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 ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

(where it originated as Pearse Electronics),

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Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

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Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

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New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

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, and

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. It was originally incorporated in the state of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

with principal offices in

Thornton, Colorado The City of Thornton is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality located in Adams County, Colorado, Adams and Weld County, Colorado, Weld List of counties in Colorado, counties, Colorado, United States. ...

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 2011, the company filing for bankruptcy.

Hollywood Video Hollywood Entertainment Corp. (Nasdaq: HLYW), more commonly known as Hollywood Video, was a home video and video game rental shop company started in 1988. The chain was the largest direct competitor to Blockbuster Video until it was purchased ...

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 headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

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 48,035 at the 2010 census. As of 2007, Tigard was the state's 12th largest city. Incorporated in 1961, the city is located south of Beaverton and north of Tua ...

. 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 capital 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, which runs north through the city. The river ...

, and the

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

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 provides 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, Cali ...

($5.5 million); and

Sony Electronics , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

, ($4.8 million). Secured lender

GE Capital GE Capital is the financial services division of General Electric. The company currently only runs one division, GE Energy Financial Services. It had provided additional services in the past; however, those units were sold between 2013 and 2018 ...

was owed $64.8 million.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Archive of official website
at

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Archive of store locator
at

Consumer electronics retailers in 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 based in Colorado Thornton, Colorado Defunct retail companies of the United States Defunct consumer electronics retailers in the United States 1968 establishments in Colorado 2011 disestablishments in Colorado