Ultimate Electronics was a chain of consumer electronics stores which filed for bankruptcy twice after 2006, liquidating and ceasing operations in 2011. At its peak, the store operated in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

(where it originated as Pearse Electronics),

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, and

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. It was originally incorporated in the state of

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with principal offices in

Thornton, Colorado Thornton is a home rule municipality located in Adams and Weld counties, Colorado, United States. The city population was 141,867, all in Adams County, at the 2020 United States census, an increase of 19.44% since the 2010 United States cen ...

. They only ever opened 78 locations in 20 states. At their height, they operated 64 stores in 14 states. Some of the stores had neon signs at the front of the store with a ball decoration like the one at Olde Towne Plaza in Ballwin, MO. Some of the 64 stores had circular entrances.

History

Early history

Stores originally operated under other various names, including SoundTrack

and Audio King

, and

. Ultimate began a large expansion campaign in 2000. By 2004, the company had doubled its store count to 64.

Closure

In 2005, the company filed for bankruptcy.

Hollywood Video Hollywood Entertainment Corp., more commonly known as Hollywood Video, was an American Video rental shop, video rental store chain based in Wilsonville, Oregon. Founded by Mark Wattles in 1988, the chain would quickly expand following the compa ...

founder and then–CEO Mark Wattles acquired 32 stores in the ensuing bankruptcy auction; the remaining half were closed. Ultimate Electronics was then a privately owned company operated by Ultimate Acquisition Partners, L.P. Ultimate Acquisition Partners, L.P was a division of Wattles Capital Management, LLC. Wattles Capital Management owned 71% of Ultimate Electronics, while

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

Co. owned 25%. The other 4% was owned by Private Venture Capital Firms. In November 2010, Ultimate Electronics opened a store in

Tigard, Oregon Tigard ( ) is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States. The population was 54,539 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Oregon, 12th most populous city in Oregon. Incorporated in 1961, the city i ...

. It was the only Ultimate Electronics store on the West Coast, though Wattles had hoped to open 14 more in

Salem, Oregon Salem ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County, Oregon, Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, w ...

, and the

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

metro area. As of January 27, 2011, the new company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, ultimately choosing to liquidate, converting it into Chapter 7.Ultimate Electronics asks court to hold going-out-of-business sale
last visited 08 Feb 2011 According to papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware, the company listed both assets and debt in the range of $100 million to $500 million. Among the largest unsecured creditors were Video Products Distributors (owed $6.1 million); Valassis Communications ($5.6 million); New Age Electronics/

SYNNEX Synnex was an American multinational corporation that provided information technology (IT) services to businesses. It merged with competitor Tech Data to form TD Synnex. It was founded in 1980 by Robert T. Huang and based in Fremont, Calif ...

($5.5 million); and Sony Electronics, ($4.8 million). Secured lender

GE Capital GE Capital was the financial services division of General Electric. Its various units were sold between 2013 and 2021, including the notable spin-off of the North American consumer finance division as Synchrony Financial. Ultimately, only one div ...

was owed $64.8 million.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Archive of official website
at

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

Archive of store locator
at

Defunct consumer electronics retailers of the United States Retail companies established in 1968 Retail companies disestablished in 2011 Companies that have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2006 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011 Companies that filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2011 Companies based in Colorado Thornton, Colorado Defunct retail companies of the United States 1968 establishments in Colorado 2011 disestablishments in Colorado