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Technology Stocks : Gateway (GTW) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ramsey Su who wrote (6581)	8/28/1998 10:00:00 AM
From: yard_man	Respond to of 8002

Sounds like something for some analysis. I'll take a peek tonight. I'm sure there are number on the stores and cost per store. Obviously, not all of the costs would be incremental -- i.e. labor, but I know that when the large customer service facilities are put in place -- Waitt usually negotiates a lot of goodies from the locals because of the jobs he promises. There is no such advantage with the country stores --- they must be put in prominent, high cost areas -- whether he buys or leases the property. No scale -> little tax breaks, breaks on energy costs, etc. It is most defintely a more costly model of operation implying lower margins if everything else remains the same.

To: Ramsey Su who wrote (6581)	8/28/1998 2:44:00 PM
From: mrknowitall	Respond to of 8002

Ramsey, I follow some consumer retail stocks, and can safely say I share your concerns - either GTW has someone who has a really good idea to drive this differently than most retailers, or we're in for a rough go while they sort the bugs out (bad play on words, I know). Compaq's pairing up with Radio Shack is still an unknown - GTW going standalone has one advantage - the GTW concept/product - but a huge numerical disadvantage - the three "L's" of retail: Location, Location, Location. As it stands today, I wouldn't drive as far as I'd have to to go see a GTW computer, but I can nearly hit a RS and their Compaq's with a good 2 iron shot. Retail also suffers doubly here - people. Turnover is high, expertise in computers costs more than expertise in running a cash register and loyalty is to the weekly paycheck. BUT, I'm still holding GTW and DELL until I see some of the results.