"Shoppers lined up, hovered over paltry selection" during Circuit City's final hours

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Lights go down on Circuit City stores
Sun Mar 8, 2009 3:28pm EDT

By Lisa Von Ahn

http://d.yimg.com/img.news.yahoo.com/util/anysize/400,http%3A%2F%2Fd.yimg.com%2Fa%2Fp%2Fap%2F20090308%2Fcapt.d9d6093521694b6693431acd13b0b0ed.circuit_city_bankruptcy_la105.jpg

Customers look for deals at the Circuit City store in Montebello, Calif. on Sunday March 8, 2009. All of Circuit City's stores will close for good by Sunday, powering down what once was the second-largest U.S. consumer electronics retailer. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

NORTH BERGEN, N.J., March 8 (Reuters) - More than 30 shoppers were lined up in front of a Circuit City store here before it opened at 11 a.m. But most of the showroom was empty, with only a few shelves of merchandise remaining.

Circuit City's going-out-of-business sales that began Jan. 17 were expected to last up to eight weeks. But last week, liquidators said the process would be completed early, closing the doors of the once-vaunted consumer electronics chain's more than 500 stores for the last time on Sunday.

Dennis Patel, who said he was the first employee hired at the North Bergen store when it opened nine years ago, watched as customers hovered over the paltry selection.

"It's a sad thing for us employees," he said, attributing the chain's failure to the economy and competition.

http://www.reuters.com/article/americasMergersNews/idUSN0840608520090308

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Ironic. I always found Circuit City to be better than Best Buy in all categories.

[LakeSamish706]

3. I agree with you, Best Buy and Future Shop suck compared to Circuit City....

It will be a loss for sure, they always seem to have had good deals anytime I shopped there.

[Raine]

16. Same here

I don't care for Best Buy, liked Circuit City lot's better.

[Codeine]

18. Really?

I thought it was the absolute worst. A perfect storm of high prices, poor selection, and bad service.

[Deja Q]

2. Hmmm. The economy is shit yet they were able to haul out their garbage early...

Including items that didn't exist in those stores but did appear a few weeks later.

And of course, the people who bought into it early on with yahoo and zdnet both putting out articles proving many items had cost less BEFORE the liquidation! :wow:

[blue_onyx]

7. liquidation sales aren't great deals

When Linens n Things started to liquidate, I went to check things out. Most of the stuff was 15% off. The week before, I could get products 20% off with one of their coupons. Usually by the time the liquidation sales are 50% or more off, there's nothing left.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

10. Tower Records wrote the book on "not great" liquidation sales

They staggered it by upping the percentage off each week until they closed. The one in Campbell CA didn't have a single item on sale for approximately two to three weeks before the store closed...not even new releases. That was my first clue that the end was near.

One of the employees told me how they were going to handle it. The first wave was something like 5 to 10 percent off...I don;t remember the exact amount. That killed off the first wave of highly popular merchandise. Each week after that they raised the percentage by 5%, until the final days looked something like the Circuit City photo I added to my post.

[csziggy]

13. Circuit City's regular prices were sometimes more than the manufacturer's suggested retail price

And sometimes even with their sales discounts, the price would be more than shelf price other places, especially online.

The only times I shopped at CC was when they had really good deals as loss leaders for specific models I had already decided to purchase. :evilgrin:

[Warpy]

15. I did get a couple of deals there

on ink (cheaper than Costco) and a floor model monitor screen that I didn't actually need for the backup box but which is a nice luxury. It was less than half what it cost elsewhere.

Liquidation sales are good, but you do have to know your prices and that includes online prices with shipping added in.

It's just sad to go to them in the same way it's sad to go to estate sales.

[LeftyMom]

4. My first job was with them.

Once upon a time they were a really great employer- good pay, really great discounts and perks, really good about working with people's schedules. They also took training really seriously, and we had a lot of spot checks on product knowledge and meetings with reps to learn about new products and meetings where we'd get classes on new technology to stay up to date.

Then a lot of the CE market went low-end through discounters and Best Buy (worked for them too- they were dreadful to work for,) and they had to cut back on a lot of that and join the race to the bottom. And we all know how well that went.

[itsrobert]

5. Circuit City will be back IMO

Someone will buy the brand name and reopen a few stores. It won't be near as massive as it was. And they will certainly be selling via web somehow.

[blue_onyx]

8. I doubt there will be Circuit City stores again

but I could see someone using the name online. The Montgomery Ward name is now used online so it wouldn't surprise me if the same happened to Circuit City.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

11. Tower Records is online too...surprised the hell out of me.

http://www.tower.com/

They must be making some kind of profit, because they've kept the site up since the stores closed.

[itsrobert]

14. CompUSA

have some stores reopen and they have a website. I think Tiger Direct bought out the rights.

[RollWithIt]

17. Correct, TigerDirect bought the name, there is one down here in Ft Myers

It's actually a really successful store. They only sell computer stuff, TVs, and cameras. That's it. It's like looking at their website actually. They even have a whole side shelf with nothing but computer motherboards. I love it.

[bridgit]

6. We were in one the other day and it was it was just sad they were selling the fixtures too

That pic looks like the one we were in :(

[quiet.american]

9. The writing was on the wall when they fired all employees who were "making too much money."

No tears here for Circuit City, although now the few jobs that were to be had there are now completely gone. But I remember this item from 2007:

Circuit City fired 3,400 employees in stores across the country yesterday, saying they were making too much money and would be replaced by new hires willing to work for less.

The company gave the dismissed workers severance pay and told them that after 10 weeks they were free to apply for any openings. Employees reached by a reporter said they were notified yesterday morning and told to leave immediately.

Circuit City chief executive Philip J. Schoonover received a salary of $716,346, along with a $704,700 bonus last year. He also has long-term compensation of $3 million in stock awards and $340,000 in underlying options, according to company filings.

Full piece: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802185.html

[flvegan]

12. CircuitCity.com says the online business will somehow reopen.

Circuit City would like to thank the millions of customers who have shopped with us during the past 60 years. Unfortunately, we announced on January 16, 2009, that we are closing our stores.

For answers to your questions about the store liquidation process, please view the FAQs available at liquidation.circuitcity.com

CircuitCity.com is also temporarily closed, although we anticipate the website will reopen in the coming weeks. Please check back for updates.

[Gman]

19. Went into Circuit City last week looking for a deal

they had things like a 50" LCD TV at 40% off the regular price of $2200 for a "sale" price of about $1300, and I think that was the floor model. You can get a new 50" out of the box for around $1000 at Walmart. No deal here. They were marking up everything to the maximum full retail price and discounting from there.

The worst of all of everything I saw was 250 Mb of PC 100/133 laptop memory for the bargain price of $85.00! I've got sticks of 500 Mb PC 100/133 laying around in ashtrays from old laptops. That was outrageous.