End Of An Era: Calgary's Soundsaround Closing Its Doors For Good

[CharlieSheen911]

http://www.marketnews.ca/LatestNewsHeadlines/CalgarysSoundsaroundClosingForGood.html

The bad economy has swallowed up another victim? Or have all the years of no refund policy caught up with them? I worked there and did well for a couple years but I personally wouldn't buy much unless I absolutely knew it was a good deal and I wouldn't ever return it. It was tough at times but I'll miss the place.

I wish the best to most of the guys there. There are a few pricks who I can say I could care less. But alas it's the end of an era of high priced car audio and high end speakers. It was the place to be in the 80's and 90's to outfit your car or impress your neighbors with high end sound. But all good things must come to an end.

Good bye Soundsaround. Probably will go try catch a deal or too in the next month.

There are some crazy scathing comments from an ex salesman in this article I linked to. I laughed reading them because most of it is true in a way but the dude must have really felt screwed over.

[rabbit]

I wondered why no one has posted any hot deals from them for a long time. Incredible that they never expanded to Edmonton or anything.

[Wingding]

I'm sure gonna miss their annual Liquidation Sale (although I know they already skipped 2011.) It was the only time I ever went near Soundsaround, as the purchasing experience with them definitely did seem to suck the other 364 days of the year.

I picked up a $1799 MSRP Toshiba Regza LCD TV at the 2009 Liquidation Sale for $990-something, which was fully $500 less than Futureshop was selling the same model for at the same time on sale. Brand new in the factory sealed carton with full warranty . . . and it was one of Toshiba Canada's sales execs who demonstrated its features to me on the store display unit!

I never understood how Soundsaround could offer such prices at that event, let alone how they got all the major mfrs to send out all their regional marketing brass to help move the product. But I was definitely happy to partake of the deals!



.

[BobW]

I've bought a couple things from them over the years, but I'm not sorry to see them go. The bogus sales and craptastic upsell attempts at the cash register were more than enough for me. (Take note Visions...you're next).

[Offspring22]

Not surprised either. I never went to one of their big 4 events, but I never once saw the store anywhere near busy. Everything was over priced, and good luck trying to find a salesman to help you. I've dealt with Visions for most of my electronics, never had an issue. Always had decent service.

[Wingding]

Not surprised either. I never went to one of their big 4 events

Oooh, too bad. You missed out on the only time that was truly the "right time" to shop Soundsaround. Nobody could touch the deals at their annual Liquidation Sale. Major $K to be saved!

[Pauly Boy]

It’s indeed the end of the aftermarket car audio era, eh? I remember that part of the store at any electronics retailer was huge, starting to encroach into other parts of the store...Now it’s a ghost town with maybe half a dozen demo head units & the racks of doo-dads/install kits have been replaced with mp3 players.

I have a bud in Calgary who was one of those peeps from the SE store that shutdown last year that got moved to the Macleod location. Same thing happened to him when A&B Sound went under, so at least he saw the writing on the wall & started hunting for a replacement ahead of time.

According to him, they were told they would continue a smaller operation with just the 2 stores, which was probably just a ploy to get them to stay during the Christmas season instead of a mass exodus - Definitely a lowball, but maybe they did have intentions of sticking it out until they saw last quarter’s books...Only they’ll know.

I’ll have to drive up before April and have a look-see & maybe score some deals – Keep us posted RFD Calgary if there are anything good please.

[CharlieSheen911]

I'd say there may some good deals to be had.

[Wingding]

I'd say there may some good deals to be had.

Do you really suppose they have enough inventory on-hand at this point to make for much good shopping? If they've been on the slide for several months and knew they were going to be shutting the doors, wouldn't it make sense for them to have cut back on stock levels quite a bit already? Anything current and still in the boxes can prob'ly be returned to the manufacturers anyway.

[rotjong]

soundsaround, That's where I bought my first ghetto blaster back innthe 80's:lol:

[blainehamilton]

Legendary sales in the early 90s. Used to plan a day trip there for it from Red Deer. Boxing day sales were trash in comparison.

In can remember completing in car audio events they ran.

[nagasadow]

Never shopped there and truly not surprised No small time business can compete with huge Margin Pushers like Best Buy, Visions, Memory Express, Dell, Amazon, London Drugs, etc

[CharlieSheen911]

Never shopped there and truly not surprised No small time business can compete with huge Margin Pushers like Best Buy, Visions, Memory Express, Dell, Amazon, London Drugs, etc

When they lost their key man Tony Scaffeo to Future Shop they lost their good deals. It was only a matter of time from that point. I had heard the owners were so furious when Tony left that they were going to close it all down at that point but they decided to keep going. But that didn't last long.

[CharlieSheen911]

Anyone been to the Macleod trail location lately? What does it look like?

[rei]

Never shopped there and truly not surprised No small time business can compete with huge Margin Pushers like Best Buy, Visions, Memory Express, Dell, Amazon, London Drugs, etc

I doubt Visions is part of this list of 'huge margin pushers.'

They're likely to be next as a recent visit to one of their Edmonton stores showed a deserted store with no sales staff or products. I imagine they're similar in size to AB Sound and Soundsaround.

[yads12]

I doubt Visions is part of this list of 'huge margin pushers.'

They're likely to be next as a recent visit to one of their Edmonton stores showed a deserted store with no sales staff or products. I imagine they're similar in size to AB Sound and Soundsaround.

They're definitely bigger than AB Sound or Soundsaround combined were. However, it is likely that they will be next.

[rabbit]

In terms of cities, Visions may have been bigger than A&B Sound, but it's difficult for me to imagine crazy line-ups at Visions on Boxing Day.

[flashmeister]

Never shopped there and truly not surprised No small time business can compete with huge Margin Pushers like Best Buy, Visions, Memory Express, Dell, Amazon, London Drugs, etc

Also keep in mind that Memory Express started from one dinky store in South Calgary ~20 yrs ago, but always had low profit margins and good customer service. I find it amazing that ME has grown so much over these years! Just goes to show that you can compete with the big guys if you focus on customer service and consistent value, even if not always the cheapest.

[blainehamilton]

In terms of cities, Visions may have been bigger than A&B Sound, but it's difficult for me to imagine crazy line-ups at Visions on Boxing Day.


Actually lined up at Visions before Best Buy a few years ago. It was the last year I went out early. Shaw HD PVRs were cheaper than anywhere else. Almost bought a 720p 50" Samsung plasma for $499. This was when the going rate was double anywhere else. Also picked up a 2GB iPod Shuffle for half price for my wife.

For TV deals, especially larger displays, their Boxing day specials tend to be better than Future Shop or Best Buy.

I only liked A&B sound for their higher end speakers and audio equipment. Stock and ringing thru on Boxing Day was always brutal and a waste of time.