Circuit City Set To Return This Spring

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How many times can these guys come back? Like the article says, maybe the "third time is the charm."

The duo, now working under the name Circuit City Corp., acquired the brand, domain and associated trademarks in October from IT supplier Systemax, which bought them in a bankruptcy auction but abandoned the U.S. retail channel last fall. Once the No. 1 big-box tech chain, Circuit City succumbed to a rapidly changing marketplace in 2008, and misfired in its second incarnation as an online-only sister site to Systemax’s TigerDirect.
 
The article sounds more like a pitch to venture capitalists than something that's already in progress.

Step 1: buy old recognizable name
Step 2: send PR out on the wire and make powerpoints
Step 3: ...
Step 4: sell old recognizable name to next investor
 
I still think there's a place for a retail electronics chain that truly focuses on that niche. Most of the complaints about both Circuit City and Best Buy relate to the hordes of employees that are only there to help you find movies/CD's that are already in alphabetical order. The only valuable employees are contracted by the cell companies or by Magnolia.
You get the same level or service for a massive TV, computer, etc. as you get for someone unlocking the caged-up video games or pointing out that "N" comes after "M."
The Denver Microcenter is almost permanently crowded (in an area with empty and shuttered BB and CC stores) so there's a market there.
 
CircuitCity originally failed due to incompetent retail staff. The last time I went there, there were no checkout lines open. I left my items on the checkout counter and walked out stating they will be going out of business. A little while later, that came true.

While I like the idea of a local tech store, Amazon offers free same day delivery in my area.
 
The hard part with hiring people that know what they are doing is that they are not going to take a low paying sales job. They probably moved up in the industry. Sales jobs at big box stores are entry level.

What they could do is pay a bit more (not a whole lot more) and get some real talent in there. It'd build a good reputation as the best store with people that know what they are talking about and can actually help you. That, and good prices on things, which is hard with a full storefront. Magnolia Hi Fi and other niche stores were great because the sales people knew about the devices, the speakers, etc.. They were in the hobby and had great systems. High prices, though (yes, they were good products worth the cost, but a limited clientele).
 
If it is anything like Frys or Microcenter, it will survive. Neither of these two stores spend much on employees or store appearance. Staff are both paid on commission. Best Buy and Circuit City both try to do the opposite. Get knowledgeable staff at minimum wage and only sell consumer friendly devices (very limited in other words).
 
Staples said:
If it is anything like Frys or Microcenter, it will survive. Neither of these two stores spend much on employees or store appearance. Staff are both paid on commission. Best Buy and Circuit City both try to do the opposite. Get knowledgeable staff at minimum wage and only sell consumer friendly devices (very limited in other words).
Click to expand...

If they did that, it'd be great! :D I'd shop there.
 
Domingo said:
I still think there's a place for a retail electronics chain that truly focuses on that niche. Most of the complaints about both Circuit City and Best Buy relate to the hordes of employees that are only there to help you find movies/CD's that are already in alphabetical order. The only valuable employees are contracted by the cell companies or by Magnolia.
You get the same level or service for a massive TV, computer, etc. as you get for someone unlocking the caged-up video games or pointing out that "N" comes after "M."
The Denver Microcenter is almost permanently crowded (in an area with empty and shuttered BB and CC stores) so there's a market there.
Click to expand...

Circuit City had that at one point, but employees were on commission. Once Best Buy moved in, they started undercutting CC's prices, because their people got paid low hourly wages. As a result, CC followed suit and the knowledgeable employees left ASAP.

I could be wrong, but I suspect BBY's Magnolia sales staff are on commission. When I sold A/V, a good sales person would make low 6 figures (in 2015 dollars). Average would probably make 50-60k (2015 $).
 
Yikes used to work there most aweful horrible terrible under staffed place with high pressure tactics if customers dont buy extended warranties we dont want them in our store attitude
 
Maybe they find a niche. They could add to the void on what Radio Shack left open and team with Adafruit. Have part of the store focused on the Maker crowd. Become the place to go for 3d printers and the like. Setup a 3d print by order in the store, so people can order 3d prints to be done by industrialized machines.

