Circuit City to shutter 155 stores, locations to go public tomorrow
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Nov 2nd 2008 3:40PM
posted Nov 2nd 2008 3:40PM
According to a slew of tips we've received, Circuit City will be closing down 155 of its retail locations, possibly even before Black Friday. Right now 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. In the words of a current employee:"I'm an employee @ Circuit City and today there was a mandatory store meeting for the holiday season and to welcome all the seasonal employees. There was also some tension as rumors were rampant the days before that we were all going to find out we were out of a job today. Luckily, but still somehow unfortunately, I'm still an employee of Circuit City. The same can't be said for the employees of the 155 stores that are closing, possibly even before black Friday. The list of stores that are shutting down will be made public tomorrow. The idea behind closing the stores before Black Friday is to transfer product from the failing stores to the stronger ones to save some money."
This makes sense given the rumors we heard in October and the fact that the company's stock has been been essentially put on death watch by the NYSE -- but that surely won't soften the blow to everyone whose job will be affected by this. If you have more detail on the situation, feel free to drop us a line.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Any1 know if Best Buy is growing or remaining stagnant?
I just did a case study on Circuit City vs. Best Buy in my Business Policy class. Best Buy is growing in size and market share although their profits haven't increased in a few years. But yeah, they're growing. A new store just opened near my school, and they're acquiring all sorts of electronics retailers abroad (e.g. Carphone Warehouse in the UK).
Circuit City closing will only give Best Buy a chance to raise prices. Wonderful.
I don't think a store like BB can just raise prices like that. I mean, every major product manufacturer gives out an MSRP to be followed. Stray to far from that and people will absolutely take notice and get their products somewhere else, like online. Nobody needs a DVD "RIGHT NOW." If it's not food and it's not a medical emergency, chances are you can wait for it and get it somewhere cheaper if your local B&M is trying to take you for too much.
So in other words, I don't think you'll see any price hikes at BB because of this. Especially since CC hasn't been a major player in a long time now anyway. But then again I'm no business major, so, who knows.
Amazon FTW
the only way Best Buy will raise prices is if the corporate office is run by morons. with the current economy folks will not buy before they buy at a higher price.
Heck, Best Buy doesn't even take Circuit City as a major competitor to them. They find places like Walmart and Target to be a much bigger threat.
@Joker
New Egg FTW. Amazon charges sales tax for NYC.
@thedesolate1
But not for the rest of NY state?
Internet purchases with pricegrabber.com FTW. I haven't purchased a major electronic device at Best Buy in something like 7 years. Sure teh occasional DVD, or game, but generally market up is negligible.
*shrugs* Or there is always microcenter: the home for geeks.
PS- Get out and vote on Tuesday!
First CompUSA.. and now CircuitCity?! Bah.
@lucas
Have you ever looked at the prices at BB? Why would they need to raise prices, they are already raping unknowing consumers. I have priced out several items that I have found at other B&M locations for up to 61% less. Some TV series you can find for a $20 at Walmart versus $30 at BB. I bought a WD laptop drive at Microcenter for $105(retail) versus $80(OEM) something on Newegg, BB price $171.99. On that your talking over 100% of the price of a OEM drive or 61% over the price of another BM for a retail. Those are just the few I have found with pricing I knew off the top of my head while walking through a store.
Newegg should go retail.
Just high ranking you does not state my amount of agreeing, so I feel the need to
+1
Although I completely agree that a retail Newegg store would be awesome, part of the reason they can maintain low prices is because they don't have the added expense of a physical store (added employees, taxes, utilities, theft prevention, etc)
Then we would have both NewEgg and TigerDirect (CompUSA) as retail stores..
As an international customer, that would be GREAT! (I can't buy online - the shipping would kill me.. But I can always cross the "river" and walk into a brick n' mortar box - until recently I was stuck with that WorstBuy crap)
Well this sucks. Now I can't go and check out merchandise before I buy it at Newegg, Amazon, Monoprice, etc.
