Circuit City to close 155 stores

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Retailer Circuit City is expected to announce the closure of 155 stores, representing around 20 percent of the chains 714 US locations and a full withdrawal from 12 markets.



The closures, reported by The Consumerist are expected to immediately put some employees out of work, including those working in its Firedog on-location tech support and car installation departments. The stores will be liquidated over the next two months and close permanently at the end of the year.



Circuit City is the nation's second largest electronics retailer. A Reuters article from October 20 noted the closures of 150 stores were reported to be under consideration in a Wall Street Journal report.



Reuters cited an analyst who stated that 80 percent of Circuit City's stores were within five miles of a Best Buy location. The beleaguered chain is also reported to face strong competition from general retailers such as WalMart.



Apple split with Circuit City in 2000, but reopened a test pilot retailing agreement with the chain in 2006 to sell iMacs, notebooks, and Airport base stations. Last fall, Apple terminated its trial program with Circuit City and focused its resources on selling through Best Buy, the largest electronics retailer in the country.



Last year, Apple's other retail partner, CompUSA, also liquidated and closed most of its stores before having its remaining 16 stores acquired by the parent company of TigerDirect.



A listing of stores is presented in this PDF.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 48
    Good riddance.



    Edit: I do feel bad for the retail folks entering the world of unemployment, though...
  • Reply 2 of 48
    I'm not sad to see them go...Many years ago at a location in Culver City, CA, they refused to take an out of state driver's license as ID for a credit card purchase of over $500.



    That's one sale they lost...I never shop there, even if they have a lower price...
  • Reply 3 of 48
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    I'm sure Apple will have to rationalize their stores at some point too. It seems unlikely that they all have turned out profitable.
  • Reply 4 of 48
    The closest Circuit City store to my place will probably be one of the close stores in the fact that the store is terribly out of date. I noticed lately that they do not even advertise in the local Sunday newspaper. I kind of thought that they were slipping and slipping fast. The remind of how fast Future Shop grew and suddenly were gone very quickly.



    Just today I was in the local mall and a new tenant was in the center of the mall a new Apple reseller and they had better prices then even Best Buy. This store sold everything that Best Buy sold and more. I am seeing more and more of the local stores coming back after a dark spell and that makes me glad to see.
  • Reply 5 of 48
    mcarlingmcarling Posts: 1,106member
    Good news for Best Buy and Apple.
  • Reply 6 of 48
    kolchakkolchak Posts: 1,398member
    My closest Circuit City is not only within five miles, it's right next door to a Best Buy. Too bad. I hate Best Buy. Moronic, lethargic sales staff. Dishonest sales. I helped a friend select a laptop for her business. We picked the lowest priced laptop advertised to be on sale. But at the store, they only had "pre-optimized" units left, meaning they cost $50 more than sale price because Geek Squad had already removed all the trialware. I personally think it's their way of actually getting more money for an open box unit, which otherwise should have cost less than sale price.
  • Reply 7 of 48
    i always liked circuit city much better than best buy. never liked best buy. its too bad that they are closing some stores. they had a good thing going.
  • Reply 8 of 48
    It is interesting to see Apple open more retail outlets as the number of people switching to their products grows. One trip to the Genius Bar would make a convert out of anyone! Sounds like CC is reading the handwriting on the wall and will take the loss in 2008 rather than 2009 to be smart tax-wise.
  • Reply 9 of 48
    .....



    [edit: Off topic. Please, no political comments or further political replies, go to "Political Outsider" for that]
  • Reply 10 of 48
    Reporting my first visit to an Apple store Genius Bar:



    Had to send back (for the very first time EVER) my MB Pro 17" with the bad nVidia card. It failed last Thursday afternoon, met with the Genius Friday morning, barely had to explain what had transpired, and watched as he promptly and professionally boxed up my baby and sent it off for healing.



    No treating me like an idiot, no interrogation of my motives or handling of the machine. (In fact, the moment I pre-offered the PMU/SMC diagnoses I had already performed over the past 24 hours, I was treated almost as an equal.) Can you imagine this kind of interaction at a Best Buy or Circuit City? Yeah, right.



    I'll never buy another Mac product ANYWHERE but at an Apple retail store. They speak my language.
  • Reply 11 of 48
    This sucks. I like CC better than BB (AKA Worst Try). I normally buy expensive stuffs at CC and DVDs, inks, accessories at BB.



    I never had any problem with CC at all. BB sucks big time.
  • Reply 12 of 48
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 3goldens View Post


    Yeah so go out and vote for John McCain tomorrow so we can ensure even more business's go down the tubes in this country in next four year's



    oh please...
  • Reply 13 of 48
    Any Apple hardware at liquidation prices? Is there a list of closing stores? I'm guessing that if they do sell Apple, it would be iPods only, or accessories, and that they'll ship all that stuff to their other stores or warehouse. Any info out there?
  • Reply 14 of 48
    cameronjcameronj Posts: 2,357member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 3goldens View Post


    Yeah so go out and vote for John McCain tomorrow so we can ensure even more business's go down the tubes in this country in next four year's



    Nice grammar.
  • Reply 15 of 48
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by VinitaBoy View Post


    Reporting my first visit to an Apple store Genius Bar:I'll never buy another Mac product ANYWHERE but at an Apple retail store. They speak my language.



    But even if you did purchase it from circuit city, the Genius bar will still fix it!

  • Reply 16 of 48
    elrothelroth Posts: 1,201member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ascii View Post


    I'm sure Apple will have to rationalize their stores at some point too. It seems unlikely that they all have turned out profitable.



    Unlikely you say, but true.
  • Reply 17 of 48
    ivladivlad Posts: 742member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 3goldens View Post


    Yeah so go out and vote for John McCain tomorrow so we can ensure even more business's go down the tubes in this country in next four year's



    LOL that's very ironic.



    =)
  • Reply 18 of 48
    Awww... where will all the sales people that hung around the TV's and didn't acknowledge my existence work now?



    Anyway, in 15 years I have bought one thing at Circuit City. I would go there first, then go over to Best Buy and find it cheaper. I'm surprised they lasted as long as they did.
  • Reply 19 of 48
    Circuit City lost credibility when they converted from the old-style stereo shop with commissioned salesmen to the generic retail store like Best Buy.



    Very sad. At least the commissioned salesmen KNEW what they were selling because that is how they made their income. They were educated on the products they sold.



    Now when you walk into either store, they know nothing about the products they sell.



    Also, there is no such thing as a liquidation sale. The prices are not reduced. I went to the Good Guys so-called liquidation and all the tags were removed from the items being sold. The company hired to handle the sale replaced the real tags with plain tags with prices that did not seem reduced at all. No model numbers were listed so you couldn't search the model numbers to see if you were saving any money. So typically a liquidation company will mark up prices and then claim they are "drastically" reduced by removing the original store tag. So if a store is closing, I would note the prices now to see if you really are saving money.
  • Reply 20 of 48
    I guess I generally disliked their support staff less than I dislike geek squad (just awful), but other than that I generally prefer Best Buy. Best Buy is way far superior on returns. Best Buy generally has a greater selection. Best Buy is generally a more pleasing place to just browse around (which isn't saying a whole lot). That being said, for major purchases or major issues, I will actually just make a 3 hour drive to my closest Apple Store. It's that big of a difference.
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