Micro Center Thrives Despite Retail Trends and RAMpocalypse: A Photo Essay

Selling PCs and components at retail has undone retailers from Radio Shack to CompUSA to Fry's, but Micro Center is thriving, opening new locations and renovating existing stores. I visited its most recently updated store, in Patterson, NJ, just ahead of its grand re-opening recently to attempt to see the changes and understand how Micro Center is succeeding where almost everyone else has failed. First, fair warning: if you have even a passing interest in PCs, gaming, 3D printing, or networking, this can be an expensive visit. I did not escape unscathed myself, picking up a retro numeric keypad to match an 8bitdo retro keyboard I purchased previously for a review.

The Patterson, NJ store remodel reorganized and modernized the layout, but the overall footprint did not change – it remains one of Micro Center’s smaller stores. Structural changes included opening up the Knowledge Bar area so customers can see technicians working on their equipment and adding a podcasting studio for live/streamed demonstrations. Near the checkout aisles Micro Center has added geek impulse buys including LEGO sets and collectible card games. Micro Center has a clever pricing system to discourage scalping: pricing goes up for multiple purchases.

PCs can be purchased pre-built, in parts that the store will assemble for a fee (you can watch the process in the Knowledge Bar), or for self-assembly. PC part sales are the heart of Micro Center’s retail model, and it hires staff who can provide real world advice on parts selection and budget/performance tradeoffs. I stayed in the store after my formal tour and found that the staff I talked to were genuinely knowledgeable; they were attracted to the work environment because they are passionate about computing, and, because they work on commission, it can pay better than straight wage retail jobs.

To keep this business model working as prices of RAM skyrocket, Micro Center offers attractive bundle deals that combine the RAM with motherboards and CPUs. GPUs are sold at market price, but they are in stock, and buying at retail provides both instant gratification and eliminates the risk of shady online deals.

The ability to peruse inventory in stock -- and even get hands on -- is also a big factor in Micro Center’s appeal for gaming, keyboards, and 3D printing. The internet’s inventory is endless, but you can’t see what different filament looks like, check the fit of gaming headphones, directly compare gaming wheels, size up PC cases, or feel dozens of keyboard switches without buying samples first. Micro Center is also expanding into SMB networking with a full Ubiquiti store-within-a-store.    

Micro Center’s success may also be due to what the company has chosen not to focus on. Micro Center’s 3D printing area is impressive, and there were also plenty of choices for monitors and PC/personal audio. However, several areas of computing and digital life were conspicuously underrepresented. It’s possible that larger Micro Center stores have better selection, but hardware retailers and even some big box stores have more digital home options – which includes lighting, microcontrollers, security, and more. Your average Best Buy or even Costco have TV and home audio options that dwarf the Micro Center I visited. Finally, even for a relatively small store, Micro Center doesn’t appear to be trying to offer comprehensive options in smartphones, tablets, or XR. But if you’re building or accessorizing a PC, Micro Center is a must visit.

There are also a couple of extremely local reasons why this particular Micro Center store does well: Northern New Jersey is densely populated and relatively affluent overall. Patterson, NJ is in Passaic county, right over the border from Bergen County, the last area in the country with Blue Laws prohibiting most non-food retail sales on Sundays. That makes the fact that the store is open on Sundays a significant competitive advantage. Patterson is also an Urban Enterprise Zone, allowing the store to charge 3.5% state sales tax compared to 6.625% elsewhere in the state or nearby New York City’s 8.875%. If you’re buying an RTX5090 or a few sticks of DRAM the sales tax savings alone could be hundreds of dollars.

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