Newegg USED to be a brick and mortar retailer and they closed down the stores to go online only... Makes no sense to go back to B&M now...
"dealextreme" should go retail... clean house...
I never saw any decent prices at Circuit City... Radio shack is another mystery...
@iEye
Are you going to fly over to Hong Kong to visit the dealextreme retail stores?
Why? when anything you buy even for 99 cents get you free shipping! :D
by the way, this is where I can get wonderful things for my iPhone and iPhone 3G!
if dealextreme went b&m they'd be shut down in days with all the illegal products they sell
still a fan though :)
Actually, re: my comment above, Newegg never was a B&M store. That one was "Egghead software", many of you will remember it, which went online only in 1998 and then belly-up in 2001. Since Newegg opened in 2001, and because of the name, many people thought it was Egghead reborn, but it actually wasn't. No relation. My bad. Egghead is now owned by Amazon.
Check the Wikipedia entry for "Egghead software"
Newegg couldnt keep such low prices if they went brick and mortar
@ Gabe
They don't sell illegal products.
Thank God I applied and got hired at Best Buy instead of CC...
"but it seems that the company's traditional "holiday kickoff" meeting was actually a "holiday layoff" discussion instead."
I see what you did there...
going out of business sales; the sweetest part of the sadness that is economic depression.
Ehh not quite. They are closing a chunk of stores, not going out of business. They'll just transfer products to distribution centers or other stores, not have a fire sale.
The local Circuit City just moved a mile down the road to a new building, and they had a huge sale so they didn't have to move the existing inventory.
@ Zorn
True.. The fire sales will be next year when the inevitable happens and they shut the whole thing down.
Well, one location in my town is closing, and one isn't. Here's hoping for a fire sale at the one that is!
eric, you talking about monaca?
It's very hard for a large corporation like Circuit City to go completely out of business. They can file for all sorts of bankruptcies that let em get out of paying their debts.
If i ordered Gears of War 2 online from circuitcity.com will this affect my order?
WHAT?! Where am I going to buy all of my electronics now?!
Seriously, try newegg out.
I get most of mine at Amazon, but if ur lookin for an actual store, good luck!
Woohoo!
Buy one get 3 free may soon be a reality...
Now what to do with all these HDTVs...
I just went to their site and put in my zip code (Phx area) and it returned only the Tucson stores. I guess this means the Phx stores are part of the closing?
Your "who's" should be a "whose".
Just a heads up.
Awesome, a lot of bloggers don't bother to fix such mistakes. Kudos!
you sir, have matched my avatar. I love it.
Have got downloaded endless mode for mega man 9? It is superb.
I love you.
Hmmm... Maybe this explains why their website told me there are no Circuit City stores within 100 miles of Kansas City today.
YES, Best Buy can finally raise prices!
What many of you might know is that in the new millenium alone CC dropped employee stock options, reduced pay drastically, and had 2 mass lay-offs- axing around 10,000 people. Now, it looks like another 5,000 will lose their jobs. It's a bleak picture.
What many of you probably don't know is that before Best Buy was on the scene CC paid employees highly- TV sales associates were commissioned and while the average was in the $36,000 to $40,000 range, there were TV salesman making $60,000 plus! The reason for this being a severe lack of competition. Prior to Best Buy CC was marking up TV's 100%. These were the days when a 32" JVC curved screen TV went for $800! BUT, CC, at the time, did what was right- PAID THEIR EMPLOYEES WELL.
Best Buy asked the question what if we pay salesman $7/hr instead of commission and subsequently lower prices. CC had no choice, but to follow suit to stay alive, but they haven't marketed themselves well and their stores are outdated.
Currently, the mark up on Televisions is in the vicinity of 30 to 40%. You can't pay employees decent wages on this margin. I am in favor of a BB dominated industry and CC going by the wayside. BB will raise prices as it should and wages will follow!
Anyone who complains about rising prices in other fields, but fights for the highest wage possible in their own industry should insert a drill into their skull and continue buying Made in China products from Walmart.
