North American shoppers, especially Canadians, have probably heard of or used the popular online and brick-and-mortar retailer of computer hardware NCIX before. Founded as Netlink Computer Inc.in Burnaby, British Columbia, the retailer was a brick-and-mortar store before becoming the online giant it’s better known as today. Before bankrupting, NCIX operated several retail stores in British Columbia and Ontario and a distribution center in California.
We don’t know what caused the bankruptcy, but signs of trouble had already begun appearing in July when NCIX closed all its retail locations in Ontario. Shortly after, it closed a bunch of retail stores in its home market of British Columbia as well. By the end of November, all NCIX retail outlets had closed. The company also stopped fulfilling online orders around the same time and opened a thread on its forums for users to request refunds and cancellations.
A few days ago, news began circulating on forums that NCIX had filed for bankruptcy. The proof can be found by searching for NCIX’s registered name, Netlink Computer Inc., in the government of British Columbia’s court services’ database. We don’t know what’s in store for the retailer's near future but all recent customers who haven’t received their orders should check to see if that order is expected to arrive or be refunded.
The loss of NCIX will undoubtedly affect Canadian shoppers the most. The value of the Canadian dollar, which began falling 2014, could have contributed to NCIX’s demise. However, NCIX’s main competitor, Canada Computers, took over several of the closed retail locations in British Columbia and Newegg, which entered Canada in 2008, seems to be doing fine.