If they're just going to focus on TV's and Stereos, they're doomed to fail again.
 
I would like to say that more competition is better, however with Circuit City and Best Buy in the same area prices were still fairly high and yeah they pimped their overly expensive cables.
 
They just need an excellent layout and really good helpful knowlegeable employees, and they can out-apple apple stores if they do it all right and for less money.
 
I say do the exact opposite. Cut back the employees to a minimum and pass the savings along in the pricing. There are a billion better sources of buying information out there than retail employees. For every old granny shopper that might actually benefit from that environment there are a thousand Amazon.com customers looking for instant gratification. Give me an electronics warehouse store with Amazon pricing and selection... and nothing else. No "expert" employees that don't know what the hell they are babbling about. No stupid "experience" sales gimmicks. Just a huge selection of well priced electronics and a register at the door.
 
sfsuphysics said:
I would like to say that more competition is better, however with Circuit City and Best Buy in the same area prices were still fairly high and yeah they pimped their overly expensive cables.
Click to expand...

Every A/V shop pimps cables. The main difference is that Monster is the cheap cable at the Indie stores. They're high margin products, so it's crazy not to push them. I think the only thing I sold that was higher margin was Turntable needles. When I sold you a Grado cartridge for 50% off, it was marked up more than 1000%.
 
bigddybn said:
I say do the exact opposite. Cut back the employees to a minimum and pass the savings along in the pricing. There are a billion better sources of buying information out there than retail employees. For every old granny shopper that might actually benefit from that environment there are a thousand Amazon.com customers looking for instant gratification. Give me an electronics warehouse store with Amazon pricing and selection... and nothing else. No "expert" employees that don't know what the hell they are babbling about. No stupid "experience" sales gimmicks. Just a huge selection of well priced electronics and a register at the door.
Click to expand...

Best Buy and Fry's already price match Amazon, so I fail to see the benefit.
 
"Circuit City Set To Return This Spring... And Disappear Once More By Winter..."

'cause we all know that's what'll happen. ;)
 
bigddybn said:
I say do the exact opposite. Cut back the employees to a minimum and pass the savings along in the pricing. There are a billion better sources of buying information out there than retail employees. For every old granny shopper that might actually benefit from that environment there are a thousand Amazon.com customers looking for instant gratification. Give me an electronics warehouse store with Amazon pricing and selection... and nothing else. No "expert" employees that don't know what the hell they are babbling about. No stupid "experience" sales gimmicks. Just a huge selection of well priced electronics and a register at the door.
Click to expand...

Those employees at BB and elsewhere aren't there to educate consumers, they're there to sell extended warranties, stock, and keep people from looting the place. Even with a good sales staff and loss-prevention team shoplifting is a huge problem.

Retail electronics stores just can't compete with Amazon outside of major population centers. The cost of operating a physical store is very high and sales are limited by the local population. Even Walmart is under pressure.
 
SparkedFire said:
CircuitCity originally failed due to incompetent retail staff. The last time I went there, there were no checkout lines open. I left my items on the checkout counter and walked out stating they will be going out of business. A little while later, that came true.

While I like the idea of a local tech store, Amazon offers free same day delivery in my area.
Click to expand...
Circuit city went out of business due to massive mismanagement, move away from commissioned salesmen to save money repeated cuts to staffing and unwillingness to update showrooms and locations that essentially always placed them near main competitor best buy. If not lowes or home depot(appliances) which Circuit City moved out of appliances in what the early 00's with their DivX push(another failure) which was the start of the housing bubble, meaning a lot of appliances were sold during that period. Really just poor decisions considering Circuit City and Sears were main suppliers of appliances in the 90's.

Incompetent staff just due to incompetent upper management deciding short term cost savings equates to success. Which is funny because in the 90's their main successes was their commissioned well trained sales staff.
 
bigddybn said:
I say do the exact opposite. Cut back the employees to a minimum and pass the savings along in the pricing. There are a billion better sources of buying information out there than retail employees. For every old granny shopper that might actually benefit from that environment there are a thousand Amazon.com customers looking for instant gratification. Give me an electronics warehouse store with Amazon pricing and selection... and nothing else. No "expert" employees that don't know what the hell they are babbling about. No stupid "experience" sales gimmicks. Just a huge selection of well priced electronics and a register at the door.
Click to expand...