Or
They will raise prices and take a higher profit and still pay their salespeople the same wage.....
No doubt prices will go up, but trying to pass off a pay raise for their employees is a fairy tale, no, the "stockholders and Executives will pocket the extra earnings, the employees won't see jack of it.
...and you presume that they will raise wages just because they raise prices? first the CEO will get a raise, then management. finally they'll raise the dividend and maybe lay off a few more workers for some extra padding. yes people, go buy the cheapest goods. don't forget to support your privatized money and let the central banking cartel control YOUR supply of FRNs.
Apparently people didn't value the "service" offered by a $60,000 TV salesman.
Paul...
do you work at BestBuy?
is that it?
No, I do not work for BB. I did, however, work for CC for 18 months while in college. I was hired several months after their first wave of mass lay-offs. CC fired people based on average wages. Basically, anyone making an average of $15/hr got canned. They used this same standard in their mass of lay-offs last year too.
Margins on Flat panels were not 50% as someone else has mentioned.
I'm claiming that I believe BB will pay employees better because they are already doing so! Average enrty level at my local BB is HIGHER than at CC, which is also a reliable indicator of higher management pay. Also, in 2006 BB CEO Brad Anderson donated 334,000 of his stock options to a fund to reward NON EXECUTIVE employees! I would also like to point out that this was not an isolated incident as he has done this for several years.
"Anyone who complains about rising prices in other fields, but fights for the highest wage possible in their own industry should insert a drill into their skull and continue buying Made in China products from Walmart."
Next time you're at work take a look at the back of BB's electronics... The majority of them are also Made in China... FYI
I knew this would happen. There's going to be a Best Buy practically next door to my local Circuit City... I was looking forward to this because I thought there would be huge closing sales, but I doubt that will happen, they'll just move the merchandise to other stores... Real shame.
(But I do have like $70 worth of Best Buy gift cards and nowhere to spend them...)
So let me school some of you who have no clue as to what's happenning now and why.
Flat apnel TV margins (Profits) "were" in the neighborhood of 50% not more than 2 years ago. As these items become comodities the prices drop and thus the margins (profits) on these items drop.
Rest assured that if BB raises prices they WILL NOT raise wages. They will simply make more money, pay the UPPER MANAGEMENT more and pay larger dividends on their shares of stock.
Please do not believe for a moment that BB cares about you or their employees. The line about caring about employees is a marketing game to make YOU feel better about shopping in their stores.
Stop drinking the koolaid.
Also, CC is not going anywhere. Many companies close underpreforming stores when they are having financial difficulties. This in no way means they are going out of business.
Does anyone remember a company names A&P? They filed for bankruptcy protection, restructured, closed some bad stores, and re-emerged as a very successful company. You may have heard of them, Super Fresh.
Is flat apnel some sort of new technology?
i wouldn't be so sure that Circuit City is here to stay. they are on the verge of being delisted on the NYSE cause the stock went under $1 and has stayed there for over a month. closing these stores is likely part of their required plan to get their stock value up before they are permenently removed from the Exchange.
but if the plan fails, they will shut down. they will have little choice.
Next time you want to announce your intention to school us kids, please spell-check for misspellings and typos. Like "comodities" and "names." You EARN credibility; you don't demand it.
I was actually one of the afftect employees of this "closing day". I just got back from my store, and they are going to be closing all the 155 stores by Dec. 31st. All the liquidators are going to be going into the stores starting tomorrow to set up all the liquidaditing. They will no longer be accepting CC Credit Cards at any of the closing locations along with checks. They will only accept Debit, Credit, and Cash for purchases. Also there will be no more computer/car audio/video services at any of these locations anymore. The stores will be closing after all their product is sold by the liquidators. Which means they can close at anytime after the liquidators come and set up signage at the store. I am pretty bummed about this because I was a Firedog tech, and I had just transfered from a store which did not close. Bad timing on my part. Well if there are any other CC employees that read this who are affected, good luck and god speed.
you are probably one of the few folks that could contact the other stores and try to get a transfer. the basic sales people are the totally screwed ones.
