CC closing 19 stores, one of wich was mine. (1 Viewer)

[Joe Tilley]

First off sorry if there is a thread somewhere about this already but I haven't seen one.

On Sunday 02/08/04 we got a big bombshell in our store here in Kokomo IN that our store would be closing along with 18 others. Everyone in our store has been expecting something to happen with us but nothing like this. Our sales have been slow sometimes almost next to none at all, but we have gained a local BB in the last two years that is much larger than us that we had thought was our biggest problem. We lost so many things that were profitable like computer software for stupid stuff that never sold like cd cases & oddball kids novelties type of things. It has almost seamed like the company its self was just trying to make us fail. We had so many problems in our store that over the last year corpret would not let us fix even though we always nagged about it. Anything from sound rooms that never worked right to bad feeds to tvs. I mean how did they expect us to sell anything when someone cant see or hear how it performed. Every day for the last year or two we have referred our customers to BB & other competters for products that we had sold in the past but had gotten rid of for what ever reason. Our Kokomo store also has had one of the best customer service records around as well. To all of us that have worked at that store we were like a family there. Everyone their is so much closer than any of us realized once the news hit sunday. Its going to be hard for so many people there to find something new just from the friendships we all have made.
It's funny how I have always looked at my job as nothing important it was just another job. But it wasn't just a job it was spending time with some of the best people I've ever met. From my co workers to some favorite return customers that would just stop in to say hi. It has had it bad times there but the friends I've met along the way & the good times we have had far outway the bad.
Im really going to miss working there as much as I never thought I would say that. I got to talk about the stuff I love to do the most, & work with one of the best groups of people I've ever met or worked with before.
Well I don't know what else to say, I just needed to vent a little bit. The best of luck to anyone else that may have been one of the picked. I don't think there is to many CC employes here who are members, but I've seen a couple from time to time.

Joe #1689

 

[DaveF]

Joe, that's sad to hear. I'm from IN (with friends from Kokomo) so I don't like hearing about the tough times in our smaller towns.

I think that was your signal that they were going to shut you down. When HQ stops general maintenance, I think it's the clue that they don't plan to keep the shop around anymore. :frowning:

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Bummer.



Yeah I know what you mean. Some of my best friends were made when I worked retail. Nothing brings people together like stocking shelves.

 

[Michael*K]

Two of the stores are being closed in the Chicago area. I guess they're sending their stock to other stores, but there's a closeout on all the floor merchandise. There was footage on the news yesterday of a throng of people stampeding into one of the stores slated to close as it opened its doors. I don't know many people that can blow a day off work just to go find some A/V deals.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Sad to hear.

Assuming your managers are also getting the boot, see if you can get them to see if anyone is planing on leasing the building. A Best Buy or something could be moving in, and you could just end up with different paychecks.

Glenn

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Hmmm.. I know 44,538 that would like to.

 

[Malcolm R]

Sorry to hear it. CC has never struck me as the most business-savvy company.

I'd think they could improve the bottom line simply by cutting staff. Their stores are terribly overstaffed. Usually the staff outnumber the customers. And they're mostly just standing around visiting with each other unless a customer walks up to the group and is able to pry someone away to ask a question.

 

[Joe Tilley]

Glenn, we already have a Best Buy. In fact its just across the street.
Malcolm, I do agree to a point that CC over staffs. Our store was well staffed but I wouldent say more than needed. I also agree that too many stores just let there employes hang around, But I can honestley say that we never really did that. We alaways kept ourselves busy with something. And I cant recall a coustmer ever having to ask for help from anyone. We treated people like they say ( how we would wont to be treated ) and I think to say the least people responded to us very well.
Thanks for the kind words from everybody.

 

[Steve Owen]

One word.... DIVX.

I, and a whole generation of early DVD adopters, haven't shopped there since. They tried to kill our beloved DVD and keep it for themselves with their twisted pay-per-view scheme. It saddens me none to see bad things happen to Circuit City. I feel bad for the people who worked there though.

-Steve

 

[Carl Miller]

Joe, I'm sorry to hear this. I worked at the Wiz long ago and made some very good friends there so I can understand where you're coming from.

I don't know if our local CC is going, but the store is in shambles so I expect it might be. Last time I went there, the CD's and DVDs were all stocked in no particular order, as if nobody had tried to keep it orderly in weeks.

BestBuy came here and pretty much knocked CC on its ass...I always preferred CC though. Better brands, and far better staff in my opinion.

