RIP Richard Sharp (1 Viewer)

I saw this obituary for Richard Sharp over on NRO this morning.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/381283/death-world-class-salesman-stephen-moore

Along the path of nil nisi bono, Sharp was most known around here as the purveyor of the tangible-media pay per view DIVX. When he left the very successful Circuit City, his successors ran CC into the ground in a short period of time.

I remember buying mail-order stereo gear from Dixie Hi-Fi in the early 1970s. Dixie was transformed by Sharp into the CC chain.

It seems that DIVX was about his only bad idea. Well, that and Crocs.

RIP Mr. Sharp.

It's interesting to read about CC as top-notch company in "Good to Great" or "Built to Last". And Circuit City was the place for me to browse and shop in the '90s. And I bought my first HDTV and cellphone there. But even setting aside DIVX, the stores began suffering compared to BestBuy even in terms of layout and the buying experience. They were poorly laid out, with slow credit car ssytems, and crazy on-receipt rebate forms that resulted in 36" receipts that took a minute to spool out from the register.

Best Buy and Walmart changed the retail sales landscape in the 90s, and Amazon changed it in the 2000s. Circuit City failed because in the late 90s the company grew, but they failed to adapt.

Not sure how to respond.

Somebody's death is always sad.

But CC and DIVX sucked. I was just getting into home theatre at the time and knew DIVX, etc. was the wrong way to go. CC thankfully failed. Sounds terrible to say, but he didn't leave a nice legacy behind.

Stan said:

Not sure how to respond.

Somebody's death is always sad.

But CC and DIVX sucked. I was just getting into home theatre at the time and knew DIVX, etc. was the wrong way to go. CC thankfully failed. Sounds terrible to say, but he didn't leave a nice legacy behind.

Click to expand...

I don't know if that's a good thing for consumers with less competition in the market place as well as the thousands of people that lost their jobs.

From the article he seemed like a decent guy that had good business sense.
R.I.P Rich.
I miss Circuit City, and Best Buy's push to nearly everything I want "available online" only has alienated me from them.

Stan said:

Not sure how to respond.

Click to expand...

I am going with "rest in peace". Another option would be simply to ignore the thread completely. It seems to me that some of the comments are inappropriate for RIP thread. To each their own.

-Keith

RIP Mr. Sharp.

DiVX was a misstep but otherwise I loved CC and I'm reminded of that every day when I turn on my main TV that I bought from there (and that I'm likely to keep watching until I can no longer get replacement bulbs for it -- RIP DLP too).

I have been lied to repeatedly by Best Buy employees about TVs and other big-ticket items when I asked questions that were over their heads (although this has improved in recent years). CC employees would always just say "I don't know" if they didn't know the answer. I really respected that.

Was just thinking about him today, didn't know he'd died. "Early adopters do take some risk, it's regrettable..."

I was thinking about "legacy" gear today. Does anyone have an old DIVX player that still works? What about the discs - did they become "unlocked" after the mother-ship went offline, or are they just coasters now?

Coasters.

I enjoyed CC, had a better selection in Home Theater equipment then Best Buy in my area. Its where I went before I became the online shopper I am today