I feel bad for the staff, but I'm so happy they are going out of business. They have a return policy that just sucks and is not fare to the consumer and when you bite the hand that feeds you, you end up in this situation, Out of Business! I bought one item from CC and when I returned it the next day defective I was charged a restocking fee because I wanted a refund, the manager threatened to have me arrested and I had to eat $115 restocking fee on a DEFECTIVE item. So CC as far as I am concerned Burn in Hell, I will not be sorry to see you go. By the way as for Best Buy putting up prices, I don't think it will happen when they have so much online competition like Amazon and Newegg and they like of.
Martin,
Your a retard of the biggest scale, all the retail giants charge a restocking fee so get over yourself and it. If you don't like it shop online. But good luck getting somebody to explain or touch and see the product before you buy it. People like you are why retail salespeople can't stand your ignorance, didn't you read the BIG SIGN posted. And it probably wasn't defective just USER ERROR which is most common.
Working retail for over 10 yrs
Pay attention.
I really hope my circuit city doesn't shut down. I frequent it quite... frequently.
I recently quit working at Circuit City in Oklahoma City, literally a week ago. Turns out that was one of the stores they are closing. Its unfortunate they are letting so many good people go. The sad part is they aren't offering any severance and are forcing all employees clear up to middle management to re apply for positions at alternate locations.
chances are that they 1. can't afford to offer severance and/or 2. aren't required by law to do so.
in california you are what's called 'at will' employment which means that outside of a few select legal situations you can be fired at any point and you don't get jack other than unused earned vacation time pay. my roommate works at a Borders store and they haven't been doing so great so they cut on Management and one supervisor position in the company and he was out of a job. He actually called a lawyer to see if he was entitled to anything and all he could do was apply for unemployment. the company didn't have to find him a new position or pay him severance.
and a lot of states are like that when it comes to retail workers
I've discovered that if you go to the circuit city website and use the store locator, you can find out if a store new you is closing. One of the stores near me no longer appears on the location list, although I was just there a couple days ago.
Wow, looks like the one they just opened up last year down the street is no longer there (they even built a new building for it).
Yeah same thing here, two new "The City" stores they JUST opened here in Ohio are no longer showing up. Those stores were so much nicer than their older style ones.
None of the 4 stores close to me will be closing. :)
peter
You must be the luckiest guy in the whole wide world. Four whole Circuit City's all to yourself.
I don't think employees should be blames. It is poor corporate management, and they should FIRE their CEO, and stop paying the board of directors. Make the CEOs and board work in retail, and understand how to optimize store sales, and optimization.
Their prices were never good. The only good deal I got was on clearance: $5 for an ipod power supply + a pair of Koby earbuds that actually fit my ears(ipod ones don't).
Otherwise you find 2 copies of the same video game with different prices.
Their week-of-release DVD prices have always been better than BB, and usually better than WM.
Dang, I bet the one near my house will close. The other one has only been open for two years.
I work at one of the stores that's shutting down. We're all being offered a bonus if we stay until the doors officially close and they're debating whether or not to issue severance packages (probably not). All of the PC in-home and home theater installers were let go immediately. The entire Atlanta district, save one store, is exiting the market altogether. It has nothing to do with the associates, but it was a chain of poor transformational changes made in succession without ever giving those changes any time to evaluate their success and the absolutely baron traffic flow due to the poor economy. We got to a point where we'd be surprised if we sold more than two computers in any given day, and even more surprised if they would buy any services with their computer. It was a wasteland.
Anyone hiring? LOL
you got an apple store nearby. seriously last year it seemed like they ramped up staff for the holidays. they may have burned that off with iphone staff but maybe not .
