Memory Express

Decent Prices, Great Products, Interesting choice of Staff.
Memory Express has always been very hit and miss, the prices are great and the policies are interesting.
Sometime the choice in Staff seems questionable, but for the most part they seem to genuinely care.
The owner seems like he genuinely cares and is a great guy.
If you are looking for great computer parts and staff with a strong knowledge in it this is the place to go!

I really like memory express! One of the biggest reasons I like them is their warranty service.
I purchased a monitor from memory express and like all electronics can do, it stopped working a few days after I purchased it. I took it into the store, they proved right there it wasn’t working and replaced it for me. Some items need 5 days for warranty issues but if they can’t get you going after 5 days they replace the product.
Compare that to my experience at Future Shop… I purchased a A/​V receiver from FS with a 4 year warranty. The warranty was almost as much as the receiver. It stopped working a week after I bought it. I brought it in and they didn’t even look at it and sent it away for repair. 3 weeks later I got it back.
People may complain about the prices but on the monitor I bought Future Shop had it as well but when I compared the price with a 4 year warranty attached, they were the same price. Memory Express warranty is MUCH better than any other I’ve seen.
As well, their staff is extremely knowledgeable. When I go in asking what I should buy in terms of computer items I know that they will give me the best solution in my price range. Shopping at other places I’m not so confident that the person knows really what they are talking about.
A secondary reason that I like memory express is that when you bring your item in for repair or to solve and issue the customer service people know what they are doing and will help you right away if the issue is a small one. Unlike other places where they have to send it away or it takes a long time to get 1 on 1 help for free.

Super friendly stuff make this place a pleasure to shop at.
Good pricing on their stuff as well.

I prefer to support smaller businesses. I’m reasonably knowledgeable about computers, and generally am treated well by the staff but I have encountered some condescension from staff in the past and a ‘father knows best’ attitude. That being said, most occasions I am treated with friendly and helpful staff. I’ve never really had to wait in line to contrast some of the complaints on here– maybe I just am there at better times?

Not my kind of place… AT ALL but a necessary evil for me as I needed a laptop battery and badly. So badly that I cancelled my E-​bay purchase for one as I needed to find one sooner than the shipment from California would offer. I had no idea of this store but hubby found it on line and off into the deep NE we went. It was large, airy and clean. I think hubby could have easily stayed there 8 hours looking at everything. I wanted to be in and out and thankfully, I practically was. There is a customer service area roped off so you line up there and on this Sat, there were enough people behind the counter that we did not have to wait. Hubby had taken a pic of my battery specs and the employee checked it on the computer — not in stock… BUT he was nice enough to go to a visual of the back without us even asking and TADAAAAA! My laptop battery in all its glory, brand new, sealed in a plastic package, in a box was brought out. It looked like the right one and was told we had a week to bring it back if it did not fit.
$ 57 including tax. Way less than the cost of a new laptop and all the hassle of transferring all my data to the new one. IT FIT!
TIP — bring your laptop with you just to be sure in getting the correct part.
Funny note — later in the day when I was busy hubby did sneak back and took a look at everything in the store. Our marriage remains in tact as he did not buy anything but he said that the store does have a decent selection. Maybe not all the high end brands, no Dell, No HPs but he said the value of what they did have was good and cheaper than Best Buy and Future Shop.
This is a privately owned company with 3 Calgary locations.

I walked in at lunchtime on a Wednesday trying to find a flash drive. The first thing I noticed about the store is that the windows are barricaded, like a third world bazaar — so I wasn’t even sure they were still in business. The glass windows are faced with the back of the metal shelving units. Walking in there was no real ambience, which is fine — I wasn’t looking for a fine dining experience. What they haven’t spent on renovations I would expect to get passed on to me in savings. Unfortunately, I never made it that far. I realized that lunch time might be a bad time to expect help — staff have to eat, though most places have to realize that customers generally tend to do things on their own lunch break. As it was, staff outnumbered customers, about a dozen of each. And even at that, not a single person greeted me, and several walked right past me as I tried to get their attention to ask where I would find the flash drives. I finally had to maneuver myself between a staff member and a shelf she was examining to ask — and was brusquely advised they were ‘behind the counter’ and waved off. Indeed, they were behind the counter — so far behind the counter, you couldn’t see them. While the other customers lined up 3 deep for help, the other staff were too busy stocking shelves to either assist people or answer questions on the floor. I concluded they really didn’t want my money so I walked next door to Staples, which was clean, well-​laid out, and I found the flash drives right on the floor where I could pick them up and inspect them for myself. Maybe these guys have an edge over Future Shop somehow, but the day before I walked into the FS in Shawnessy, was greeted within 30 seconds, received very good advice on my purchase, and was rung up and on my way in 5 minutes. Big difference.

