Comments on: 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, but the Circuit City story seems to have added yet another chapter.

[jaycustom]

That place is where it belongs...6 feet deep. What a cave it was. And in my area, it was next-door to a BestBuy...hmmm....where should I go? Not to mention how freakin sick it made me to hear EVERYONE and their mother talking about "oh man!..i wanna go to CC to see what kinda deals they got!" Everyone thought the stuff was selling for 1/4th the retail price....****. I'm just glad it's over....:)
NEWEGG FTW!!!

FIRST POWST..WEWT!!!!

[EWTHeckman]

I agree. They almost never had what I was looking for ("A firewire cable? What's that?") and the prices were never all that impressive.

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.

[blusky08]

Sure, CC usually didn't have the massive stores/selection as BB.
However, in my experience CC almost always beat the prices of BB, often by significant amounts. Now BB has no competition, so good luck.

[chazzsubscribe]

blusky08 wrote: "Now BB has no competition, so good luck."

==========
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.

[blusky08]

There is a Fry's in this area, yet BB's prices usually seem to be MSRP (or very close). Same as when CC was around.

[one_unfettered_mind]

I like Spybot very much. I has saved me several times. I just got hacked and lost most of my pictures. Both AVG and Spybot Went off but it was to late, (MY provider said it was a directed attack), had to reformat my drive and lost a lot of info. I do not have C Cards so I can't contribute. I would if I could, BUT! If the Co's on the net want to improve things, they should post an Address where you can send your money. Not everyone has C Cards. Thank you Cnet!

[medezark]

You might want to fetter your mind just a tad. The article is about Circuit City, not spybot or Credit Cards.

[beethoven24680]

" 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. "

-Circuitcity.com

[fdunn3]

Why would we do that?

I can wait in the coming weeks and smash my fingers with a hammer, but I'm not going to.

This same message has been on their site since they first announced they would be closing their stores. It stands to reason that someone would purchase this domain.

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.

[solblack]

Hey there DVD and CD were cheap.

[tmccool]

The Circuit City in my town was also literally in walking distance from the Best Buy, which opened first. In the local paper, a Circuit City manager boasted that their stores do well near a Best Buy. I haunted Circuit City almost daily for weeks waiting for prices to come down. I snatched an ION USB turntable for $80. Bargains were to be had, but you had to go to the store nearly every day. Sometimes the sign didn't match the discount - sometimes the discount was even lower and you had to ask for a price check from the cashier. Things flew out of that store, but sometimes people were just stupid. Snatching up CDs at only 20% off. Man, that's not even the regular sale price!

[blusky08]

CC's online deals were often fantastic, and you could walk into their store and request the online price. Simple process. BB on the other hand....

[make_or_break]

I for one will miss Circuit City; galactic distances aside, a long time ago they WERE actually a decent storefront to shop at. But that was ancient history and as too many things tend to rot and dissolve into chaos, alas, most of wee folk are now left with just Best Buy, general retailers like WalMart and UN-touchy-feelie online alternatives, with perhaps the oddball Fry's to bemuse ourselves with.

The Force ain't what it useta be.

[bgstewar]

Retail is for suckers. Go to a store, check out a product, then buy it online (Amazon, Newegg) at 1/2 the price :)

[danielszabo1981]

agreed. Retail fronts** usually serve one purpose: They expose the price to beat.

**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.

[tigrzeye]

I don't always buy at a brick and mortar store, Newegg, Datavis, Monoprice, are also a few of my favorites. But the "check it out at the store" and then buy on line method may be one reason why unemployment is high. Check out which of your neighbors make a living from the above mentioned online retailers. You won't find many. But they did work at CCity, Tweeter, etc.

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 ....

[blusky08]

So, you're suggesting that individual consumers spend significantly more money just to support local B&M stores?
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.

[1kingsfan]

I don't think he's suggesting that at all. Maybe you're the type to go online and buy something based off of specs and specs alone but you'd be in the minority. The overhead cost to run a B&M store is absolutely astounding and if you ever worked in retail you would already know that. There is an inherent satisfaction that comes from getting the lowest possible price, but when it comes to losing the ability to check out the product in person, I'll gladly pay a little more to keep the store in business. I'm not talking about $1000's of dollars either. . .I'm talking about you penny-pinching idiots who crow and shout over a $10 difference in price. Yay! who cares?

