Circuit City to close 155 stores

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  • Reply 41 of 48
    Pepsi and Coke



    McDonalds and Burger King



    Republicans and Democrats



    Microsoft and Apple





    Notice that a free market often distills down to 2 major players. If Circuit City goes under, Best Buy will have a relative monopoly. (yeah, there are many other stores, but not as nation-wide or are two-bit players) This is not good, because you will see Best Buy's prices go up if they don't have anyone to compete against. Then the free market will work its magic. Another company will come in and fill the void -- they will see that Best Buy has a monopoly and will believe that they have a good business model to take a piece of Best Buy's pie. And it will be Best Buy and <new electronics superstore>.
  • Reply 42 of 48
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by frugality View Post


    Pepsi and Coke



    McDonalds and Burger King



    Republicans and Democrats



    Microsoft and Apple





    Notice that a free market often distills down to 2 major players. If Circuit City goes under, Best Buy will have a relative monopoly. (yeah, there are many other stores, but not as nation-wide or are two-bit players) This is not good, because you will see Best Buy's prices go up if they don't have anyone to compete against. Then the free market will work its magic. Another company will come in and fill the void -- they will see that Best Buy has a monopoly and will believe that they have a good business model to take a piece of Best Buy's pie. And it will be Best Buy and <new electronics superstore>.





    Are you nuts? Apple prices are the same at Best Buy or at Apple. If you think that BB is going to raise their prices on Apple products, while Apple sells them for less money, I have a bridge to sell you.
  • Reply 43 of 48
    ssassa Posts: 47member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by zinfella View Post


    Really? Then how do you explain that out local Apple Stores still carry the batteries for the G4 Titanium laptops? I don't think you're quite up to speed about what the Apple Stores have on hand.



    I live <10 miles of three Apple Stores. You know how many ipod batteries I have seen? Not one, I can only suppose they would rather sell you a new ipod. You know how many have ADC-DVI/DVI-ADC adapters? Again, not one and this goes back several years.



    Fry's the last I checked still carried ipod batteries. Fry's stopped carrying ADC-DVI adapters about a year ago, but they kept carrying them long after the local Apple Stores stopped selling them.



    All my other points of criticism about the Apple Store I find are pretty accurate. Their selection of accessories is underwhelming and except for clearance they virtually never sell anything below MSRP.



    Do my local Apple Stores represent all of the >100 other Apple Stores? Maybe not, but I question the notion that the Apple Store is the only place you should buy Apple products. Beyond the fact that the CTO Mac configurations are generally much easier to get through Apple I don't see much need to go to the Apple Store unless that is the most convenient place to buy a Mac for your location.
  • Reply 44 of 48
    ssassa Posts: 47member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by zinfella View Post


    Those people can go to whoever grabs the CC market share, folks aren't going to stop buying electronics. My best guess is WalMart will grab a large portion.



    I somehow doubt that WalMart will be the primary recipient. Best Buy is probably going to be the biggest winner. Best Buy stores pretty much carry everything CC stores carry and then some because BB locations tend to be a little larger. Most people prefer a one stop shop so if they can get all their electronics shopping done at one store all the better. While Walmart does carry some electronics they aren't an electronics store by a long shot. The whole electronics department at the typical Walmart is smaller than the computer department at the typical BB. Most CC customers probably aren't far from a Walmart, but they shopped at CC because Walmart's selection of electronics is limited to say the least compared to CC or BB nevermind Fry's.



    Furthermore, one Reuters article I read noted that 80% of CC stores were within 5 miles of a BB store. Therefore, most CC customers wouldn't have to travel far to go to BB instead of CC for their electronic shopping.



    Whatever BB doesn't pick up I think will mostly go to regional electronic store chains(Fry's, Microcenter, etc.).
  • Reply 45 of 48
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SSA View Post


    I live <10 miles of three Apple Stores. You know how many ipod batteries I have seen? Not one, I can only suppose they would rather sell you a new ipod. You know how many have ADC-DVI/DVI-ADC adapters? Again, not one and this goes back several years.



    Fry's the last I checked still carried ipod batteries. Fry's stopped carrying ADC-DVI adapters about a year ago, but they kept carrying them long after the local Apple Stores stopped selling them.



    Even the third party ADC adapters haven't been made for many years, I too had a problem finding the adapters a couple years ago. Fry's must have had old stock that they didn't bother to get rid of. I could only find ADC adapters used online, new ones were long gone.



    Quote:

    All my other points of criticism about the Apple Store I find are pretty accurate. Their selection of accessories is underwhelming and except for clearance they virtually never sell anything below MSRP.



    That's typical of mall stores though, and that's mostly what Apple stores are.



    In my experience, at least they are pretty good with returns on accessories.
  • Reply 46 of 48
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SSA View Post


    I somehow doubt that WalMart will be the primary recipient. Best Buy is probably going to be the biggest winner. Best Buy stores pretty much carry everything CC stores carry and then some because BB locations tend to be a little larger. Most people prefer a one stop shop so if they can get all their electronics shopping done at one store all the better. While Walmart does carry some electronics they aren't an electronics store by a long shot. The whole electronics department at the typical Walmart is smaller than the computer department at the typical BB. Most CC customers probably aren't far from a Walmart, but they shopped at CC because Walmart's selection of electronics is limited to say the least compared to CC or BB nevermind Fry's.



    Furthermore, one Reuters article I read noted that 80% of CC stores were within 5 miles of a BB store. Therefore, most CC customers wouldn't have to travel far to go to BB instead of CC for their electronic shopping.



    Whatever BB doesn't pick up I think will mostly go to regional electronic store chains(Fry's, Microcenter, etc.).





    It must be the atmosphere on this site. I did NOT say that WalMart would be the "primary recipient". I did say that they are likely to grab a large share of CC's business. If WalMart thinks that there's a profit to be made in electronics, it will present a much larger footprint in that market, and very quickly. There was a time not long ago that WM didn't sell groceries, and now they are the world's largest grocery retailer! Every grocery store chain in this country bases their business with an eye on WM, and they have for the last several years. WM started putting gas pumps at some locations, then so did some of the grocery chains. WM sets the wholesale price that they will pay for what they sell, and they don't budge. Since they are the size that they are, nobody gets a better, or even the same wholesale price than they do. Since they get grocery items cheaper than the competition, they can easily undercut the competitions prices. Go price an item at WM, and CC, or BB.
  • Reply 47 of 48
    pxtpxt Posts: 683member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ByronVanArsdale View Post


    [...] One trip to the Genius Bar would make a convert out of anyone! [...]



    It's like having corporate tech support "for the rest of us". Last week I had 3.5 hours of free consulting and advice on everything from backup strategies to using Automator. Amazing.
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