Hates the Infotainment
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
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Another one bites the dust. Circuit City today announced it didn't have the influx of cash over the holiday to help it stay afloat. All stores are to be shut down and sold off (and presumably some big sales in the making), and 30k+ employees to be laid off. Sucks. I'm not a huge fan of Circuit City but this leaves Best Buy as the only major, nation-wide retail electronics game in town, which makes them more likely to abuse their position in the market. Loss of competition is always bad.
When CrapUSA went under I was fine with it because their selection, prices, and service were garbage. Circuit City was clearly a step above that chain at least, so it's not great to see them go. That said maybe I'll head in there and try to get a bargain on a compact camera or similar. http://www.pcworld.com/article/15784...ng_stores.html ...into the light of a dark black night. |
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Circuit City got its butt kicked in by Best Buy. Their senior management made a decision like a year ago to fire its experienced sales help and go inexperienced to save money, but in the end, it probably alienated potential customers. I used to shop there a lot, but it became too painful. The local Best Buy in Norwalk CT is much more pleasant experience.
Now that I got a job, I can buy more Apple products! |
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Banging the Bottom End
Join Date: Jun 2004
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Walmart is still around to provide some competition, and there's always local shops like Bernie's in my area. Still, I'm glad I didn't pick up the replacement TV for my kitchen last night.
Last edited by bassplayinMacFiend : 2009-01-16 at 17:20. |
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Dark Cat of the Sith
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I'm hoping that when the store here closes there'll be good discounts- hopefully on iPods or on internal hard drives (clearly not Seagate though!)
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On Pacific time
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Moderator's Pub
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Small stores always had high prices though; so the consumer would be caught between a rock and a hard place, either with fewer big boxes or with the reincarnation of the small-shop model. Perhaps sales via the internet will be the one avenue where the consumer will still be able to get good value for his money as this 21st-century economy unfolds, shapes and develops itself over the next decade. If so, then delivery companies like UPS would probably be a good investment. What do you think? |
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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How odd. I just went to my local Circuit City a couple of nights ago. It was the first time in ages I'd been in. I noticed how it (compared to Best Buy) just seemed to have a vaguely "morgue-ish" vibe about it. Perhaps they knew?
I was never a fan, and haven't bought anything from there in forever. I use Best Buy or Target as my local retail disk/cable/electronics-gettin' place. I'd even prefer Out-On-Parole Reggie's House o' Stereos over Circuit City, given the choice. I knew they were shutting down some locations, but I guess even that wasn't enough. PS - I agree, Carol. I think as more and more people get comfortable with "buying online" in the coming years, you'd probably do okay owning a skootch of UPS and/or FedEx...somebody's gotta deliver all this stuff, and it's going to be one of those two! It's not like they're going anywhere anytime soon (they might merge though, and become FedUPS at some point). I'm here all week... |
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reticulating your mom
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Word. I stopped by one a few miles away this afternoon - didn't notice anything different, just a small 'clearance' table in one corner.
It sucks that the retail electronics market will soon have yet fewer large players. Let's at least hope for lots of cheap gear as they die. You ask me for a hamburger. |
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@kk@pennytucker.social
Join Date: Jan 2005
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I may have bought a DVD at a Circuit City....once....
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
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Rest in pieces, Circuit Shitty.
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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Is Fry's still around? I knew them when I lived in SoCal...there was one up in Orange County off the 405, and then one down in San Diego, just north of Qualcomm Stadium, off the 15. I've been to both plenty of times, but never saw them anywhere else I've lived (Nashville or northern Virginia) or visit (Atlanta, Knoxville, New Orleans).
Are they a west coast outfit? Also, what about Micro-Center? That's where I bought my very first Mac, in Orange County in early '94. There is one in Virginia (Fairfax, I think?) because I drove past it by accident one day on an aimless weekend drive and was surprised to see it. I had to stop and run in, of course, and get my Mac fix. And they always had a great book and magazine department too...books on Photoshop and Illustrator that I never saw anywhere else (not even Borders or Barnes & Noble!), and tons of cool design and Mac-oriented magazines too. But I've never seen Fry's anywhere but California... |
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Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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Well, a little known fact is that Office Depot, Office Max and Staples also provide real compitition to Best Buy for a lot of Tech items. I can't say I'm sad to see CC going under, but I will miss that option when in need of something not offered locally elsewhere.
Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it. |
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Custom User Title
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: At home
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They will annouce what they'll do in canada soon. Probably close too... I don't know.
I don't buy much at that store (La source/The source here in quebec/canada). But it is great when is comes to adapters/wire and stuff like that. Always got what I wanted. I can't say Futureshop is great in that domain so I don't know where I'll get my stuff... besides internet. Dave Mustaine :"God created whammy bars for people who don't know how to solo." |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Banging the Bottom End
Join Date: Jun 2004
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Fry's is around, as is Meijer, Mal-Wart, and other localized chains. The HDTV I bought in '05 came from Bernie's as they had a price that was hundreds cheaper than the same model at BB.
Every time I went into CC it was always nearly dead. The BB across the street, on the other hand, is always loaded with customers. The only reason I've gone to CC in the last year is when a 360 game I wanted was sold out at BB. |
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ಠ_ರೃ
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
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I suspect if I went into a Circuit City, the sales guy would tell me that what I was looking for either doesn't exist or is a splitter (it's NOT a splitter). I ended up going to Radio Shack for the part, but Best Buy still left a good impression. |
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Avast!
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: New York?
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"How could you falter / when you're the Rock of Gibralter? / I had to get off the boat so I could walk on water. / This ain't no tall order. / This is nothing to me. / Difficult takes a day. / Impossible takes a week." |
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ಠ_ರೃ
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
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Maybe it's because they occupy a niche that no one else really fills? A Best Buy store the size of a grocery store didn't have the item I wanted, but a Radio Shack smaller than my apartment did.
And overpriced? I guess it depends on what you're looking for. If you need a specific cable or adapter, it's only a few bucks. Maybe more than it's worth (I'm sure a 3.5mm stereo coupler could be found somewhere for less than the $3.99 plus tax I paid), but it's convenient and if you buy online you'll end up paying more for shipping than for the item itself unless you buy tons and tons of stuff in a single order. |
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Hates the Infotainment
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
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Most people go there twice a year maybe to buy paper products, pens, binders and stuff like that. IMHE they do not even moderately compete with a Best Buy in terms of the type and breadth of electronics choices you can get. Most office stores have 5 types of cameras, 5 printers, 5 LCD screens, 5 hard drives... ad nauseum for every type of gadget. And none are of the must-get variety and all are priced higher than places like Amazon, where you can get them delivered to your door for free. Wouldn't be surprised if one or more of those office mega-stores bites this dust this year. ...into the light of a dark black night. |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
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As far as CC... We have been growing and growing in retail square footage per capital and are WAY higher than other countries like the UK and Canada. Like everything else, that was fueled by Credit Cards, home equity, etc... Put that together with a far far more efficient Walmart, competition with the internet (Amazon rocks), and they didn't have much of a chance. Someone said they fired all the high paid employees and hired lower paid staff... Thats a desperation move if there ever was one. It only keeps the stock up a little higher (so that the execs can cash out their options) but doesn't help a bit.... I really liked CC in the 80s and 90s, I also like the Good Guys... Too bad... The days of going to a store and actually talking to someone that knows ANYTHING about the electronics they sell is gone except for high-end products.... JTA JTA |
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Avast!
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: New York?
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"How could you falter / when you're the Rock of Gibralter? / I had to get off the boat so I could walk on water. / This ain't no tall order. / This is nothing to me. / Difficult takes a day. / Impossible takes a week." |
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ಠ_ರೃ
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
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The great thing about Radio Shack, though, is that you know if you walk in needing any kind of cable or adapter, you will walk out with a solution in your hands.
