Lines stay long at computer store
When Ruby Thang pulled into the Micro Center parking lot Saturday afternoon, she wasn’t expecting to see a line wrapped around the front of the building. She had hoped to run in and see about getting her broken Dell laptop fixed or replaced.
“It won’t turn on at all,” said the independent insurance adjuster, who wanted to set herself up to work from home. “I was supposed to do some Zoom training, and I’ve got to have it.”
“What is this, something like Black Friday?” asked her daughter Anna, 9.
Not quite. Although the Micro Center parking lot at South Rice and Westpark wasn’t any more crowded than a typical weekend afternoon, about 50 people were waiting in line, spaced 6 feet apart as recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The store was allowing only 40 people in at a time as a precaution against the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“We have a ‘sweet spot’ ratio of store associates to customers,” said Steven Miller, the store’s general manager. “We have 20 associates inside, so it’s 2-to-1.”
Inside, shopping carts were being cleaned between uses with disinfectant. Customers were reminded often about the 6-foot rule.
Though the store is a sprawling 32,000 square feet, the line has been there since early last week, as more Houstonians were told to work from home and as Micro Center began limiting the number of people entering. It’s there rain or shine, and as it began drizzling Saturday afternoon, an employee was handing out store umbrellas that had been wiped down with disinfectant to those waiting.
Miller said people come in “to buy all kinds of things,” but laptops, desktops and monitors are in big demand as customers set up remote work stations and even prepare to home-school for the first time. Some who may have been getting by with a smartphone or tablet at home now find that they need more.
Because of the demand, Micro Center has been limiting quantities sold. For example, computer monitors are restricted to five per customer.
“It’s not quite the same as people buying up all the toilet paper,” said Skip Dwyer, district manager for the Micro Center region that includes Houston. “But we want to make sure there is enough supply for everyone.”
Dwyer said Micro Center has been designated an “essential business” because it supplies computer equipment for vital services such as telemedicine and that is trying to follow CDC guidelines as a result. There are similar lines outside other Micro Center stores around the country.
Other electronics stores aren’t open at all. Apple this month announced that all its stores would close until the end of March but last week said they would be closed indefinitely.