[jpmccloud01]

As a person who never went to circuit city, I will not attack it. I am in retail though and in some cases Best Buy is one of my companies competitors. I found out a long time ago that competition is not the enemy, many times it's your own self. Circuit City most likely forgot that and lost it's way as CompUSA did and which did not ever amuse me in the least. If any of these companies where to become Etailers, then let us hope they are a remade Wheel instead of another poor redesign of a mouse trap. May be one will have a funny puppet like pet co. Yes I am joking, We need just good retailers not bad ones and from what I understand Circuit cites problem was it's pricing structure and inabilty to destinguish itself in any good way from the competition. If I had been them I would have had sales that where called circuit breaks that said bye this get this at some lower price. Get a ketch phrase get that customers identify get customer loyalty possibly

[paulimusmaximus]

Eh, big deal. I don't go to compusa.com either because it's just tigerdirect.com. Additionally, it might be confusing to people that go to the site because for some reason they're unaware that circuit city has closed down. I mean they're going to go to the site and be confused as to why all the prices are actually cheap.

[ultimately_myself]

"...prolonged death spiral of its retail stores have been well-documented (not least by our undercover spy shots of the so-called liquidation sales)..." Yeah, actually that was the 'least', given that CNet flogged its readers with that same outdated article long after Circuit City had already closed the doors. And then you end this contribution to humanity by reposting the pictures from you self-aggrandized undercover mission to CC.

CNet, less content; all the time.
Sheeesh.

[Aggie1295]

Circuit City could have been better run and better organized and that might have made the stores more competative with Best Buy. However, even if they weren't my preferred store, they did have competative prices at times which at the least Best Buy was forced to match. For that reason alone I hated to see Circuit City close. Healthy competition is always good for the consumer, and I would love to see both Circuit City and CompUsa return from the dead in order to create that competition.

[rpvitiello]

"Retail is for suckers. Go to a store, check out a product, then buy it online (Amazon, Newegg) at 1/2 the price :)"

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.

[tcr071]

Just one less place for me to check out a product in person before I buy it online at a much lower price. Brick and Mortar stores are a waste of time, energy, and resources.

[FeelGoodInc7]

You're extremely naive. But then again, I'm sure your job is a waste of time, energy, and resources too. Wake up and support your local stores and community. Buying online helps no-one but yourself.

[docster87]

ok, if real stores are such a "waste of time, energy, and resources" then why is it so important for you to go there to see the display units? Oh yeah, to see the display units - keep buying online and one day you won't have the option to see a product before punching that "buy" online button.

[docblood]

I have a very personal dislike for stores or brands with unethical business practices (think Sony and two different destructive rootkits here.) In the Chicago area, Circuit City closed many of their B&M stores in October or November. They then had the temerity to push CC gift cards for the Christmas Holiday, knowing very well that they would never have to redeem most of them and that they would be protected under bankruptcy laws. I was stuck with one I might have been able to buy 1/3 of a USB cable with.

[markb1967]

Circuit City started digging it's own grave when it fired it's best sales people, and then tried to hire them back at lower wages...How STUPID. Not only did they **** off the salespeople, but many consumers stopped shopping there because of that bone headed move.

[ccmike72]

yeah and many of those fired where the heart and soul of the company. My store lost about 18 full time employees probably about 1/3 or 1/4 of the stores staff and what kept everything running. The high school kids they replaced them with did nothing.

[hgomez031]

I am not going to bash CC. They were a good store just like best buy. However there is just soooo much competition, someone had to give. In my town I had Circuit City, HHGreg, Meijer, Walmart, and Target all within 1 mile from each other. They all sell pretty much the same thing these days. I think HHGregg will be next to go. In my town the store is looking very warehouse like empty.

[blusky08]

IMO, walking into HHGregg feels a lot like walking onto a used car lot!
It must be some miracle that they outsurvived CC.

[djstewpac]

I grabbed a few xbox controllers from cc when they were like... 25 bucks.

I then wipped off the red ink and returned them to walmart for store credit.


ha?

[Electronics_Guy]

In my area of the Upper Midwest, Circuit City stores only existed in the larger cities, but were pretty well liked. They carried many items for higher level electronics nuts like myself. I will miss them, as now I'll have to order almost all my repair parts by mail order from Dalco.

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.....

[FeelGoodInc7]

Someone's an elitist.

[fletchb]

Make that 2 of us then.

[hatfield75]

"Now BB has no competition, so good luck."
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.

[1kingsfan]

I disagree with your disagreement LOL. BB has no major NATIONAL competition AT ALL. All the stores you mentioned are regional stores and while they provide a little competition they were in no way the major competition that CCity was once for BBY. Personally, I can't stand going into a BBY and avoid them at ALL COSTS. Honestly, it won't surprise me in the slightest (in fact, I'll probably be jumping for joy) if BBY fails as well. Their customer service is completely sub-par and I'd rather spend a little more and get better service. . .though I know I'm in the minority on that one. . .customer service and NOT PRICE used to be king and I wish it were still that way today.

[fletchb]

Good luck getting service from BB. They stay in business because they prey on the uneducated. Who in their right mind would pay $150 for a hdmi cable when you can get them from Amazon for $10.00 and other places (like monoprice)even cheaper?

[Vietnam73]

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.

[fletchb]

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.
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.