I doubt they make much profit on those tiny items, though. They probably make most of their money by selling that overpriced stuff, which allows them to stay in business. But what if they do go out of business? Where do you get all those little adapters? Even if some grocery stores start carrying them, you have to figure out which ones. I mean, even Best Buy doesn't carry nearly as much of a selection of cables and adapters, and they have tons more room to work with. |
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Hates the Infotainment
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Near Indianapolis
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Plus, while the markups aren't extreme on small items from a dollar perspective, the percentages are outrageous. When I worked there, we charged $3.99 for a pack of batteries or $10 for four packages. The four packages obviously seemed like a good deal, comparatively, so we moved those like crazy. We only paid $0.23 for each pack, though. The $3.99 bundle gave us $3.76 in profit, and the "4-4-10" (as they called it then) made us $9.08. Most of the small items are like that. They cost the store less than a dollar, but they sell them for 3-10 times what they paid for them. Oh, and the extended life batteries? We charged an extra dollar per pack, and we couldn't bundle them. They only cost the store two cents more per pack than the standard batteries. They make nearly all their money on selling small items and services (cell phones, TV service, etc.). We had special weekends and days when we'd get paid a $50 bonus for every single Dish Network install we sold. I don't know how much Radio Shack was getting per install, but I guarantee it was a lot more than $50. Those things were pure profit. There was little or no overhead for selling that stuff (since we didn't do installs), but we made tons of money on it. As far as the big items go, people rarely came in for those things. I think I sold four stereos and one or two TVs in the nine months I was there. There are some people who refuse to shop anywhere else, but they tend to be older people who are stuck on their habit. Of course, those same people are the types of people who don't buy that sort of item very often. We didn't care, though. There was no margin on those things, so we made very little commission on them. iPods are a great example of that. The store made less than $5 on every iPod we sold. We got bitched at big time if we ever sold one without accessories or a service plan (also big profit machines -- most service plans go unused, so they're pure profit too). So, that's pretty much how they make money -- major markups on small items and selling tons of service contracts. I actually don't think they're going anywhere. With little overhead and crazy markups on their best-selling items, I think they'll be just fine. |
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Banging the Bottom End
Join Date: Jun 2004
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Heck, I'm not sure if I can wait until Ben is 8 (he just turned 4 on Monday *beamingfatherlypride*) to pick up the latest 150-in-1 incarnation for Ben & I to explore. Thanks to these electronics kits being around when I was a kid, I'm seriously considering building a 45W tube amp from parts like the old Heathkit kits that used to be around. [on topic] Looks like no one approached CC's board of directors about buying the extended electronic store chain warranty. |
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Custom User Title
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: At home
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Didn't notice that you guys still have Radioshacks. Here in Quebec, Radioshack has been bought by Circuit City. It really look the same, only the name changed. So if they close here too, it sucks...
Dave Mustaine :"God created whammy bars for people who don't know how to solo." |
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OK Mr. Sunshine!
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Toronto
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I never like The Source, or Radio Shack, personally. I've always gone elsewhere for my electronics needs (Future Shop, Long and McQuade, Home Hardware, etc.). Do not be oppressed by the forces of ignorance and delusion! But rise up now with resolve and courage! Entranced by ignorance, from beginningless time until now, You have had more than enough time to sleep. So do not slumber any longer, but strive after virtue with body, speech, and mind! |
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Sneaky Punk
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I only go to "The Source" when I'm looking for a cable I cannot find elsewhere, meaning I've been there twice in the last four years.
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Rocket Surgeon
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: The Canadark
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PBPM: the Source is really terrible, even for that use. Try Commercial Electronics if you can go downtown - the "obscure cables" dept is underneath the tv showroom. Recommended.
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careful with axes
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
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Fry's often has fantastic deals on certain items to lure you into their store. I often end up buying nice Antec PC cases, power supplies, RAM, and other components for much less than outfits like NewEgg. On the average their prices are higher. I generally hate their stores and merchandise though. They're still way too generous about returns, so their shelves are packed with open-box items. In addition, Fry's shelves are polluted with junk from no-name brands. Quote:
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