Ultimate Electronics, a growing consumer electronics and appliance chain, opens its first Tucson, and seventh Arizona, store today at 4380 N. Oracle Road.
The "soft opening" at 10 a.m. is to be a shakedown cruise before the planned March 13 grand opening, "if all goes well," said Jennifer Brauer-Sandberg, vice president of marketing for the Colorado-based chain.
Based on the product lines listed on the company's retail Web site, Ultimate Electronics is no Fry's Electronics, but it's no Circuit City, either.
Ultimate Electronics, which went through its own bankruptcy and downsizing from 64 to 32 stores in 2005, is now expanding and, in this and some other cases, moving into the vacant locations of Circuit City, its bankrupt former competitor.
Ultimate's first Tucson location is in a former Circuit City location opened by the defunct chain not long before the national chain folded last year.
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Ultimate Electronics' closest true competitor would seem to be Best Buy, based on products listed on the company's retail Web site. The store carries many of the same products as Best Buy - computers, home and portable video and audio gear, video games and movies, cameras and camcorders, large kitchen appliances, washers and dryers, and air conditioners.
Ultimate Electronics has stores in Glendale, Chandler, Scottsdale, Mesa and Phoenix.
The chain also has stores in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Nevada and Oklahoma.
Its hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays.
Contact reporter Dan Sorenson at 573-4185 or dsorenson@azstarnet.com