Circuit City closing 155 stores, leaving 12 markets

[JonInMiddleGA]

I mention this mostly in its own thread because there might be some bargains to be had come Wednesday.

Circuit City to close all 16 Atlanta locations | ajc.com

Circuit City announced plans Monday to close 155 stores, including all 16 of the electronics retailer’s metro Atlanta locations.

The company will also close stores in Macon, Warner Robins and Athens. The store locator on the Circuit City Web site now lists only three stores within 100 miles of Atlanta — Rome, Columbus and Chattanooga, Tenn.

The company said in a news release that the 155 stores that will be closed “are under performing or are no longer a strategic fit for the company.”

According to a statement posted on the Web site, stores pegged for closing will not open on Tuesday, and store closing sales will begin on Wednesday.

“The company expects the sales to be completed no later than calendar year end,” the statement said.

The press release blamed the decision to downsize the chain on several factors, including “waning consumer confidence and a significantly weakened retail environment” that the company said has negatively impacted sales.
...

In addition to Atlanta, looking at the store closing list found here, there's quite a few markets that I know have FOFC'ers -- Phoenix, Jacksonville, Columbus OH,
a lot of locations in CA, IL, TX.

[gstelmack]

Good, the two stores I shop at regularly are being left alone.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I can't say that I'm terribly surprised about the store closings. I go to two of the four being closed in KC. Both of them are extremely empty most of the time and in a horrible location. One of them is near my home and opened less than a year ago. Talk about tossing money out the window.

[flere-imsaho]

Thanks for the heads-up, there's 2 within about 10 miles of me, so I might snag a deal or two.

[Flasch186]

FWIW, the 2 in Jacksonville were built right around a huge PUD called Oakleaf Plantation. It is quite symbolic that the 2 closings occur in an area that is supposedly a part of the next impending housing run. CC is really on the ropes however and while the merger w/ Blockbuster I thought was a horrible idea for Blockbuster I thought it was a very good idea to try to save the skin of CC. When BBI pulled the plug there went CC's prospects, IMO.

[Eaglesfan27]

Yeah, one of the ones near me is closing as well - might be worth checking out. They opened a new store within the last 3 months that is in a much better part of Baton Rouge and it is staying open, but it looks like quite a few of the stores in Louisiana are closing.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Like MBBF, I can't say I'm terribly surprised about this but I hate to see it happen from a consumer standpoint (I hate to see it happen economically too but I understand it).

The CC here is head & shoulders better with customer service than the BB (which seems to just get worse & worse) and I actually enjoyed shopping there.

[Poli]

They really need an Easy Button.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

The CC here is head & shoulders better with customer service than the BB (which seems to just get worse & worse) and I actually enjoyed shopping there.

Wow, talk about a difference. Not that BB is great with customer service, but at least in Jersey they actually man cash registers and have people walking around. At all the CCs I've been to back there, you can only pay at the main customer service desk and there are no employees to be found.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

FWIW.....I think the management decision to put up a CC near each Best Buy was a brutal management decision. While the policy makes perfect sense in regards to fast food (several restaurants would just put up a place near any McDonalds), it's a lousy decision in regards to electronic retail. I would usually go to the Best Buy nearby and only go to CC if I felt like the deal at Best Buy wasn't reasonable. I'm guessing that's not what they had in mind.

[Eaglesfan27]

I was just the opposite, I preferred CC and only went to Best Buy if CC wasn't offering a reasonable deal or if they didn't have the object I wanted to buy.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Logan

Wow, talk about a difference. Not that BB is great with customer service, but at least in Jersey they actually man cash registers and have people walking around. At all the CCs I've been to back there, you can only pay at the main customer service desk and there are no employees to be found.

Around here you finding an employee in BB is more like the retail version of hide-and-go-seek. Finding one that has an IQ with three digits is more like trying to find a unicorn.

[Poli]

You are in Georgia, right? Jon, what are you expecting?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I was just the opposite, I preferred CC and only went to Best Buy if CC wasn't offering a reasonable deal or if they didn't have the object I wanted to buy.

