Circuit City rises from the grave (well, the domain name and IP, at least)
The prolonged death spiral of its retail stores have been well-documented (not least by our undercover spy shots of the so-called liquidation sales), but the Circuit City story seems to have added yet another chapter.
Computer vendor Systemax has agreed to purchase the bankrupt company's trademarks and domain names for $6.5 million, according to the Houston Chronicle. The actual sale is part of a May 11 auction of assets, and in court filings, Circuit City said, "The sale of the intellectual property and Internet assets would bring significant recovery for the sellers' estates and creditors."
If the Systemax name sounds familiar (and you've missed the handful of Systemax desktops we've reviewed over the years), that's because the company snapped up the remains of the CompUSA brand last year after that chain folded. They're also the parent company of online retailer TigerDirect.
When it decided to go out of business, Circuit City employed 34,000 people at 567 retail stores. Want to remember the good times? Check out the gallery below.
New York native Dan Ackerman, a former radio DJ turned journalist, has written about technology and music for publications including Spin, Blender, The Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today. He hosts the weekly Digital City podcast and the New York edition of Editors' Office Hours. Dan's new album, Tales Out of Night School, is available now. E-mail Dan. 
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NEWEGG FTW!!!
FIRST POWST..WEWT!!!!
What truly blew my mind was what happened in their going out of business sale. First, the jacked the price of everything up to full retail, then gave a "sale" percentage off. Problem was, most prices were still higher than what you could get elsewhere. And people were buying the stuff as if it was a great deal!
For example, I've been watching the prices of Sony's 46" XBR6. CC's "sale" price was in the neighborhood of $2,300. At the exact same time, Sears had a sale going on the exact same model for $2,100. And Amazon listed several for $1,900 or less.
I also overheard a salesman explaining to a customer that display units were not being discounted over the boxed units. This meant that the one he was holding was still expensive even though it was missing the box, documentation and the power cable, not to mention seriously scuffed.
I say good riddance to bad rubbish.
However, in my experience CC almost always beat the prices of BB, often by significant amounts. Now BB has no competition, so good luck.
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competition will always rise. What put CompUSA AND Circuit City out of business was not Best Buy, but Fry's and stores like BrandsMart. Fry's especially undercuts everyone. They are not in every state, but when they come prices come down. They are like the Southwest Airlines of the consumer electronics industry, compared to airlines like Delta. When CompUSA went out of business, first they just withdrew from the markets Fry's was also in -- as if that would save them. BrandsMart is great too.
CircuitCity.com is also temporarily closed, although we anticipate the website will reopen in the coming weeks. Please check back for updates. "
-Circuitcity.com
I can wait in the coming weeks and smash my fingers with a hammer, but I'm not going to.
Tiger Direct has had some success with the Comp USA site, even reopening some of the old Comp USA locations. Guess we will have to wait and see how this pans out with the Circuit City brand.
The Force ain't what it useta be.
**Caviat - except for Best Buy. I don't know if they're as awesome as my luck in that store has lead me to believe... but I've nabbed some serious camera, pc, and movie deals often enough to warrant not running to a pc to check pricewatch every time I think I find a deal in there.
I too like to save $$'s, but when all the brick and mortar stores are gone, where will you go then to physically view a product before buying on line? Try checking out the picture on 2 or 3 HDTV's online, it doesn't happen. Or crank up a couple different speakers on line and see which sound the best to you, it doesn't happen.
Just my 2 cents ....
Ain't gonna happen. That's quite a burden to expect many individual consumers to bear.
These B&M stores better find a streamlined way of doing business or they simply will not survive.
CNet, less content; all the time.
Sheeesh.
How do you plan to do that when all the actual stores go out of business because you go in their store to look at the displays they paid to; buy, set up, power, and maintain. Not only are you costing them money and have no intention to buy from them but you may have been blocking a customer who WAS willing to spend money on the product on an item.
Brick and mortar stores CAN'T match a web only price because it COST THEM MORE MONEY to have a store and displays in the first place.
At least in NYC Circuit City had some better stores than Best Buy, especially "The City" stores they started building. They actually had the balls to open there "The City" store sharing a wall with a best buy, and the overall reaction was the Circuit City was a better store.
As for differentiation best buy carried appliances and computer furniture, Circuit City carried A kind of Sharper image style product line, A much larger camera and camcorder department, and a different mix of computer products than Best Buy.
It must be some miracle that they outsurvived CC.
I then wipped off the red ink and returned them to walmart for store credit.
ha?
There are hundreds of Best Buy stores around here, but seem to cater almost exclusively to the amateur hobbiest, so when I ask for a specific SCSI cable, Firewire connector, or ask them to order a specific power supply for me, I would just get a blank stare....
Best Buy isn't remotely the same quality of a REAL electronics store.....
I have to disagree as well. BB has plenty of competition, just in a different form. Tiger Direct and Micro Center offer better prices on CPU items and small electronics. HH Gregg will consistently beat them on the larger items (dishwashers, fridges, etc) And monoprice is still a hidden internet jewel in regards to wires. Also there are a variety of ways to obtain media (movies and music) quicker and at a a more affordable price than BB. Just because you cannot physically see the competition does not mean it is not there. I imagine you may be scratching your head in a year or two when you start reading about BB and job cuts, store closings, and falling profits. Times are changing and consumers are more savvy, It is only a matter of time.
- by Vietnam73 April 16, 2009 7:39 AM PDT
- I was commenting on a Lightscribe burner and the salesperson at Best Buy did not know what I was talking about. I had better customer service from Circuit City than Best Buy. But as bad as Circuit City ended up being I always ended up buying my electronics from them. Their problem is they didn't try to innovate their sales especially since Best Buy's bread and butter was all types of software items and Circuit City was hardware. I will miss Circuit CIty.
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- by fletchb April 16, 2009 11:00 PM PDT
- Yes even though they had their problems too, I greatly preferred them to BB. I knew they were probably going under but I bought a HDTV from them in early Dec hoping others would do the same and keep them going. I also knew I could buy the tv and just leave without getting hassled by the cashier at the counter and the goons at the door.
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (45 Comments)Oh and if you are a corporate customer it is even worse because they refuse to let you check out at the register and make you wait at the customer disservice desk. The only good thing about their poor servicet is If one of my staff starting getting out of line, I could threaten to send them to BB to purchase something if they didn't straighten up. I did that once as a joke but it really worked! I told him if he kept treating our customers like he worked at BB, then thats where he would be shopping for now on. The guy was mad at me for like 2 weeks but he didn't act up anymore.
I still can't believe a store that has such high prices and treats customers so poorly stays in business, yet a store like CC(again not perfect by any means but still no BB) goes under.