Big Blue Bids Adieu To Pc Outlet Store

Thu., June 6, 1996

Associated Press

IBM is closing its only factory-outlet store after more than two years in operation, saying it wants to concentrate on selling refurbished and used personal computers through telemarketing.

Although sales had been healthy at the IBM PC Factory Outlet Store since it opened in February 1994, the outlet could not meet the level of IBM’s phone-order business for such models. About three-quarters of the company’s sales of refurbished PCs now come from the telemarketing operation.

“We had predicted that, over time, we would see a shift to telesales,” said John Lucy, an IBM spokesman in Research Triangle Park, where the company’s PC operations are based. The outlet, located in nearby Morrisville, will close June 30.

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Big Blue Bids Adieu To Pc Outlet Store

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