electronic.net's Future In Question

Consumer electronics e-tailer electronics.net may be shutting its virtual doors for good.Its parent company, CyberShop.com, announced on Thursday that it is closing its online retail sites and will launch an Internet incubator business called Grove Street Ventures. The startup will invest in and accelerate the development of early-stage Internet companies.According to CEO Jeffrey Tauber, the decision to shut electronics.net and sister site CyberShop.com, an online department store, was based on an analysis of the ""competitive e-tailing environment,"" and the ""incredible opportunity in our new Internet incubator strategy.""electronics.net was launched in June 1998 as a joint venture with Tops Appliance City, which has since exited the CE business and filed for Chapter 11 protection. Although Tauber said he will sell the retail assets of the online operation to fuel Grove Street, Richard Gilbert, a Director of Strategic Planning at CyberShop and Vice President of electronics.net, suggested that the final chapter had yet to be written on the CE store. Gilbert was unavailable for further comment.