A seemingly endless supply of staff still somehow results in excruciating wait times. When I was finally helped, the guy had no clue where the item was, even though their computers said it was in stock.
They also had no FireWire external hard drives. I can see limiting to a few models, but none? Pretty sad, for the place that I used to promote as Calgary’s best computer shop.
This is their third relocation of the NE shop since starting out toward McCall Lake Golf Course, which was extremely small. Unfortunately, it seems all they’ve done is add a bunch of TVs and stereos.
Memory Express is becoming less like Memory Express (which was great) and more like a Future Shop with more geeks.

Ah Memory Express, such a hit and miss kind of place…
They have a really annoying tendency of only stocking the latest parts, so anything that is older than 6 months is usually hard to find there. I’ve repeatedly had to go to other shops and online to find things I needed.
I also have an issue with their prices at times. I get that they can’t always offer great prices like newegg can, but when they are priced 40+ dollars over other small business in the city you know they’re just gouging. Thankfully this is not always the case, most of the time they’ve been reasonable.
Their staff are always really hit and miss for me as well. Many of them assume everyone who walks into the door has no idea what they are talking about, so they will often try to talk over you and talk you out of parts. My husband and I have had to literally stop them mid-​sentence and explain in exacting detail that yes, we know what we are doing. Honestly, most of the time we go in there I am steeling myself for this to happen.
Thankfully it’s not ALL bad. There have been staff that were great, we’ve gotten good deals, exchanges are easy and it’s often convenient to go there over dealing with shipping costs and such. I’d just rather check Computer Rack first before trying Memex.

You’ve heard the warning:
«Gurrrrl, you better know exactly what you want at Memory Express… or be prepared to be treated like a dumb-​dumb!»
Well, I know what I want :). And I’ve never been treated like a dumb-​dumb! At least, not at this Memory Express location. The staff here is exceptionally friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. A complete 180º from other big box electronic stores, where it can occasionally feel like the staff has just challenged you to a «let’s see who can read the back of the box faster!» contest.
The layout is sensible, and this store is always clean and well-​stocked. When I call ahead to look for an item, I get an actual person and not a machine that takes 23 948 239 487 years to re-​direct me to a department flunkie who can’t wait to get back to their busy schedule of Staring-​In-​To-​Space-​While-​Scratching-​My-​Coin-​Purse. And most of the time, that actual person has already done what you’re trying to do, and is eager to geek out about it while they walk you through the things you’ll need to continue your project.
Best of all, I’ve never had to spend more than 15 minutes in here, including the wait to pay for your things at the till. Four for you, Memory Coco. And none for Best Buy Wieners.

Great prices but they need more selection.

(First 2 Paragraphs taken from my review of their 34^th St outlet. I know this is kinda cheating a little, but all of the outlets are virtually identical. But yes just these 2 paragraphs… I do have something special to say about this)
[ Memory Express has captured their market share in several locations here, Vancouver, WInnipeg and Edmonton by doing what they do well, selling computer parts at reasonable prices and ensuring there is always ample stock when you need it. Service is friendly, and the staff are mostly comprised of geeks who knows their equipment. And, the owners seem to have a great eye for truly geek stuff that’ll sell well, such as Star Wars chopsticks, ice trays looking like Han Solo trapped in Carbonite and my favorite newest edition to my geekdom, a USB hub that looks and sounds like Dr. Who’s Tardis.
I shop here regularly, and enjoy it. The only caveat I do have is that they really should put in an express lane for their processing, for people who already know what they want and don’t need to talk to staff. Because a fair number of the clients usually need advice on what they could use, line ups even only 2 people long can sometimes take 15+ minutes. One night, I had waited literally 45 min, and being only 3^rd in line! ]
Ok, and now that that’s done, this Memory is an expansion from their original location on Macleod Trail, and it’s also probably their busiest overall due to their location so close to Chinook Centre and the LRT stations.
I usually prefer going to this one when I can (especially since I live close nearby). Stock is usually pretty good, and a lot of the more interesting stuff tends to be available here first.
My only complaints here is again about the line ups. Honestly, I’ve spent ages in line, and sometimes the staff are too dedicated to their official job (say cameras, or repairs), that they’ll just let the people in line get more and more pissed off than consider breaking the rules and relieve the pressure. Also, the online ordering system really is pretty useless. I’ve tried a few orders in the past, and only ONE out of many ever got processed properly. Worse, during popular specials, the server seems to either crash or freeze instead.

