Or Gateway Electronics in St Louis

The biggest Gulf of the continent is pretty big though, so that might not help you much

Where else would you be buying equivalents online anyway?

It's also great for items likely to be scalped. It doesn't guarantee they'll have stock, but it sure is easier to beat scalpers to checking the store that day than bots to an online cart. I even got a Switch 2 bundle the day after launch at MSRP while there for something else. Edit: shit, prices are worse all around now. Glad I didn't wait :D.

there’s just something about the in store experience that’s different than online.

Microcenter is also known for having better prices than online retailers, but they don’t ship for many items

Speaking as an Australian, to me it would be a dream to be able to drive to a place like that and getting those things in store as opposed to ordering online then waiting days or sometimes weeks for delivery.

There is also the factor of being able to see the item in person, and perhaps hold it in your hands, might not be very relevant for something like RAM sticks, but it certainly is for something like a gaming controller for example.

"Why go to a fine restaurant when you can just stick something in the microwave? Why go to the park and fly a kite when you can just pop a pill?" - Kramer, Seinfeld

It’s more a best buy than fry’s electronics.

We had a recently opened one here in the Bay Area — I went there once, having heard good things. Never again. It’s a bullshit emporium.

Also: they're always packed on the weekends. There is definitely demand for a brick and mortar store that focuses on tech/geek hobbies.

Microcenter has enough swag to get their own exclusive CPU SKUs from AMD.

For me, its seeing cases in person and being able to see how they compare for size rather than trying to estimate online.

As someone in Australia where we have pretty poor computer electronics stores for PC parts, this place is like heaven on earth.

To you its an introverts nightmare, but clearly for many geeks its not who are lining up.

But seriously, online shipping takes longer than driving over to the store and picking the thing up. It's not just being impatient, but sometimes eg your headphones break but you have an important meeting coming up soon.

The other one is, Amazon, especially, the pictures lie about the object's size after shipping. Especially for. a TVs. Sure you can use a measuring tape, but some people really do just want to see it in person to get a proper feel for how big something is.

Then there's laptops to try out how the keyboard does.