Circuit City Seeks Approval To Liquidate U.S. Business

[switcher3365]

In Orlando, I don't think that location was an issue compared to Best Buy. I think this city is way overbuilt, and there are too many locations of the same stores here. For instance, we have 5 major shopping malls/outlet malls that are about 10-15 minutes away from each other. (Millenia, Florida Mall, Festival Bay, Prime Outlets, Premium Outlets). Two of them are literally right across the street from each other. Furthermore, we have about 5-6 malls in the suburban areas, and I think some of those are hurting right now. One of reasons why the malls I named are in good shape (except for the half-empty Festival Bay) is because they are close to the tourist area. Most of these malls are accompanied by these specialty stores that all sell the same stuff.

If you see a Best Buy, you know that there's probably a Circuit City and now an H.H. Gregg a block away.

If you see a Linens N Things, you know there is a Bed, Bath, and Beyond right around the corner (and we all know who lost that war). What was the difference between those two stores? To me, the only difference was the name.

If you see a Ross, you know there's a TJ Maxx, Marshall's and/or Beall's Outlet close by.

I could go on and on.

CVS/Pharmacy and Walgreens are popping up everywhere like gas stations. (I'm sure one of them will probably go down in the next 5-10 years). And when you see a Walgreens, the CVS is not around the corner, it is right NEXT DOOR!

I am by no means a business person, so I may be clueless about the reasoning for the multiple locations of all the same stores. Building all of these locations worked well during the good-old days in 2003-2006, but now that people are spending less money (because they actually have to use cash now, you know, the money they actually make), the decision to overbuild and build right next to your main competitors are now starting to haunt those companies. How many Wal-Marts and Targets do we see right next to each other? I only know of 2.

 

[kornyboy]

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This makes me think about the $66 protection plan I bought on the speakers I just purchased. If it is backed by CC then I am screwed. Good news is that I haven't opened the speakers yet so I can always take them back and order them from Amazon.

The warranty should still be good. They are backed by a third party so you should be ok. Check out the FAQ for more info.

 

[Gregintosh]

I am by no means a business person, so I may be clueless about the reasoning for the multiple locations of all the same stores. Building all of these locations worked well during the good-old days in 2003-2006, but now that people are spending less money (because they actually have to use cash now, you know, the money they actually make), the decision to overbuild and build right next to your main competitors are now starting to haunt those companies. How many Wal-Marts and Targets do we see right next to each other? I only know of 2.

Walgreen's company philosophy was to be the most convenient pharmacy so their aim was to put one within walking distance of every neighborhood.

This way no one had to travel more than a few minutes to get to one.

Often companies will put up stores next to their competitors in order to try to complete on price. This is more common with electronics stores. For example, if Best Buy runs a TV sale maybe visitors who saw Circuit City across the street will say "hey before I buy this, let me see if Circuit City can price match it or offer a better deal" and vice-versa.

Also, stores are often put up to be in the locations that can best target their demographics. For example, if two stores are targeting a certain income group or demographic group, the analysis for both companies may result in the same shopping center or general location as the best places to put their stores.

 

[Daim]

that's so totally unrelated!! please stop posting this useless crap while u don't have mac related rumors!

 

[Arcadie]

What makes Best Buy so much better than Circuit City that one can survive and the other can barely make it even in a healthy economy? I just don't see a big difference. They're both big, they both sell a lot of electronics, and neither of them employ knowledgeable, helpful employees.

Heres a few reason why i love to shop at BB and dont CC

1 CC has a very small computer selection. They have only about 10 desktops and 12 laptops to choose from.

There TV selecion, While large, is not as high quality as BB's. They tend to stock mostly LCD's and not as many plasmas and if you walk into their store most seem like they are fuzzyat times. There is only a few good TV's to choose from.

Its kinda gloomy. When you walk into BB its all nice and bright and up beat. CC seems like a nice version of a electronics store you would see in the ghetto..

Their pricing is not any better than BB's

Their store locations are very questionable.

The employees are not properly trained on their products.. period..

There is no geek squad a consumer can rely on to get tech support for the product they bought.

There store layout/design is extremely odd.

The one area i do prefer CC over BB is their cameras. They do have some good deals and carry more quality cameras (more as in more selection). Where BB will have 5-6 professional cameras, CC has 15.

 

[Tallest Skil]

Its kinda gloomy. When you walk into BB its all nice and bright and up beat. CC seems like a nice version of a electronics store you would see in the ghetto..

Best Buy is upbeat because people turn the stereo systems all the way up and the employees have to let them.

Their store locations are very questionable.

I've always questioned putting a store in land zoned commercial.

The employees are not properly trained on their products.. period..

And I suppose you're going to tell me that Best Buy employees are?