Great help from the employees. Very friendly, and help full. These guys know what they are talking about and there is no waiting for an employee to come and help you with a specific item or question. Overall the best computer store in Calgary

Awesome place to get cheap hardware and can also include a warranty for a few bucks. Everything I have bought from this location is still working perfectly and great customer service.

The selection at Memory Express is great, and can certainly be cheaper than purchasing on-​line when you consider adding in the cost of shipping. And now that they’ve added a price-​match policy, even against on-​line competitors, it makes Memory Express a more enticing choice for purchasing computer parts locally.
However, I had a real painful experience in getting someone from this location to price match a sound card from NCIX. Even with a print out and verification of price and stock from the cashier’s computer screen, they still had to call in the manager to verify (which is standard policy, I know, but then the manager went through the whole process from the beginning with me that the cashier just did, wasting all of our time), and it was only with great reluctance that they gave me the price match. The whole process took about 11 minutes, although luckily the store was empty at that time of day.
My price match experience wasn’t the same as I’ve had at a Best Buy or Future Shop, or even a Staples, where it’s usually in and out in under a couple of minutes. I usually buy a lot of PC equipment either in big orders or in frequent smaller orders, and you can usually find the vast majority of what Memory Express carries cheaper on-​line elsewhere. If future (and frequent) price matching at this location will be similar to the one I experienced in the past, then I’d much rather take my chances on-​line as I don’t want to my price-​matching experience to have to feel like «haggling».
Still though, if you need something quickly and they have it in stock, Memory Express is one of the better computer stores in town to check out. But if you’re going in for a price match, you may need to prepare yourself mentally depending on who you get at the store to service you.

Go here for the parts, not for the service. Prices are fair to good for the most part but the service is terrible. Don’t let them upsell you either, its not for your benefit.
Selection: ⁵⁄₅
Price: ⁴⁄₅
Service: ²⁄₅
Location: ⁴⁄₅
Website: ³⁄₅
Return Policy: ³⁄₅

Recently I was looking for an SD card for my camera and after having no luck finding what i needed at Walmart, Best Buy or Future Shop. I was looking for a 16 GB that wasnt going to cost me the earth.
Their location was great, just off Macleod with tons of parking out front. Upon walking in, I realized this place was not for the uninitiated, this is a serious tech place with everything you could think of or need. The store was buzzing with people. The prices were excellent, my sd card cost me literally half of what it would have cost at Best Buy (I did my research).
Best of all, the staff that looked after me were friendly, helpful and a wealth of knowledge and information.
If I ever need anything in the future, i will trust that the staff there will be able to help me for anything I need.
Thanks!

Very knowledgeable staff and great prices. They have the largest selection in the city. Their after-​sales service is pretty good too.
I wish the little things, like little adapter cables, were cheaper but they have to make a margin somewhere.

** This review is for a shipping experience working with their online dept, not an in-​store experience. Will update later. ***
Do NOT shop online here. Service is slow to respond, promises things and doesn’t do them, and are generally snarky to deal with. What should have been a brain-​dead simple transaction turned into a very frustrating experience. I cancelled my order.

Memory Express is a rare commodity in the industry. My background is in IT, so I have never had to use the knowledge of someone else in the industry. MemEx is a rare find, as they have that knowledge along with the best prices on hardware. While I’ve never taken advantage of their knowledge, I have had several conversations with their employees that likely lasted longer than their manager would like.
But that is an important point. The people working at Memory Express are nerds. Thanks to Tech Squad, the classification nerd is even less sexy than it was when I was a kid. But it’s still the best word to use. Between the dozen or so people working there at any given time, you will find the answer to your question. A few times, I was offered advice that was wrong (nothing major), and had to correct the person who gave it. What amazed me was how they not only accepted the correction, they pressed me for more information (which became one of those longer-​than-​it-​should-​be conversations).
And this nicely segways to my second major point. Finding smart people isn’t nearly as important as finding smart people who can accept mistakes. Who want to learn. MemEx has that. They also have seriously high employee retention rates. Chances are, if you’re a regular like me, you’ll recognize most of them if you pass them in the street.
Finally, the prices. Oh, the prices. For years I ordered my components almost exclusively over the internet. It made sense when you could find any item for 30−40% cheaper. Memory Express has effectively closed that gap. In most cases, I would be lucky to find a difference of 5−10% online, and that happens rarely.
MemEx has 3 locations in Calgary, but most of my experience has been with this location in the North East. Check them out!

These guys know there stuff. Any question I’ve brought in they’ve been able to answer. Their prices are fair and you can find just about anything you need. Its good to see they’re expanding into other provinces. Maybe soon they’ll come to Toronto so I can get my MemEx fix again!