Ultimate Electronics Won’t Go Down Without A Fight
Ultimate Electronics has been around since 1968 and has continued to grow steadily over the last 35+ years. Currently Ultimate Electronics operates 65 stores in 14 states across the US, mostly southwestern states and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. The company has been public since 1993. While the company saw an explosive amount of growth particularly in the last five years, opening over 30 new stores, an announcement released recently caused consumers to wonder if their favorite gadget store was going to close the doors forever. Following rather large losses last year, to the tune of over $6 million alone for the fourth quarter, and over $15 million for the total year the company realized there was serious trouble. Compared to the previous year’s profits, these losses were quite staggering indeed. Ultimate Electronics recently announced they have filed for Bankruptcy. At least part of the losses, have been blamed on a new inventory management system the company had installed in 2003. Some industry analysts have also blamed the company’s financial problems on the large growth spurt Ultimate Electronics has experienced over the last five years. Due to the fact that almost all of the stores, even the new stores, are leased; there appears to be a lot of cash going out and not a lot coming in. Despite this startling announcement, the store seems determined to turn things around and have even posted a reassuring letter to their customers on their website. No matter what you’re looking for you can find it at Ultimate Electronics. You have even take a look at Oprah’s Favorite Things list! From Oprah’s list you can choose everything from a GPS navigator to help you find your way when you’re lost to mobile electronics. The company had previously tried to boost their sagging sales by makes sales of a high end product to a homebuilder. This incentive was not enough, however to recover from so many losses over the last year. One of the final blows to Ultimate Electronics was the 2004 holiday season. Holiday sales, which are generally a boost to a company’s revenues, failed to deliver for Ultimate Electronics. Ultimate Electronics also offers their own electronic repair service and are able to service products for nearly fifty electronics manufacturers. The electronic repair service website for Ultimate Electronics allows consumers to send in products for repair and then