[psmith2.0]

155 out of 714.

We have one here in town and I'm not sure what will happen to it. But it is about a quarter-mile away from Best Buy, so...

I drive past it sometimes and it looks like a ghost town, the parking lot. I just don't think anyone fools with it much. On the flip-side to that, every time I go to Best Buy, I have to park in the next county because the lot is always so crammed.

The one thing I've never liked about Circuit City was their aggressive sales staff (especially if you were lurking/looking in the TV or stereo areas). They would glom on to you quite hard, and no amount of subtle or polite "I'm just browsing; I'll let you know if I need help" seemed to shake them.

I had about 4-5 aggravating encounters in a Circuit City store over the years, in various locations (Orange County, CA, northern Virginia and here in Chattanooga). So I assumed it was a company-wide "grab 'em like a shark!" mandate?



Oh well. I hate to see places fold, but it happens. If their selection, prices and customer service) aren't up to snuff, it's the fate that awaits.

Anyone have any thoughts on Circuit City? Experiences there, good or bad? For years, especially here, they were the only game in town. It took Best Buy coming years ago to provide an alternative or "second place to look" for this type of stuff. But I was never impressed with their prices. And their Sunday circulars always show "BIG SAVINGS!" notations or bursts, but it's the same price as it always is. I never got that.

[kieran]

I don't really mess with CC much at all. I think I may have bought two things from there my whole life, one of them being a new stereo for my truck.

Not going to miss it at all. Especially after waiting 4 hours for a Wii two years ago only to have them walk past the line and come out 10 mins before opening and saying they have 3 left.

I won't miss it at all.

[Capella]

I got my first Mac from a Circuit City, so I'm sympathetic to them for that. Otherwise, the closest electronics places to me in both FL and NJ are Best Buys, so I never bother. (Well, in Hamilton the Best Buy and Circuit City are right next to each other, but I always preferentially go to the Best Buy.)

Of course, now that they're closing, you can go to a closing store and get lots of stuff for cheap! When the Princeton CompUSA shut down some of our friends were getting amazing deals on stuff they had to sell- stuff like 320GB WD harddrives for $99 (this was back when they were closer to 200 each...) So there's that advantage.

[psmith2.0]

It reminds me of CompUSA in several ways, actually...and I definitely don't miss them.

EDIT: that's true about the close-out deals, Capella. Some people might be able to jump on something good.

One of the articles linked from the AppleInsider piece says that you can get an idea of which location will be closing if you go to Circuit City's site and do the "store finder" thing...apparently the 155 stores slated for closing have already been removed from their "store map" database. The one for Chattanooga still shows up, as of this morning, so (ghost town or not) I assume it's sticking around, and isn't one of the 155.

Interesting. I would've thought, simply based on parking lot traffic, it was history!

I know Apple has dabbled with them a few times over the years, and I remember when they carried iMacs and iBooks when I lived in California (of course this was "pre-iPod Apple" so pretty much the non-Mac-using segment of the universe didn't give a damn about them, and they, as with CompUSA, would sit there with frozen screens, 140 empty customer-created folders all over the desktop, missing keyboard keys, stolen mouse, etc. So I can't imagine anyone walking in and being impressed with a Mac.



A friend of mine got an open-box 15" ADC Studio Display (the acrylic LCD model) there for a great price there back in 2001 or so, but that was about the only cool, neat thing I ever saw happen in one.

[Capella]

Aha! The one in the Hamilton/Princeton area is not showing up. Oh, I'm soooooooooo going to go there and see what's on sale this weekend- why must it be Monday. I'm looking for parts for a Windows machine, and if they're going to be doing closeout finals of 50% off or more, this'd be the perfect time to get stuff. And hey, they have iPods too, so maybe those'll be put on closeout prices too?

[Banana]

Just to put things in perspective- I understand that there has been a general and long time decline in various deparment & retail stores. For whatever reasons, they aren't the 'go-to' places as they once were two or three decades ago. In terms of brick'n'mortar stores, only Walmart and Target are succeeding. I'd also argue that online ordering has also contributed to the general decline.

From my personal experience, going to Circuit City, Toys'R'Us, and/or JCPenney's didn't exactly outweight the appeal of getting it all from Target and usually at better prices to boot. Furthermore, for any electrical components, I just order online because it's pretty much the only way I can get my hands on refurbished (and thus cheaper and twice the QA). In short, they became just stores, not a place to go to. I think same thing happened to CompUSA, and that's why we saw Toys'R'Us fading away, even though it was a fun place to just to go.

