On Saturday GamePolitics reported that PlayStation 3 manufacturer Sony had cut off shipments to Circuit City, fearing that the troubled retailer would not be able to pay its bills.
Industry watchers had previously predicted that such a move would trigger a death spiral as other suppliers quickly followed suit. While there is no word of additional inventory shut-offs, Engadget is reporting that Circuit City will close 155 stores tomorrow:
Details are sketchy, but it seems that the company's traditional "holiday kickoff" meeting was actually a "holiday layoff" discussion instead. Apparently, a full list of store locations getting the axe will be revealed.
Meanwhile, Gizmodo reports that the Circuit City closings will begin in the Midwest.
One of the [Circuit City] store directors... is quoted as saying that "we should have done this 10 years ago". The source points out that Circuit City is trying to refocus on the customer: "They are really stressing to us that we must have better customer service than before because they want us to win back our customers".
GP: Perhaps CC can stop the bleeding by shuttering underperforming stores, but it's very late in the game...
Comments
Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
My wife works at CC. And while I may not think its the best company, it certainly has treated her well. We both came from Best Buy and when I finished college and pursued my career, CC is what helped out. Her customers love her.
I'm not goig to defend CC and say they are the best. But Best Buy, behind the scenes act like a cult that CC is the devil and they should spit on a CC employee when they see them.
Luckily She isn't losing her job, because she is in one of the stores that actually make money for the company. Both big box retailers have their faults but youcan't say that everyone from CC or Best Buy for that matter are crappy at what they do. There are people on both sides of the fence who do their job well and love what they do and more often then not (in retail) people don't care about their jobs. They just do it to get by or like me just to make some money while finishing school.
I hope CC does pull out of this, not just for my wife, but just for good competition between BB and CC.
Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
ALRIGHT, SO HERE'S THE DEAL AT CIRCUIT CITY:
ALL THOSE SHOPS LISTED ARE CLOSING TOMORROW. THEY WILL OPEN WEDNESDAY UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF A LIQUIDATION FIRM, WHICH WILL BEGIN SLASHING PRICES. SO IF YOU WANT TO SHOP, DO IT WEDNESDAY OR LATER.
Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
Too bad they made such a horrible name for themselves by lying to sell extended warranties. As far as saying "This product has no manufacturer warranty" to someone in front of me.
Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
If they want to focus on the consumer, then they shouldn't fire all their knowledgeable employees and hire a bunch of minimum wage kids who don't care enough to...well, to care.
Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
Circut City fired all the good folks awhile back just to cut costs.
Fuck yeah, time for a new TV.
Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
I think the moral has more to do with professional pay for professional services.
Would you like some fries with those Mcnuggets?
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"The most difficult pain a man can suffer is to have knowledge of much and power over little" - Herodotus
Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
The last time I went to a Circuit City, I asked for 3 CD's (2 were common CD's by Billy Joel and Dropkick Murphys, the third was an obscure Pogues CD) and the dumbass who was supposed to be searching the computer for it actually walked off, less than 30 seconds after he said he'd look. I assumed he'd walked into the back to look for the CD's, but 10 minutes later I had had enough, started walking to my car, and noticed the stupid fucker standing there smoking. So I got the manager to come out and talk to me, and the guy lost his job, but the people they hired afterwards weren't much better.
One of my friends had the 'parrot salesperson' experience, and ran with it. One of the things he said while he was browsing Tv's was 'Well, at least the Samsung produce a lot less radiation than other TV's', and the salesperson actually said 'yeah, Samsung's always been good about cutting radiation emission'. He went on to say some even more ridiculous things, but I honestly can't remember those. The whole radiation thing really stood out for me.
But let's face it, Sales People are less knowledgeable all around. I went to a Guitar Center a few months back with my Gibson Les Paul (one of the Classic Les Paul Standards, made way back when) that was in perfect condition, and had some 18 to 20 year old jackass tell me it was a piece of crap and I should buy a Gibson Les Paul Robot (which is in the 4000 dollar range). My response was to tell the little shit that if in all his life he ever saw another guitar that was as great as the one he had just insulted, he'd be a lucky little bitch, and to ask if he was a musician, to which he replied that he was a 'singer', but didn't actually know anything about microphones either. On my way out, I asked the manager why he hired people who had no expertise in anything that was being sold, and he said that he hired quality staff, which is the reason I no longer shop at Guitar Center with their 'quality staff'. This Les Paul, by the way, was the same Les Paul that Billy Bob Thornton had said was beautiful when he saw it while I was picking it up from a guitar shop in Indiana.
The moral of the story? Don't shop at places populated by idiots. If a store really can't find people who know about TV's and other electronics to sell them, they probably don't care much about their customer.
Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
"The moral of the story? Don't shop at places populated by idiots. If a store really can't find people who know about TV's and other electronics to sell them, they probably don't care much about their customer."