I was standing in the Mac display next to a guy selling a 24" iMac to a young couple (in their 20s). The guy was a gamer, so the Best Buy drone told them that you could put a GTX 280 in the 24" iMac.

I stopped what I was doing, looked up, cleared my throat... and you can guess the rest. I made his sale for him, as a customer, minus the worthless enthusiast GPU.

There is no geek squad a consumer can rely on to get tech support for the product they bought.

HA. *pause for breathing* HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...

The freak squad doesn't know any more about computers than the people they service.

 

[andymodem]

Dosn't really bother me much, Best Buy has always been a much more pleasant shopping experience. Only time I shopped at Circuit City was if they had a really good finanacing deal with their store card. Otherwise it was Best Buy or online purchasing for me.

 

[SactoGuy18]

I think people forget the biggest reason why Best Buy is still popular: they have a well-stocked, wide selection of video software in both DVD and Blu-ray formats. In fact, I've bought a LOT of DVD's in recent years at Best Buy because they're the only place in town where I can find a wide selection of TV season sets at a "brick & mortar" store (Wal-Mart and Costco can still be hit and miss on TV season set selections).

Circuit City could never compete against Best Buy on this, and that's why they are failing.

 

[bruinsrme]

Over the holidays I went to 2 CC's. It ws dark and gloimy as if they shut off half the lights. It was about as dark as my HT is what watching a movie.
Reading the packages were difficult, the selection was mediocre, the aisles were all set up at srange angles to one another (no flow).
The only sections what had "adequate" light was the car stereo section and the "sound rooms".

 

[bruinsrme]

I think people forget the biggest reason why Best Buy is still popular: they have a well-stocked, wide selection of video software in both DVD and Blu-ray formats. In fact, I've bought a LOT of DVD's in recent years at Best Buy because they're the only place in town where I can find a wide selection of TV season sets at a "brick & mortar" store (Wal-Mart and Costco can still be hit and miss on TV season set selections).

Circuit City could never compete against Best Buy on this, and that's why they are failing.

partially agree.

BB does a very good job in trying to stock what is popular, vid games, electronics, value computers and notebooks, bluray players. Such items are located in or readily visible from the main aisle.

If it is beleived that their employees are not experts, OK; first off you at what BB pays you can not get an expert. am sure many here would not work for $8 40 hours a week and be able to support a family and home. Would you expect the a $1 burger to be the same quality as a $20 ribeye.

Stores are well lit, aisles are labeled, and each section seems to have at least one employee to assist customers.

 

[Cakester]

liquidation sales like this make me all giddy.

no joke, it's big purchase time!!

 

[GuyNextDoor]

What makes Best Buy so much better than Circuit City that one can survive and the other can barely make it even in a healthy economy? I just don't see a big difference. They're both big, they both sell a lot of electronics, and neither of them employ knowledgeable, helpful employees.

Not makes Best Buy better, but made Circuit City worse:
1 - in my area, they were always more expensive than BB.
2 - less selection than BB
3 - more pressure to make sale, in my experience
4 - like many people, I swore off CC when they fired experienced sales staff, to hire less-knowledgeable lower-paid sales staff. (Like it was the "big bucks" they were making that was ruining CC)

 

[gkarris]

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These liquidation sales are rarely good deals. I went in to the CompUSA that was closing near my school a while back and tried to purchase a macbook pro that was open box, returned, and had a scratch on the lid. It was $100 OVER MSRP and had no build to order options. I tried to bargain with the guy who was there but he kept insisting it was a $3,000 computer.

that's because it's the Liquidator who's selling it - and they get a percentage of the sales. So they're going to try to get as much money out of the deal as possible.

 

[gkarris]

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34,000 people losing their job. Now that is bad for the economy.

Not necessarily, I am sure the 18 year old stoners that made $8.50/hr there can find another job.

I pay 10/hr to mow my lawn or shovel snow.

LOL

There's a bunch of Aldi's and Trader Joe's opening up in Chicagoland - job openings there...

 

[alabanco]

Ok. Now we are all waiting for shocking news about new and cheap Macs. Yes. Get us with a hook on the left.

 

[puffnstuff]

Not necessarily, I am sure the 18 year old stoners that made $8.50/hr there can find another job.

I pay 10/hr to mow my lawn or shovel snow.

Yea, I am sure that in this economy nobody with a college degree had to accept a CC job.

 

[aarond12]

Liquidation

Is everyone going to the liquidation sales today? I am, but I'm not expecting much. Many times these liquidation sales are just liquidation in name... just bringing people in who are looking for a bargain... like me. hahaha!