Yeah this is what I want. When I go to Best Buy or Costco or whatever I already know what I want, and if I need to figure something out, I am googling it on my phone and not asking anyone there. Even if I knew a store has a good sales staff I'm still way more trusting of my own research, honestly.

You're never going to succeed these days with a super knowledgeable well paid staff and lower prices. It's just not economically feasible. Even Best Buy had to make major changes to adjust and their future is not guaranteed.
 
SparkedFire said:
CircuitCity originally failed due to incompetent retail staff.
Click to expand...
Half the time they were right next to a Best Buy that sold the same products, and the retail staff weren't less competent than BB highschool kids, but they were ordered to hound you like vultures.

Ultimately though, the internet happened, and the internet is still around. And for those times I need something in person, there's already high-volume warehouse style giants like Walmart, Costco, Frys, and Microcenter.

What niche is there for CCity?
 
DeathFromBelow said:
Those employees at BB and elsewhere aren't there to educate consumers, they're there to sell extended warranties, stock, and keep people from looting the place. Even with a good sales staff and loss-prevention team shoplifting is a huge problem.

Retail electronics stores just can't compete with Amazon outside of major population centers. The cost of operating a physical store is very high and sales are limited by the local population. Even Walmart is under pressure.
Click to expand...

Shoplifting is easily solved by the "bring the ticket to the front" model. The costs of operating a retail store are high because they are packed with useless high cost bodies.
 
Amazing. While they were going through bankruptcy they were building and opening a brand new store on the east end of town here. Grand opening coincided with final bankrupts and they closed the store immediately. What does that tell you about how the company was managed?
 
Use to get all my games in the 90's from circuit city. Everything else was a bit overpriced. Saying that had most of my prebuilts from them also.
 
nilepez said:
Best Buy and Fry's already price match Amazon, so I fail to see the benefit.
Click to expand...

It's at the discretion of the store manager as well as what they consider price matching. This applies to both Best Buy and Fry's. I have had both of them try every trick in the book to get the "matched" price as high as possible...including building in the tax that Amazon charges....which I then have to point out "wont you also charge me tax?" I've also had them refuse due to "different markets" :rolleyes:
 
I honestly never went back to Circuit City after the DIVX fiasco. Really grinded my gears.

https://youtu.be/3Or4nWQpidk?t=600

But they did have a good selection of home audio stuff in the 90's if you wanted something cool, but didn't want the real high end stuff. They carried Sony ES stuff back then as well.
 
Ur_Mom said:
The hard part with hiring people that know what they are doing is that they are not going to take a low paying sales job. They probably moved up in the industry. Sales jobs at big box stores are entry level.

What they could do is pay a bit more (not a whole lot more) and get some real talent in there. It'd build a good reputation as the best store with people that know what they are talking about and can actually help you. That, and good prices on things, which is hard with a full storefront. Magnolia Hi Fi and other niche stores were great because the sales people knew about the devices, the speakers, etc.. They were in the hobby and had great systems. High prices, though (yes, they were good products worth the cost, but a limited clientele).
Click to expand...

they recently reopened sound advice down here and the sales people are on commission again, they are all fairly competent
 
Anyone taking bets how long they will last?

Based on the article, seems like their new owners are rolling out with the small format stores. Looks similar to how the Apple store is laid out. Wonder how far they will get this go around.
 
"Consumer education has worsened with the growth of the web" ... No, I'm pretty sure CC and GG and BB are all lamenting that the web educated their previous customers.

I went to buy the latest GPS from BB, but it wasn't there. Only old GPS units on the shelf. Asked a floor rep ... "yeah we keep the new models in the back." Right, because you bank on your customers being uneducated!!!
 
xorbe said:
"Consumer education has worsened with the growth of the web" ... No, I'm pretty sure CC and GG and BB are all lamenting that the web educated their previous customers.