My problem was that my local Circuit City's available stock would vary quite a bit. Some days I could find exactly what I needed while other days, they wouldn't have certain products.

[miked]

There's a few relatively near me, including a decent one near Buckhead, so I guess I'll be bottom fishing for stuff when they close.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Like MBBF, I can't say I'm terribly surprised about this but I hate to see it happen from a consumer standpoint (I hate to see it happen economically too but I understand it).

The CC here is head & shoulders better with customer service than the BB (which seems to just get worse & worse) and I actually enjoyed shopping there.

Definitely agree on both counts. I'd rather go to Circuit City than Best Buy any day in terms of customer service. That said, here in Richmond, which is the corporate headquarters of CC, a lot of my coworkers don't like them at all and would much rather deal with BB so I suppose that's telling.

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

FWIW.....I think the management decision to put up a CC near each Best Buy was a brutal management decision. While the policy makes perfect sense in regards to fast food (several restaurants would just put up a place near any McDonalds), it's a lousy decision in regards to electronic retail. I would usually go to the Best Buy nearby and only go to CC if I felt like the deal at Best Buy wasn't reasonable. I'm guessing that's not what they had in mind.

I didn't realize they had done this but, looking around, it does seem to be the case. They should have known they would get killed going head to head with BB as they don't have the marketing bucks and image to compete.

SI

[Alan T]

I am trying to figure out why I didn't like shopping at Circuit city... I just don't have a good reason. The only things that I can think of that i did not like are things such as The stores were always dark or not very well lit up while Best Buy usually felt wide open and were very bright. There didn't seem to ever be many people around who could help find things, while Best Buy you usually have to beat off the people offering to help. (Even though the quality of employees in both stores was pretty lacking, often you just need someone to get something down from a high shelf, or to look in the system to see if something was in stock in the back.)

The prices at Circuit city usually were a bit higher for most of the things that I looked at, but not really enough for me to completely shun it like I ended up doing. I think it just ended up being an apperance thing more than anything else I guess.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Alan T

you usually have to beat off the people offering to help.

Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "customer service"

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "customer service"

My quote was taken out of context! I feel so dirty, this must be how a politician feels!

[gstelmack]

In these discussions in the past, it's become pretty clear that in some places CC sucks and BB is great, and it flips in others. In this area CC has had MUCH better customer service, although BB's recent focus on improving their customer service has improved the one store near us.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

I can't say that I'm terribly surprised about the store closings. I go to two of the four being closed in KC. Both of them are extremely empty most of the time and in a horrible location. One of them is near my home and opened less than a year ago. Talk about tossing money out the window.

I can't believe they're closing down the one at Oak Park Mall. They moved out of their old location across the street into the old Ultimate Electronics building (that's another story for another day that symbolizes all that is wrong with "consumer choice") and I thought they were going to do pretty well head-to-head with the Best Buy across the street that was in a crappy location, intersection-wise, and was a much smaller store compared to the CC.

The one down on Metcalf- I always liked that one because it was one of the "hidden" ones that not as many people went to. So, if I saw a great deal on CAG, there was a chance they still had some copies left there.

SI

[DanGarion]

Glad the ones I go to aren't on that list.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I didn't realize they had done this but, looking around, it does seem to be the case.

Same here. BB opened up a store on 43rd and 5th about 3 years ago, and CC added a site right next door when a Staples closed. Since it's a block from my office, I walk by them pretty much everyday and the amount of traffic is night and day in favor of BB.

[rjolley]

The one thing I didn't like about CC was I could walk into the store an look around and none of the salespeople would come and ask if I needed help. Even though I usually know what I want when I go in, there were times I would go in and would like some assistance, like when I looked at car stereos for my car. Best Buy has usually been better about it, though it can be hard to find someone to help you in there as well.

All that said, I'll stop by the CC near the house and see what the deals are like. Maybe the wife will get her new tv sooner than expected, which means I may get mine sooner as well.

