Circuit City closing down 150+ stores in midwest (and now all of the stores) (1 Viewer)

[ChristopherDAC]

I passed by one store today (Burleson, TX) which is right next to a Best Buy — they share a parking lot. It is closed today & will reopen tomorrow for clearance purposes. The windows were already full of "everything must go" signs.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Burpleson TX, eh? Is there a well-defended SAC base nearby?

 

[RickER]

The CC in Tulsa isnt on the list. Thats shocking, cause it sucks. Like others have said, you cant find anything and the service is non existent. How can anyone think they will keep a job if you spend your time flirting with the other helpers, talking on your cell, or pointing you to nothing when you do ask for help!
Within a mile or less, of CC we have a BB, and an Ultimate Electronics (that i also dont care for).

 

[Jimi C]

That DIVX stuff looks promising. Hopefully that will catch on and help them get out of this hole they seem to be in.

 

[LarryH]

It's a shame to see competition being reduced like this. CC needed better management and it may now be too late. Ever since they fired most of their more experienced sales people, it's been hard for me to have a lot of sympathy for them. Somehow, they just don't seem to know how to organize their stores or make them inviting. I think they try too hard to conserve electricity by keeping their stores too dark. Our local store, only a couple years old, was designed so that the sun shines in the front and blinds you when you're trying to browse DVD's and Blu-rays much of the time. Best Buy does seem to be following suite by messing up their layout and reducing personnel.

 

[Diallo B]

circuit city had the best car audio installers of the big box stores. but as others have stated everything else sucked.....

luckily there are a few staying open in my neck of the woods so i don't lose my lifetime car audio install warranty. i would buy highend equipment and have them install it for the lifetime labor warranty because most local car audio shops don't really warranty their labor...

 

[DaveF]

"liquidating", indeed. Rather, the liquidation company takes over, raises all prices to MSRP (or higher) and then offers 10% discounts on products actually worth buying. A person would have been better off buying during normal sales the past couple weeks.

 

[BrokenAmbience]

dang well i like bestbuy anyways they have more of a selection

 

[troy evans]

Oh Damn! This made me lose it and laugh my ass off.

 

[Rob Willey]

Funny, I hadn't set foot in a CC in years until last week when I picked up my Panny BD-35 there (I wonder why BB doesn't sell Panasonic Blu-ray players?). The place was totally deserted but it is not on the closing list. Hmmmm....

Rob

 

[Jesse Skeen]

DIVX is going to take over the whole market- I heard that all the Star Wars movies are coming out on it, but not regular DVD. Pretty soon every movie will be available only on DIVX. That means that the people who bought regular DVD players won't be able to watch them, but early adopters do take some risk, it's regrettable.

 

[Patrick.C]

For those wondering why certain stores which usually seem deserted, etc aren't closing, a lot of what goes in to decisions like these has to do with which stores they CAN close. Real estate issues often come in to play. They have to look at which leases they can get out of, which properties they can sublease, which ones they can sell, etc.

 

[Steve_Tk]

They are closing the huge one near me! Only been in the place once in six years.

 

[ZacharyTait]

If my experience yesterday was any indication, no wonder they're circling the drain.

I went in to check and see how much Spin City Season 1 was. I looked through the new releases, the TV on DVD section and the different categorized sections for it to no avail. I was in the store for about 15 minutes and not a single employee stopped to ask if I needed help. I ended up leaving and going to buy it at Best Buy.

 

[Mort Corey]

It wouldn't surprise me to see BB begin closing underperforming stores after the first of the year as well. They seem to have reached a saturation point with the number of stores.....at least in my neck of the woods.

Mort

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Actually I hear (via an insider leak) that CC is working on DivX-BD. This will be a cheap-to-purchase Blu-Ray disc which will only play in 1080P mode for a 24 hour "window", after which it will only play back in 480I mode UNLESS you pay a $5 fee per viewing.


Didn't Fry's buy out UE years ago? Didn't they re-brand as "Fry's" all the old UE stores?

 

[Todd Stout]

In my area of Southern California it appears that we get to keep a lot of the local stores (Montclair, Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino, and Victorville to name a few). It's interesting that one of the newest stores in the area is closing however (Fontana). I believe that store just opened in the last 6 months or so. I stopped in there a few weeks ago and it sure was clean.

I used to like Circuit City a lot more than I liked Best Buy. Unfortunately things have changed over the years and it just isn't the same place I used to love. All of the Circuit City stores in my region of Southern California have either relocated or remodeled and they now all feel like Best Buy now... only with a red color scheme.

What I miss the most are the higher end electronics they used to sell such as the upper end of the Onkyo and Polk Audio product lines. They now sell only the lower to mid line products from those brands. I also miss the actual sound rooms that allowed you to audition audio and video equipment before you bought it. I also wish they would go back to CD and DVD displays from a few years ago that actually allow you to browse the titles easily.

I hear the same company that helped K-Mart avoid going out of business is running the show at Circuit City now. I hope they have another success in this case because I'd hate to see the chain close down completely. Competition is a good thing!

 

[CRyan]

The thing is, the loss of Circuit City does not mean the loss of competition. There will be another company waiting in the wings to make something happen in a market that requires it. We already have a few stores here that have been growing as CC has been dying.

If CC cant keep up, please lets just move on to the next.

 

[Todd Stout]

We've already lost enough consumer electronics chains in Southern California. Over the years we have lost The Good Guys, Tweeter, Silo, The Federated Group, etc. Circuit City is really the only chain left that is direct competition for Best Buy. If they can successfully pull themselves out of their mess (as K-Mart somehow managed a few years ago) then I'm all for it.

 

[CRyan]

For sure. If they can keep up then great. Otherwise, die!

And really, these days, these stores just need to find a way to keep up with the real competition - Online stores.

It is us that have decided CC should not survive (in its current form). Really, its as simple as that. Figure out a way to compete - or get out of the way.