Received this from my Ed Lukens in response to my Micro Center review:

Todd, Micro Center would like to invite you to our Grand Opening ribbon-cutting from 9:30-10am this Thursday (11/19). Thank you for covering us in your Broad Brush blog.

Ed, glad to have covered this.  I’m looking forward to writing more about the hot new geek store in town. I really enjoyed my first visit.

I’m looking forward to making use of that free wi-fi on an upcoming visit. The variety of computer choices will make Micro Center a must visit prior to any purchases in the near future.

I’m not sure I can make the Grand Opening myself but I’d like to share it with you.

Go.Buy.WriteAboutIt.

Yours,

Todd ‘tojosan’ Jordan

Micro Center, the well known electronics and computer store, has opened a store in the St. Louis metro area. It’s Brentwood location is the 22nd store in the chain. Micro Center will be filling the role now left empty by the closing of Circuit City and CompUSA stores.

I had to check this store out as I’m a gadget and computer geek. Twitter and local papers were a buzz about it opening. Apparently it has a great reputation in other locations.

Entering the store, the rows of gear is immediately visible. Off to the right is their service center. Off to the left the check out lanes. Walking in though, you’ll notice that there is no ‘center’ aisle. There are aisles but they don’t line up center and that’s not a problem.  They do serve to divide up sections.

Computers of every make and model take up most of the right front quarter of the store.  There are laptops, desktops, netbooks, and some of those not quite one or the other sizes. Brands included Dell, HP, Acer, and believe it or not, Apple.

Interesting is the inclusion of refurbished, remanufactured, and discontinued computers.  These were also available in various types from desktop to laptop.  The prices were lower on these models, and they actually had more than one of each in stock, literally on the floor.

Wending my way past those, I was greeted by really friendly clerk. He asked if I needed help finding something or just wanted to take it all in. I laughed. There was a lot to take in. We talked about the store opening. It had only been open five days.

He told me about this being store 22, and how they were excited to be in St. Louis. Of course I mentioned CompUSA and Circuit City failures. The clerk said their management was well aware of those closings and planned to learn from the mistakes made by those companies.

Computers aren’t the only thing you’ll find along that side. Walking past them I found the camera center. Warning, it is not as large floor space wise as some stores. On the plus side, there is quite the selection of pocket size cameras. Variety again was shown by including many different models and styles, as well as refurb cameras. There were some specials running but unfortunately not anyone I could make use of that visit.

I’ll save you the suspense of me walking you through all the rest of the aisles. How about some quick notes.

• Video games section – lots of titles – retail prices – more hardware than most places
• Sound – they have a large selection of speakers, earphones, microphones and more – well worth a visit just for this
• roll your own PC – this store has it all. Cases, boards, wires, adapters. Several discounts were running in this section which covered nearly a fourth of the floor space of the store.
• accessories galore – mice from high end to $5. Keyboards the same. Cables of every type and style.
• networking – more than just a few routers. modems, routers, access points – several brands and sizes
• books – lots of variety here

All around, if you’re into electronics and miss this place, you’ve missed out.  Best Buy, in my opinion, is going to get a serious run for their money by Micro Center.

Best points:

• Easy to get to – right off Eager and 170.
• Lots of brands.
• Friendly staff.
• Mac gear.
• Latest gaming titles – including just release Dragon Age and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Discounted items and special buys
• Free wifi – yes, free wifi

Oh, it doesn’t have music. It doesn’t have DVDs or BluRay videos. There were no refrigerators, stoves, or microwaves. No carpet. No fancy displays. No wall size television.

In other words, it’s not your typical consumer electronics store as found in St. Louis. So go out, check out the new store in Brentwood. Heck, buy me a gift card while you’re there.

Cheers,

Todd

This year was my first at South By South West and I had a blast!

Making it a real success though required more than just showing up.  South by South West is all about community and living on the Internet, as well as meeting up in person.  If you couldn’t bring the right tools along, neither of those would happen.

I’d have considered myself very prepared. Laptop, check. DSLR, check. P&S camera, check. Flip, check. Money, check.  It turns out both yes and no.

A laptop seemed like a great choice for an online/offline event.  I chose my 15″ MacBook Pro.  It’s not huge.  Let me tell you, it was about too much, besides holding one of the things I hadn’t thought to check, a battery.

A 15″ laptop doesn’t sound like it’s going to get in the way. That’s until you see how little table space there is to be found.  Often your laptop literally ends up on your lap.  Not a good choice for anything awkward, hot, or needing more space than you have. A great alternative, and much seen this year, are netbooks.  Miniature notebooks of all brands on hand, running a variety of operating systems.  These little gems provided both a low footprint, low weight, and were easier to stow and carry than a full size laptop.  I’m so convinced of this that I’ll be purchasing one for next year.

Canon, Nikon, Sony and more make great DSLRs.  The problem? They aren’t something you can stick in your back pocket, shirt pocket, purse, or want to wear around your neck all day.  (Well maybe if someone is paying you to.)  My Canon XTi quickly wore out its welcome with me by Tuesday of the conference.

A great alternative is a good quality point and shoot camera.  I brought along a simple 5 megapixel Nikon, but even it was a bit bulky.  If you don’t have a camera that slides into your pocket and doesn’t weigh much, consider getting one for your next conference, especially one as heavy duty with picture opportunities as SxSW.  The addendum to this note is about batteries.  Bring spares.  By spares, I mean at least two, and charge them up at night.

Video cameras were another great thing you’d think would be great to have along.  Again, a common mistake is to bring a full blown HD video camera.  The storage and carrying will kick your tail fairly quick.

One word answer:
Flip

Now, about the money.  Lots of folks brought cash.  Cash is a burden.  It’s a pain to dig in your pockets for. It’s easy to lose. Someone will always want to borrow it.

Bring a bank card, a charge card, or both.  Use them exclusively. It’s both easier to track expenses, and easier to spend.  There wasn’t any place I went that didn’t take a charge card as well as cash.

I covered everything in my small list in a bit of detail, but there’s a couple of other essentials.

Shoes – two pair – alternate them; bring three if you plan on dressing up

Hat – buy on site or bring

Business cards – 100 or so minimum – readable, interesting, easy to reach

Spare shirts/tops – BBQ

Last but not least of my recommendations can replace all but the money from the original list.  That would be a smartphone.

Smartphones, essentially hand held computers, provide for Internet access, photos, video recording, and can even work for contact information exchange.  The most common models I noted were the Blackberry and iPhone. Note that if this conference were in other parts of the world, likely it would have usable for charging purchases as well.

Some of the items in the short list, such as business cards, require a more in depth post. Those alone are probably worth more than one.  Just bring some please.

So I came prepared this year and perhaps overly so.  Next year my checklist will be shorter, lighter, and easier to carry.

What’s on your must have list for SxSW?

Yours,

Todd, @tojosan on Twitter