[Schmidty]

I'm surprised that the one here in Bellingham is staying open. It's in a terrible location, and there is never anyone even in the parking lot.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by rjolley

The one thing I didn't like about CC was I could walk into the store an look around and none of the salespeople would come and ask if I needed help. Even though I usually know what I want when I go in, there were times I would go in and would like some assistance, like when I looked at car stereos for my car. Best Buy has usually been better about it, though it can be hard to find someone to help you in there as well.

That's what I mean about differences: I've had a pair of Best Buy employees actively WALK AWAY from a counter I was walking up to so they could continue their conversation an aisle over.

[rjolley]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I can't believe they're closing down the one at Oak Park Mall. They moved out of their old location across the street into the old Ultimate Electronics building (that's another story for another day that symbolizes all that is wrong with "consumer choice") and I thought they were going to do pretty well head-to-head with the Best Buy across the street that was in a crappy location, intersection-wise, and was a much smaller store compared to the CC.

The one down on Metcalf- I always liked that one because it was one of the "hidden" ones that not as many people went to. So, if I saw a great deal on CAG, there was a chance they still had some copies left there.

SI

I used to go to the old location when I lived in Olathe. I wondered who moved into the Ultimate Electronics building across the street. Thought it was a horrible place for Ultimate Electronics to open, though, with Circuit City across one street and Best Buy across another. Did they close the one out near the CompUSA (which I'm sure is closed now) and Copeland's? Can't remember the streets now...

[rjolley]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

That's what I mean about differences: I've had a pair of Best Buy employees actively WALK AWAY from a counter I was walking up to so they could continue their conversation an aisle over.

Yeah, I don't doubt that at all. Best Buy also often has WalMart syndrome...20+ people in line and 1-2 registers open.

[TCY Junkie]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

That's what I mean about differences: I've had a pair of Best Buy employees actively WALK AWAY from a counter I was walking up to so they could continue their conversation an aisle over.

They were probably trying to find somebody that also didn't know what they were doing so they wouldn't look bad.

[kcchief19]

It looks like a complete pullout of Kansas City. I'm only disappointed from a competition stand point -- I typically preferred BB because it seemed like their stories were better organized and had deeper selection, especially with CDs and DVDs. It was nice to be able to go to CC if they had a better price.

Here's another black mark on Jim Collins' Good to Great book. Don't know if you read that pop-economics sensation, but the premise of the book was focusing on 11 companies that went from being "good" to "great" and embodied the principles of being "built to last" -- the title of his previous book. Two of the 11 companies profiled were Fannie Mae and Circuit City. D'oh.

People just don't get that if you have a whiz-bang management theory on to make a company "great" or "built to last," you make a lot more money putting in practice than shelling it out to the sheep at $25.95 a pop in hardcover.

[Daimyo]

I used to go to the one closing in Chicago a lot a few years back and I don't think I ever saw more than 5 other people in the store at any one time while the the Best Buy right around the corner was always packed. That's an extremely busy area and yet somehow they managed to pick a horrible, horrible location that was hard to get to on foot or by car.

[Izulde]

Wow, the Fayetteville one is closing.

Hey MJ4H, wanna go bargain hunting?

[stevew]

I'm waiting for the "Sears closes 150+ stores" parody thread. I keep telling the dudes I work with to have one eye open for something new. Who knows if they'll get it. My CC isn't closing, I prefer them a ton to BB.

[MJ4H]

Almost definitely, if I can find the time.

[stevew]

In part, this is what CC gets for dumping their experienced staff a few years ago, and replacing them with teenagers making 8 bucks an hour. Although, it may have been inevitible.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'm going to re-hash a post I made on March 3, 2007. This was my last real experience with Circuit City (at a store in Louisiana which is apparently closing):

I once stood in the checkout line at a Circuit City to buy a $5 item, and the employees literally stared at me while I waited at the only register at the front of the store. The guy at the front door stared at me. The girl at the customer service counter stared at me. A couple of employees roaming the store walked by and stared at me. Obviously, I could have asked if I was standing in the wrong spot, but I had time to kill, and it became a war of wills. After five solid minutes, I left the empty checkout line, put my item back on the shelf, and walked out the front door, right past the employees who had stared at me.

