Household HSBC Watch

CompUSA’s new CompUSA and Good Guys Megastores open Friday in several cities across the country. In December 2003, Dallas-based CompUSA bought Good Guys, an Alameda, Calif.-based specialty retailer of high-end entertainment electronics.

Consumer advocates at HSBC Watch say financing for CompUSA and the former Goodguys stores was originally through predatory lender Household International, now owned by HSBC Bank. Financing, including late application of customer payments, is still questionable according to HSBC Watch.

CompUSA formerly was publicly traded, but became private in 2000 when Grupo Sanborns, the retail arm of Mexico-based conglomerate Grupo Carso, bought all outstanding shares. Grupo Carso is run by Carlos Slim Helu and his family. Fortune magazine ranks Helu the fourth wealthiest person in the world. CompUSA was subsequently spun off into publicly traded shares on the Mexican Stock Exchange as U.S. Commercial, according to Associated Press reports.

CompUSA has 229 stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, according to the company.