 

[BenRoethig]

i think a lot of it is advertising, store placement, store setup, and pricing.

i rarely ever saw CC ads, and even fewer stores by the right malls. also any CC that i have walked into has been dimly lit and a bit dark, even confusing to walk around it and find things. best buy is clearly lit and well marked. their prices might not have differed greatly, but i know its much easier to spot, and find a best buy by me, along with them probably having better relations with the wholesalers.

just speculation on my part though.

I agree, except for advertising. They had commercials on all the time and every time I've gone up to Milwaukee there was a Circuit City ad in the sunday Journal Sentinel and up until their death, I think I saw more CC T.V. adds than Best Buy. The rest you are spot on. I can't find a market that CC operated in that was smaller than half a million. People might begrudgingly travel for 2-3 hrs to see the Apple store, but they're sure as hell not going to do to go to a Circuit City. The stores layouts sucked and computers were stuck in a dimly lit corner in the back.

 

[NiteWaves77]

I liked their shopping environment much better than Worst Buy's. And the procedure for picking up big box items like TVs or computers -- waiting for it to slide down the conveyor belt from the warehouse in back -- was very reminiscent of Service Merchandise, another store I miss.

 

[mm1250]

Gee, another retailer bites the dust.

I remember when I saw the news article about them going chapter 11 reorganization. I was skeptical that they wouldn't make it.

I remember in the early 90s CC was the place to be for electronics. I guess BestBuy didn't have a big presence at the time. I think around the late 90s Best Buy somehow taken leadership and it's been downhill eversince.

I was at a CC about 2 years ago. Where I am BB and CC are in the same shopping center. CC was very empty and quite. The BB was packed and you couldn't find a parking space. Pricing was the same, it seems that BB just had the better brand name and stole the consumers hearts.

It's sad to see CC go now and that BB really doesn't have competition they have better pricing ability that might not favor the consumer. As for the 33k employees, this is extremely a sad day.

 

[NiteWaves77]

Reasons to Thank Circuit City

- CarMax
- The failure of DivX (and the flood of cheap players afterward)
- Revitalizing Richmond, VA

I know "Thinking Different" rarely means "thinking positive," but you might want to try it sometime.

 

[Primejimbo]

I gave this a Positive vote since I get to buy a new printer at liquidation sale!

So a new cheap printer is worth 34,000 people getting laid off?

 

[gibbz]

So a new cheap printer is worth 34,000 people getting laid off?

I always hate this reasoning, especially when people use it for promoting this current trend of the government bailing out companies. "I know we are capitalists, but if we don't bailout this company and intervene, people will lose their jobs."

Sorry to sound insensitive, but we live in a (supposed) capitalist society and there is always a risk of losing one's job. The fact is that 10% of the population controls 90% of the wealth. Unless you are the "man" and start your own company, whenever you take a job you are hired by the "man" to make him money. You put all of your trust in the "man" but when he fails you are no longer needed.

Companies inevitably fail in capitalist societies and I think they should be allowed too fail. The people at Circuit City ran the business how they thought best and in the end, they ran it into the ground. I think the guy you were responding to was a bit tongue-in-cheek, but either way if someone can get a deal on products from a company that failed, then more power to them. It does suck that 34,000 people lost jobs, but that is the risk in our society.

 

[calisurfboy]

"Welcome to Circuit City, where service is state of the art!"

I always hated Circuit City. I go in there for an item advertised at a price and when I get there I realize there are about four rebates attached that make it damn impossible and undesirable to buy the item. I could never find someone that works and if I do they were always clueless. Also. most stories I went into I could never figure out their check out system. Mos stores have check out lanes at the entrance / exit but at Circuit city it was always spread throughout the store and you get some idiot that states it is not his area and so he does not ring you up or directs you somewhere else. I had a stereo installed on a car ten years ago and they fried the speakers with the shotty wiring job they preformed.

 

[odinsride]

Found this on another forum where someone has already been to CC today and posted what they found.

What to expect from the liquidation sales:

Just got back. Everything game related is 10% off, DVDs and CDs are 20% off, and I saw random 30% off signs around, but didn't bother to look what they were for. 10% isn't much now, but if you want to buy a 360 or PS3, that's $20 (360 Arcade), $30 (360 Premium), or $40 (PS3) off, not too bad.

And from consumerist.com (this article is from previous liquidation sales at CC in November, but can still probably be used as a general guideline):

We immediately notice that everything is between 10-30% off. Ok, 30% off isn’t that bad, it’s still a business that has some stores open, they still need to try to make some money. Typical stuff like movies and music were 20% off, video games were 10% off and TV’s were about 20% off. Nothing was particularly cheap considering everything was set at almost MSRP with a percentage taken off, making things about the same price they would be on any other normal sale day. The only things we saw that might have been worth it were TV stands. They were nice looking stands with a good amount taken off.