I've yet to experience Circuit City's aggressive sales tactics. In fact, I had the opposite experience when browsing for GPS unit- I had to look all over the store to find a employee, and even after finding one, they would say it's not their department and promptly proceeded to do nothing. I will just assume that their walkie-talkie thingy is broken. Ended up getting a GPS from Best Buy. They may be fun to lampoon, but at least they do a decent job in providing good shopping experience, which makes them not too bad place to go to. Either way, I can't say that it's not expected that they would need to scale back.

Hopefully they will think long and hard about their business model. But I doubt it. Nobody at Toys'R'Us or CompUSA figured it out, apparently.

[Yontsey]

Hell, I didn't even know they were still around to be honest.

We had a CC by us for awhile, but it's been closed for a few years. Never anything special. I've always gone to Best Buy when need be.

[torifile]

I actually like the CC in my town. I've been able to score some really good deals there because their staff are too incompetent/apathetic/stupid to realize that they were screwing up the order. Of course, I didn't help them any by pointing out their mistakes.

Not that I'd do anything deceptive - just inquiring whether this coupon combines with that promo or I could use 2 coupons on a purchase.

And when their computer won't let them take both, they would just knock the price down on the items! One time, I got a 360 + free controller + free game + free play 'n charge kit for the price of a 360. They just knocked the price of the 360 down to offset the cost of the other stuff so my coupons would work. So I was left with a bunch of stuff I didn't really want that I could sell or take back.

I'll miss them for that.

[kieran]

The best story I have about CC like that is with my gf's sister.

They wanted to buy a Slingbox for their friend who lives in the Virgin Islands. They got the box and got a cable splitter as well. The cashier only rang up the splitter and put both in the box. They paid for the splitter and left with both items in a bag. When they got home, they realized a splitter was in the bag already, so they returned it!

Now, I know this would be considered stealing, but when dealing with incompetent people, you take any break you can get.

[Maciej]

Originally Posted by Capella Of course, now that they're closing, you can go to a closing store and get lots of stuff for cheap! When the Princeton CompUSA shut down some of our friends were getting amazing deals on stuff they had to sell- stuff like 320GB WD harddrives for $99 (this was back when they were closer to 200 each...) So there's that advantage.

CNET is reporting the sale begins on Wednesday. Thankfully, there's one in my area - but about a 20 minute drive away. Anyway, I thought they didn't usually discount music and dvds much, am I right about that?

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by torifile I actually like the CC in my town. I've been able to score some really good deals there because their staff are too incompetent/apathetic/stupid to realize that they were screwing up the order. Of course, I didn't help them any by pointing out their mistakes. Not that I'd do anything deceptive - just inquiring whether this coupon combines with that promo or I could use 2 coupons on a purchase. And when their computer won't let them take both, they would just knock the price down on the items! One time, I got a 360 + free controller + free game + free play 'n charge kit for the price of a 360. They just knocked the price of the 360 down to offset the cost of the other stuff so my coupons would work. So I was left with a bunch of stuff I didn't really want that I could sell or take back. I'll miss them for that.

Originally Posted by kieran The best story I have about CC like that is with my gf's sister. They wanted to buy a Slingbox for their friend who lives in the Virgin Islands. They got the box and got a cable splitter as well. The cashier only rang up the splitter and put both in the box. They paid for the splitter and left with both items in a bag. When they got home, they realized a splitter was in the bag already, so they returned it! Now, I know this would be considered stealing, but when dealing with incompetent people, you take any break you can get.

That's probably a huge reason why they're on "hard times". Bonehead employees not doing their job right, and slowly bleeding the outfit from within. Multiply torifile x hundreds (thousands?) of other similar episodes nationwide...that can add up to some real money over time, I guess.

[tomoe]

Here is a list of all the stores that will be closing., in case anyone's interested.

[psmith2.0]

Great. Thanks. I was looking for something like that, because the "enter your store into the online store locator map" thing kinda sucked, and was taking forever.



I'll forward this on to a few people I know in the KC area...

[SKMDC]

I'm amazed mine (Berwyn Il.) is managing to stay open. It's always in disarray. They put CD & DVD product out carelessly, it says Drama D, and E's C's bleed into it not to mention that most of the stuff isn't drama.

I tried to buy a Navigator there a couple of months ago and the displays were not in stock and the stock was not on display.