I went to buy the latest GPS from BB, but it wasn't there. Only old GPS units on the shelf. Asked a floor rep ... "yeah we keep the new models in the back." Right, because you bank on your customers being uneducated!!!
Click to expand...

There were educated customers then too. CC got killed because people go in, demo stuff then buy it from a site online and because Best Buy put up a store within a miles of most Circuit City locations...often within a block.

You get less sales, so you stock less stuff. You have less stuff, so even fewer people shop at your store. Rinse and repeat.

I know that if I buy a TV or W/D, I'm going to buy locally....all the stores price match and Fry's often covers the tax, so there's just no reason not to.
 
westrock2000 said:
It's at the discretion of the store manager as well as what they consider price matching. This applies to both Best Buy and Fry's. I have had both of them try every trick in the book to get the "matched" price as high as possible...including building in the tax that Amazon charges....which I then have to point out "wont you also charge me tax?" I've also had them refuse due to "different markets" :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I have never had any problem at either and Target for that matter. It is just a policy most places that the item is sold by Amazon.com and not a third party.

But they take forever at Fry to fill the documentation needed to reduce the price.
 
I don't have a problem paying a small premium at Fry's, but the problem is it's usually a huge premium for an older revision or older model. For instance, usb thumb drives ...
 
westrock2000 said:
It's at the discretion of the store manager as well as what they consider price matching. This applies to both Best Buy and Fry's. I have had both of them try every trick in the book to get the "matched" price as high as possible...including building in the tax that Amazon charges....which I then have to point out "wont you also charge me tax?" I've also had them refuse due to "different markets" :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

If any manager tells you that, just pull this out, because they're either lying or uninformed.

At the time of sale, we price match all local retail competitors (including their online prices) and we price match products shipped from and sold by these major online retailers: Amazon.com, Bhphotovideo.com, Crutchfield.com, Dell.com, HP.com, Newegg.com, and TigerDirect.com.

I've never price matched amazon at Fry's, but if they refused, I'd let them ring everything up and then say, "you know what, since you're not price matching, I'm going to Best Buy" (or just order it from Amazon)
 
I thought BestBuy and Costco intentionally stocked models with different part numbers, but actually still the same product, so they could avoid price matching high ticket items like TV's?
 
I went to Circut City like 15 years ago was amazed by all of the LCD monitors and how much cleaner looking they were then the CRTs they had. I tried one but couldn't handle the back light which was all CFL back then.
 
I had Fry's price-match Amazon for Logitech Z636, $35 saved no problems. Guitar Center was very, very unhappy about price matching a cheap $599 keyboard for $509. Manager came down and said, we'll do it but please don't tell anyone else that we price match this item ... wtf lol
 
SparkedFire said:
CircuitCity originally failed due to incompetent retail staff. The last time I went there, there were no checkout lines open. I left my items on the checkout counter and walked out stating they will be going out of business. A little while later, that came true.

While I like the idea of a local tech store, Amazon offers free same day delivery in my area.
Click to expand...

You be must talking about the 2nd time around. Back in the day when employees were paid commission they were experts in their departments and had to go through training for weeks. I remember I was one of them, we made bank. Then they dropped the commission element and everything went south.
 
I enjoyed my time at Circuit City, made decent money ($13/hr as an 18 year old), and made a couple (as of this day) lifelong connections with customers after going above and beyond what CC would officially provide with regards to service. I still occasionally talk to one of my old coworkers. Way better experience than I had at Best Buy where it was a "they who can kiss more ass shall achieve success" kind of environment. Granted this was all early 2000's. I still shop at Best Buy because not all stores were as annoying as the one at which I worked. I shopped at and preferred Circuit City until they went under.

If they come back, I'd go back to shopping there again. Hopefully they can get better building locations this time around if that's the case. They usually had comparatively worse store locales than their competitors. The one I worked at was all by it's lonesome in some lot nudged up against a freeway overpass and unless you knew where it was you'd probably miss it.
 
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