The first Micro Center store in Indiana is expected to open in July in the Castle Glen retail center near the intersection of 86th Street and Allisonville Road in Castleton.
Keith Stark, CEO of commercial real estate brokerage ConsortiumCRE, said the Hilliard, Ohio-based retailer of computers, computer parts and other electronics plans to occupy 35,000 square feet of a building that formerly was home to a Gander Outdoors store.
Micro Center, founded in 1979, presently operates 25 stores in 16 states. Known for its inventory, the retailer carries more than 30,000 products. It is also an Apple authorized service provider, which allows it to sell and repair iPhones and other Apple products.
“They’re computers from A to Z,” Stark said. “You can buy components, you can buy complete computers, you can buy motherboards—anything and everything as it relates to computers.”
Stark predicted that Micro Center will hire 50 to 75 employees for the store. A listing for a general manager is posted at linkedin.com.
The building, 5702 E. 86th St., is owned by Fishers-based Sunbeam Development Corp.
Micro Center will join locations of Ashley Furniture and Joann Fabric and Crafts in the Castle Glen retail center.
Stark said his company is seeking a tenant for about 20,000 square feet of space that remains available in the former Gander location. Gander Outdoors, known as Gander Mountain until the company was purchased by Camping World in 2017, ceased operations in Castleton at the end of 2018.
Micro Center is expected to fill a void in the local computer-parts market left by Fry’s Electronics, which closed a 180,000-square-foot computer big-box store in Fishers, about four miles northeast of the future Micro Center site, in February 2021.
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The Geek Store is coming to town!!! I’m so excited! We had MicroCenter in St Louis and it was fabulous!
All of the other stores of this type have gone out of business in town. What’s changed that this time it will stay successful against Amazon when others have failed?
Indy hasn’t had a store of this type for years (if ever). Microcenters are small and laser-focused on PC components. They cater to enthusiasts and they also have an excellent site-to-store eCommerce presence. Relying on Amazon and other online sources for computer parts – especially when you’re in the middle of a build – is a bad experience. It’s much better to be able to walk into a store and buy what you need.
The Radio Shacks, Circuit Cities, and Fry’s of the world fell apart because they ended up deviating from their original business model by selling garbage that enthusiasts did not want. Fry’s specifically had a falling out with their PC component suppliers and decided to use their huge-footprint stores to sell a hodgepodge of unrelated good that nobody would ever go to Fry’s for, all while having a terrible website. Microcenter doesn’t have those problems.
I, for one, am happy to not have to drive to Cincinnati to get PC components same-day. And every time I’ve been in a Microcenter, it’s been packed.
High quality response. +2
Good Response Robert. Thanks. I’ll actually shop at the Microcenter, so I hope it does well and sticks around.
Wawa and now MicroCenter. Great but not sure about the location.
lol it’s a lot better than Fry’s location. much easier to access for most people in the metro. the extra couple miles on 465+69 to get to fry’s are always super congested
Love me some MicroCenter. I’ve bought many thousands of dollars of PCs, cameras and other gear at their Cincinnati store.
Finally!! I have been asking them for this for years lol. No more trips to Cincy for computer parts!
Couldn’t be more pleased to read this news! Welcome to Indy!
Fills a hole that Fry’s lost their way on. Nice.
can’t wait! as Robert H said, nothing worse than missing something during a build and not finding it local and waiting days to finish!