Half the time you have to check out at the customer service desk as the cash/wraps are all closed. Then you end up behind someone trying to return something and you wait five to ten minutes just to buy a friggin' movie.

You ask why do I go there? Well, it's ten minutes closer than the BB and it's tons easier to park. But I vow never to return every other month.

This is the 2nd or 3rd round of closings, I believe.

[psmith2.0]

You know, that is the weird, unpredictable thing about Circuit City...actually buying your item (the check-out process).



It's never the same, and it's never just straightforward or quick-and-easy, is it?

On the handful of occasions (like four in my entire life?) I've bought something from there, it was such a pain-in-the-butt paying for it, and getting out of the store.

So weird.

They're actually worse than my local grocery store when it comes to having no check-out lanes/stations manned.

[Wrao]

I always preferred Circuit City over Best Buy, probably due to the layout of both stores, since the inventory was practically identical. But really, I'd only ever go there if I was careless enough to not buy something from newegg or amazon.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

I've only bought stuff from CC when BB was out of stock (they're across the street from each other here). The last time I went in there was when they had the "Buy COD4 & get COD3 free" sale. They had sold out of COD3 and after a week of giving me the runaround, they said no rainchecks were available. Vowed never to buy anything from CC again and have stuck to it for about a year now.

The CC in my area rarely has any foot traffic other than employees so I don't understand why they'd want to tick off people actually giving them money.

[judeobscure]

Eh. CC never has anything in stock including the employees. I have tried to purchase a few things there but never could find any help. Ours is not on the chopping block but it seems doomed as it is in the same strip mall as the deceased CompUSA and Tweeter.

We don't seem to be losing many retailers here.... yet. Car dealerships on the other hand.....

[SKMDC]

Geez that's the other thing about this CC, 90% of the strip mall is vacant! Albeit it is a famous strip mall, ex home of the car-kabob.



Of course it was torn down for a new Walgreens, perhaps CC believes losing the Car Kabob (actually known as The Spindle)
and getting a Walgreens is just what the doctor ordered.

They do have excellent washroom facilities.

[ezkcdude]

I never really liked CC. When I was a kid we had Good Guys in California. That was a much better store. Ah, the good ol' days.

[turtle]

Our are CC's are staying, I do hope the staff changes out though. Sadly, the support and service there just plain sucks. I know one of the salesman and that's the only reason I get any help there.

[scratt]

Shame it couldn't be Best Buy.

[remlemasi]

Pomona, CA is not listed on the store locator!
The entire complex has looked ghostly for a several years now.

I wonder when they'll start liquidating...

[judeobscure]

Our CC in Holyoke always looks vacant but, is not on the list so I am wondering if some stores will be kept open for the holidays but will disappear the first of the year.

[Robo]

The one near my house is almost always empty but it's still going to be open. Only one of like five stores in Vegas is closing.

It's weird how they're closing them just before the holiday shopping season. Apparently, they want to move product to stores that will sell more of it, so they can spend less buying product to sell.

Still, it reads like a desperate move. I'd be surprised if there are still Circuit Cities to close this time next year...

[Eugene]

I believe we all started circling Circuit City like carrion birds in the CompUSA thread from a year ago. For its part, Circuit City occasionally had amazing deals. I bought an APC 1500VA UPS for $120 a few months back. When I needed a rev 1.0 Linksys WRT350N, I knew I could go to the store, browse the serial numbers then order from my iPhone for in-store pick-up to get the web price.

Circuit City was also one of the first major chains that would not only pricematch local competitors, but also give you back 10% of the difference.

[turtle]

I'm beginning to pay closer attention to the store near me.

[psmith2.0]

They've filed for bankruptcy.

[SpecMode]

And they're still begging customers to "please buy stuff at our stores! Well, the ones that're still open, anyway."

I've always avoided Circuit City unless there was no other practical option; there always seemed to be a Best Buy, CompUSA, or (if I was lucky) the Holy Grail, a Fry's.

Just to give you an idea of what a particular CC's employees were like from a personal observation: I once watched a guy (a wannabe thug, obviously hiding something under his jacket) walk out the door, setting off the loss-prevention alarm. Nobody made a move to stop him, or even paid any attention at all to him. He kept right on walking, and as I watched he pulled a couple of Wii games out from under his jacket -- in full view of anyone watching from inside -- and still, nobody did anything about it. It's like they don't give a damn what goes on in their, as long as they get paid.

Hrmph.

[turtle]

Yeah! Time for some good deals on stuff.