Not one of them said a damned thing to me.

I don't hold a grudge or anything. I have a Best Buy less than 10 minutes from my house, and the closest Circuit City is about 30 minutes away. I don't expect great customer service at either place (call me jaded, I suppose), so I just go to the one that's closer. It's just that my experience above is how I will always think of Circuit City, so I'm not terribly surprised that 836 of their stores are closing.

[TCY Junkie]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I'm going to re-hash a post I made on March 3, 2007. This was my last real experience with Circuit City (at a store in Louisiana which is apparently closing):

[/color]

I don't hold a grudge or anything. I have a Best Buy less than 10 minutes from my house, and the closest Circuit City is about 30 minutes away. I don't expect great customer service at either place (call me jaded, I suppose), so I just go to the one that's closer. It's just that my experience above is how I will always think of Circuit City, so I'm not terribly surprised that 836 of their stores are closing.

At least they don't have to go around in pairs like BB to keep from getting stuck in the corners.

[Lathum]

Looking at the list I am not at all surprised the Freehold, NJ store is closing. Going into that one was horrid and there is WAY to much competition in that area. I am shocked the one in Brick is staying open, it's 1/2 mile from best buy and in a horrid location.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Looking at the list I am not at all surprised the Freehold, NJ store is closing. Going into that one was horrid and there is WAY to much competition in that area. I am shocked the one in Brick is staying open, it's 1/2 mile from best buy and in a horrid location.

Funny, I didn't check the closing list before but the Freehold store made up about 99% of my experience with shitty CCs in Jersey that I posted about.

[Cringer]

The ones down here are staying open. Mexican nationals crossing over to shop on our side always helps bump up sales numbers. I am glad though, as we don't really go to Best Buy and that would leave us only with CompUSA.

[cougarfreak]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I was just the opposite, I preferred CC and only went to Best Buy if CC wasn't offering a reasonable deal or if they didn't have the object I wanted to buy.

+1

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

I'm surprised that the one here in Bellingham is staying open. It's in a terrible location, and there is never anyone even in the parking lot.

same deal here - I'm sure if I ever went inside ours I'd see tumbleweeds, even though there isn't a BB within an hours' drive. but it looks like they aren't closing anything in New England.

[stevew]

Probably trying to save some locations for a merger attempt with another retailer. I guess.

[Capital]

I think CC has a lot of older stores and the retail ambience inside is rather stale. I used to prefer CC about 10 years ago but has since flipped to BB.

[saldana]

i am surprised not to see my local store on that list, as the last time i was in there a few weeks ago, there were empty shelves everywhere, and very few employees.

even more surprising is not to see the next nearest store, as it is in a horrible location, and always seems very unclean inside.

those things said, i am glad my local store is staying open..it would be a pain in the ass to have to drive to the nearest BB anytime i needed anything.

[Balldog]

I think I heard today they were closing all their stores in Michigan. They just had the Grand Opening for one two miles away from our office. Kind of silly.

[Balldog]

Dola, I just looked at the list. That one is indeed closing. The guys running Circuit City must have automotive OEM backgrounds.

[Shkspr]

With a market capitalization that's still less than $60 million, they won't keep a lot of the surviving stores open for long. If they can keep from being shuttered, they'll have to get down to their top 150 or fewer stores within a few months. I'm certain they'll announce anouther 100+ closings once they pull anything salvagable out of this batch.

[AZSpeechCoach]

I liked playing CC off of BB when it came to DVD releases. Who had the better schwag for the best price. Lately, Target has been beating the pants off of both of them. CC had more obscure DVDs. If I needed Clash of the Titans or the 2-disk Color Purple for school the next day, I could usually find it at CC. King Kong Lives? Only at CC. I also bought my current laptop there for a very good price.

On the other hand, the place seemed very disorganized, with no clear system for sorting their DVD or CD sections, very little in the way of good gaming, and a poor selection of ipod and computer accessories.