Circuit City closing all stores -- watch for bargains coming soon (1 Viewer)

[Shawn.F]

Here's hoping that a Fry's goes in where the one near my house has been. I'm only more than happy to see Circuit City go. They won't be missed.

 

[Regulus]

There's a HUGE Shopping Center under construction in Port Orange, Florida. Construction began at the end of 2007 and Circuit City was to be it's Anchor. Now with the economy the way it is I wonder if this center will become another "Dixie Square".

(For those of you in Rio Linda, Dixie Square is a Mall that opened south of Chicago in the mid-1960s. JC Penney and Wards were the Anchors. The area it was built in fell on hard times, and the mall closed in 1979. (The Mall Chase Scene in The Blues Brothers was filmed there.) The Mall has stood vacant for the last 30 years, Vandals and Scavengers have totally gutted it, and it justs stands there deteriorating away.)

 

[Shawn.F]

"Disco Pants and Haircuts!"

"This mall has everything!"

 

[Dan1]

The Circuit City location on Staten Island is in a less than 10 years old shopping center in which CCity and Staples are the anchors, each about the same size. CCity had the better location as it was visible from heavily traveled Richmond Avenue. So you could say it was the "main anchor".

Now that shopping center and hundreds of others have huge spaces for rent. If the economy were stronger this would be the time for someone like Fry's to expand eastward. I think a lot of the old CCity locations will be chopped up into smaller retail spaces. Locally, Staples is rumored to be taking the CCity space, but that still leaves a big chunk of empty retail space with few takers.

Dixie Square mall has been abandoned for 30 years? How bad can an area be that no other retailer was interested in the place?

"The Oldsmobiles are in early this year".

 

[MarkBirds]

Hey the new Oldsmobilies are in!

 

[Todd Stout]

From what I have read, it's an area with a very high crime rate and that's apparently what killed the place off in the '70s.

There is quite a bit of info about the Dixie Square Mall online:
Dead Malls dot Com: Feature: Dixie Square Mall: Harvey, IL
Dixie Square Mall - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Barraclou.Com - Dixie Square Mall, Harvey,IL
Dixie Square- The Mall Is Open But Nobody's Shopping
http://eddie.kbx81.net/dsmall.html
Dixie Square Mall; Harvey, Illinois Labelscar: The Retail History Blog

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Fry's stores are HUGE- they'd never fit in the space of a Circuit City, unless they decided to do a "Fry's Express" or something.

 

[Dan1]

The maximum square footage allowed by New York City zoning for a retail space is 100,000 square feet. But, of course, there are weird exceptions like for a "hardware" store. So Home Depot can build larger locations but everybody else including supermarkets are limited to 100,000 square feet.

I'm guessing that the former CCity location on Staten Island was less than 100,000 square feet, maybe more like 50,000 sq. ft. Same for all the other CCity locations within NYC.

 

[Shawn.F]

They broke my watch!

 

[Dan1]

Circuit City seeks to sell brand, Web site
By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM (AP Business Writer)
From Associated Press
April 13, 2009

RICHMOND, Virginia - Circuit City Stores Inc. hopes to sell its brand, trademarks and e-commerce business to Systemax Inc., the same company that purchased electronics retailer CompUSA's intellectual property when it closed in 2008.

Richmond-based Circuit City, also a shuttered electronics retailer, has entered a so-called stalking horse agreement with Systemax for $6.5 million, according to bankruptcy court filings.

A stalking horse bid is an initial offer for a bankrupt company's assets from an interested buyer chosen by the company.

The agreement includes two and one-half years of payments to Circuit City of a portion of Systemax's revenue from the Circuit City Web site.

Port Washington, New York-based Systemax manufactures and sells consumer electronics online, by direct mail and in retail stores under the TigerDirect and CompUSA brands.

When it bought Dallas-based CompUSA's intellectual property in January 2008 from restructuring firm Gordon Brothers Group LLC, it also acquired some stores.

Other companies will have an opportunity to bid on Circuit City's intellectual property, if a federal bankruptcy court judge at a hearing Tuesday grants a motion for a May 11 auction and May 13 sale hearing.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Interesting. The CompUSA by here re-opened almost immediately after closing. I wonder whether Systemax will re-open any CC stores.

 

[Dan1]

Systemax re-opened the CompUSA as a "CompUSA" or under a new name? I don't see any CCity stores re-opening under the CCity name. It was dragged through the gutter over the last year, especially during the liquidation-from-hell.

 

[VicB]

Must be some truth to this. Circuit City states that "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. CircuitCity.com is also temporarily closed, although we anticipate the website will reopen in the coming weeks. Please check back for updates."

 

[Chris Gerhard]

I would guess that Systemax will be the high bidder by a longshot. What I don't understand is how this makes any sense. Systemax already owns TigerDirect and CompUSA and all this business would amount to is more competition for themselves. If Circuit City has such goodwill that Systemax can increase profits by the amount of this purchase, I sure don't see it. The company's profit margins on items sold are slim and large volume is required as is since the company's customers expect low prices and accurately described products and not much else. If the company is going to try to establish Circuit City as some sort of higher end online retailer, good luck is about all I can offer.

Chris

 

[Aaron Silverman]

They're back as CompUSA. The store appears to be basically the same -- except with better prices!

 

[Aaron Silverman]

The current websites and emails from CompUSA and Tiger Direct are essentially identical. They might just put up the same stuff under the Circuit City name.

 

[celica]

really better price? let's check ém up.. thanks mate..

 

[Todd Stout]

I wish they'd reopen a CompUSA or two around this part of Southern California. I miss being able to walk into a store to buy computer parts.

I'd also welcome a Circuit City or two reopening in this area too. Some of the stores around here seemed to be doing well before they filed for bankruptcy. I would suggest they not so closely mimic the Best Buy look that they took on the past few years however.

 

[Dan1]

I received an email today from "CircuitCity.com" informing me that they are being "relaunched" as a Systemax Company with "World Class Service, 24/7". I wonder how long this will last. No mention of re-opening any retail locations.

The new CircuitCity.com

 

[Malcolm R]

Seems odd that anyone would want to relaunch a business that went through a very recent and public bankruptcy and liquidation. I can't imagine people are clamoring to begin shopping again at Circuit City so soon after the meltdown.