would be impossible to build a system just from parts they carry on hand.

 

Ironically, we've gained such a reputation that even their employees have sent customers to us; both for parts they don't carry, and - on a few occasions - even for service work.

Well, I meant in that if they don't have them then no one must The same actually happens here heh.

[S w a t s o n]

1 hour ago, Jito463 said:

I'm not sure about where you live, but the BB near us (literally 2 blocks from our store) doesn't carry much in the way of computer parts.  They have RAM and HDD's, along with power supplies and a few video cards, but no motherboards, processors or cases.  It would be impossible to build a system just from parts they carry on hand.

 

Ironically, we've gained such a reputation that even their employees have sent customers to us; both for parts they don't carry, and - on a few occasions - even for service work.

As someone that works at bestbuy and constantly refers people to Canada Computers for parts, can confirm People walk in wanting to buy all sorts of components but the best video card we carry is a 1070 (usually just one) and it's not priced well I'll tell you that much. I guess US bestbuy has the same selection we do. So yea we constantly turn people to actual computer stores lol