It's a shame.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Joe, you and your coworkers have my sympathies. Best wishes for getting quickly back on your feet. Make sure you explore your options for severance and/or unemployment compensation. In some cases, if you take one, you can not get the other. Or you can get one after the other runs out...it all depends on your state.

That being said...I have no sympathy for the Circuit City chain and their upper management--some of whom are long gone with their golden parachutes while those beneath got a golden shower.

It's just a shame that the sort of gross mismanagement and corporate greed characteristic of CC has a human toll. Again, good luck.

- Steve

 

[EugeneR]

Actually, from what I hear CC is doing quite well. They are only closing 19 stores which are poor performers and are actually planning to relocate 30 stores and open 30 new stores this year. They are working to get the stock price up.

 

[SteveA]

I don't think that's true. CC is headquartered here in the city where I live, and hardly a day goes by without some news article about how poorly things are going for them. For instance, this Christmas, CC's same store sales dropped by a few percentage points, while Best Buy gained 14-15%. That does not bode well for CC.

CC has also taken some pretty drastic cost-cutting measures lately that have not improved their image in many peoples' eyes. In the last few months, they have fired large numbers of their IT and HR employees here in Richmond and moved the jobs offshore. I always felt a little guilty in the past about shopping at Best Buy when so many people in my city worked for the CC headquarters, but since CC has no loyalty to the people of our city, why should we have any loyalty for them?

I now shop exclusively at Best Buy.

 

[DaveBB]

In St. Louis they've made a big effort to upgrade their image. They've closed 4 stores that were the old format from the late 80's and then relocated them to better spots. The new stores are brighter and better looking.

In fact the one at the St. louis Mills mall is great because in their TV area they use normal incadecent lights at a lower level instead of horribly bright fluorecent lights.

In the back of my mind I'm still pissed at CC for Divx, but they have gotten much better recently.

 

[Jeff Perry]

Where can I find a list of the stores that are closing?

 

[Pete_S]

Here's a list of the stores slated to close by the end of this month (from http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/...90/detail.html):

Brookdale 5900 Shingle Creek Pkwy., Brooklyn Center, Minn.
Cape Girardeau 164 Siemers Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Cutler Ridge 19825 S. Dixie Hwy., Cutler Ridge, Fla.
Memorial Drive 4572 Memorial Drive, Decatur, Ga.
Delray 1350 Linton Blvd., Delray Beach, Fla.
Akron 2789 W. Market St., Fairlawn, Ohio
Federal Way 34920 Enchanted Pkwy. S., Federal Way, Wash.
Fort Smith 7601 Rogers Ave., Fort Smith, Ark.
Greenspoint 171 N. Sam Houston Pkwy. E., Houston, Texas
Washington 10235 E. Washington St., Indianapolis, Ind.
Kokomo 1012 S. Reed Road, Kokomo, Ind.
Westwood Village 1145 Gayley Ave., Los Angeles, Calif.
Martinsville 233 Commonwealth Blvd. W., Martinsville, Va.
Golf Mill Mall 9215 Greenwood Ave., Niles, Ill.
Northbrook 127 Skokie Blvd., Northbrook, Ill.
Odessa 5171 E. 42nd St., Odessa, Texas
Omaha 885 S. 72nd St., Omaha, Neb.
Topeka 2040 S.W. Wanamaker Road, Topeka, Kan.
Salem Ohio 5114 Salem Ave., Trotwood, Ohio

 

[Jeff Perry]

Thanks Pete.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

There's a lot of big movies that are only gonna be available on DIVX, so make sure you get the right player!

 

[Joe Tilley]

I just hope the people that are left in the remaining stores can see that the big shots that make the calls have no loyalty. I really hope that people are smarter than we all were & get out wile they can so there not put in the same sitatuiton.

Something that bothers me is that my store director supposedly still has a job. But heres the catch they will not tell him where. Most of us think that they are leading him on & when the doors are shut for good at our store they will can him. I really hope that is not the case as he is just as good of a friend as everyone else, & we are all happy to see that at least someone still has something good out of all this. We just all think they are doing this to keep composure in the store until all the product is gone.

Were all still pretty saddened to have it happen, But we also are all looking at it as an oppertinuty to do better. Now I just cant waite until Fri night. Everyone from my store is coming over to my wife & I's house for one last big get together. CC got to kick us out of our store, but they'll never get to break up our friendships.

And I don't think some of my local bars have have as much beer & liquor on hand as we do right now.

 

[Todd Hochard]

Well to every corporation in America today. Surely, you don't think it's different anywhere else do you? It isn't.

Good luck finding new employment.