I agree, but the boutique shops (which is where you tend to find people who care about the product and customer, are getting few and far between because the big box stores have driven them out of business. Unfortunately most people don't want to be educated and shop on price alone (otherwise why would Vizio TVs be so popular). I updated my home theater system and bought from a boutique store in the area. I paid a little more then if I'd bought the various pieces on-line (about $500 on a $7000 purchase), but in my opinion it was worth it to get a knowledgeable salesperson.
Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
Oh yeah, it's hard to find a boutique shop. I go out of my way to buy firearms from smaller stores (not places like Gander Mountain, Dick's, or Bass Pro), and I go out of my way to buy guitars from either A) Sam Ash (never had a problem with Sam Ash, and I love their large selection of Guild Guitars) or a smaller, family owned guitar shop in my area. Electronics, I get from Best Buy for the most part and games I mostly get from Gamestop or best buy.
Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
How do you figure it's hard to find small shops? Do you live out in the boonies or something? I live in the Dallas / Fort Worth, TX area and there are great little small shops for anything you can think of. Gun shops, CD stores, electronics, books, music equipment and most likiel;y anything else you can think of. Anyone who lives in a reasonably populated area should be able to find these places easily. Just look.
Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
Here's the list of closing stores. Fire Sale!
http://consumerist.com/5074854/complete-list-of-closing-circuit-city-stores
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
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E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Random Tower: Game News and Commentary
Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
I am not really shocked, although I am disappointed because Circuit City likes to cut the prices on the video games pretty fast to move them off the shelves. Still, the stores in my area have been looking sparse and the help has been rather retarded for any questions asked them, but the video games were always available and in abundence.
Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
That sucks. I hate to see stores like this go away. But I can't really say anything can I? I haven't bought anything from CC since 2005 when I got my DS there.
Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
Well ,tiem to inform my family of potential going out of business deals
Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
Very seldom do retailers manage to save thier asses by cutting back.
Say goodbye to Circut City
Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
Very very late in the game... I used to be able to go to a Circuit City and ask a question to the guys that work there and they would explain what I need to do, and everything, even the best place to go for equipment they didn't have. Now I go there and ask a basic question outside my normal tinkering and 2 out of 3 of the guys couldn't even identify a S-video female port...
---
Me: 'It's S-video...'
Guy1: 'No I think it is something else... Hey guy 2 come over here. What is this?'
Guy2: 'I don't know... Hey guy 3...'
Guy3: 'Yeah, he is right, it is S-video. What you need?'
Me: 'Just an adapter to RCA video.'
Guy3: 'Let me go to the back and check...'
10 minutes later
Guy3: 'sorry we dont have any'
Me: 'Do you know of a place around here that might have it?'
Guy3: 'Nope...'
---
About the same thing happened in Best Buy, but without the people not knowing what S-video was. Either way, online there is a little adapter that is about an inch long that cost $5 that does it for you. Good ridance... Radio Shack normally has better people, but their quality is down a bit too, but still the #1 place to go for info like that around here for me, but it is a 45 minute drive to the nearest one.
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Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
I agree with this assessment completely. The big-box stores don't hire staff that know or care about the product, leaving the consumer to do all the work before setting foot in the store. I was in a CC store a few months back and overheard this exchange between a customer and sales droid who were discussing big screen TVs...
Customer: Both Mits and Samsung seem to be good names.
Droid: Yes, Mits and Samsung are both really good.
Customer: The Mits seems to be a bit sharper.
Droid: Yes, the Mits are known to be somewhat sharper.
Customer: But the Samsung has better colors.
Droid: Yes, the Samsung will usually have better colors.
I just wanted to slap the idiot. "Bwaak, Polly want a sale!" If all they can do is hire doofuses (doofi?) who repeat the customer's every word it doesn't surprise me they're folding. Their audio section has been a joke for years, with half empty shelves and equally useless sales people.
Re: Death Spiral: Circuit City Closing 155 Stores
Oh, did you get the experience the joy I did at bestbuy when they were on their 'we are not paid on commision' run, where everyone that comes up to you will tell you that, and they come up to you about ever 3 minutes. I was just browsing, 4 people come up and tell me that, then I was like, fuck it, I am out of here... Those guys went WAY overboard...
For anyone wondering, Sharp is one of the worst name brand LCD TV makers...
CNET Best 5 HDTVs
Pioneer has best overall
Panasonic has best picture for the money
Sony has best flat LCD
Samsung has best big screen
Panasonic again for best bang for the buck
NewEgg has a lot of good deals going on, and they may get better after thanksgiving. I am looking for a common name brand 42" for $700, and it doesn't look impossible. There are a few 42" brands that are decently respected that are going for that price and lower depending on if you want 1080 or lower.
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