I am a current circuit city employee. These rumors are true. Same thing happened to our store as did the person that posted this. I had to drag my ass out of bed to get to work 2 hours early so that i could find out that i will no longer have a job at ccity. The worst part about my situation is that i am the lead in store technician at my store. As of tomorrow at 8am ccity will release a list of all of the store that are closing. Also there will be NO more firedog services offered. So i am a lead in store technician that will no longer be selling services??? I have read that after the announcement i will be out of a job in 48 hrs. Its funny because they are always talking about how much respect that they have for their associates. With that out of the way let me shed some light on another ironic fact. The deal that they proposed to us at this mornings meeting is that anyone that stays with the company until the store closes will be given a severance from the specific liquidator that is to close the store. Well how can i stay and get my severance if i am to be laid off within 48 hours of this announcement??? I would be more than happy to stay for the severance package if i were to be given the change, but NOOOO.... i am to be laid off IMMEDIATELY with no option of getting a big screen tv at an awesome price. I have worked very hard for the past 2 years to get where i am and have put my work in front of everything else in my life. I really liked who i worked with, but am now given the shaft by being told that your services were appreciated and that it is not your fault that this store location is closing. No kidding. I should hope that coming in on my days off and working extra hours to make a customer happy is not the cause of circuit city's financial problems. Anyway im done venting for now. I will sign off with "Thank you Mr. Customer for shopping at circuit city, home of firedog. If you have anymore problems with that computer then do not come back here, just go to best buy. They have more money than us and can take care of your problems."
we all had meeting at Best Buy too, but they were to talk about holiday stuff and about how good the company is doing as a whole.
Sorry to hear you got the AX but if you look around there are install companies about looking for people. You could also try being an AV tech in the hotel industry it pays well once you make your way up.
That does suck! Circuit doesn't care for their employees, are you serious? I found a letter online Can't you just hear the caring tone?? Psh..
As for being a lead technician, I can understand your frustration. It does tick away that you can't repair anything, or even continue to give support.
This is too sad!
I wonder how this will affect the Canadian "The Source" stores. I cannot find any information about Source closures.
Intertan (the source's parent company) is doing pretty good.
But I heard there were auditors in our stores, our spending accounts have been frozen (I had to cut back on employee hours because of it) but I haven't heard of any rumors of store closures, just that we might be bought out. Or regional vice president (I guess 3 from the top of the chain) said things are OK on our end, and I think he said exciting things are happening.
But hell, that could all change. Linen n' things is closing down up in canada and apparently they were doing well, and in this economy, from what i've heard, companies don't like to buyout other companies.
Just saying in New jersey Freehold, and Woodbridge stores will close.
i work at the woodbridge store and i didn't hear anything about that. i heard a rumor that eatontown was closing, but i doubt any northeast stores are to be closed. there were about 12 seasonal employees at the morning meeting in woodbridge also so i doubt they would even bother with them if that were the case.
Strange, all 3 of the stores here in Raleigh, NC are still showing up and are within 5-6 miles from each other.
Yeah i'm in the same area and was wondering the same thing. You would think they would at least shut 1 or 2 of them down. Last 2 times I went to the one next to the Triangle mall it was always empty.
In terms of Messyfresh getting laid off in 48 hours, I would assume the liquidator will be buying up the inventory and doing their own sale. That said, the liquidator might hire you on for the closure. It's always worth asking questions of whatever management is at your store.
I can understand trying to close before black friday, but it seems that Circuit City is missing a chance to unload some crappy merchandise and overstocks from the stores they are not closing. It wouldn't surprise me if their biggest problem right now isn't just their horrible reputation (thanks to a series of golden parachute protected CEOs) but entirely to much product sitting in a warehouse that they need to unload and now is the chance to do just that.
I go on engadget all the time but i sadly never have the time to leave any comments. I work at a Circuit City that is not closing down, and I am very grateful, my heart goes out to any employees laid off, it could have been me :( Wow , sorry to hear about the post with the firedog tech, that is a crappy situation. The company is trying to do a turn around to show how much our customers mean to us, and I'm shocked to hear how much people hate Circuit City. I know my technology and alot of other associates know their tech stuff too! Slow traffic and price competition is whats taking the company downhill. We have a Compaq laptop that we lose 25% Gross Margin on! That is ridiculous! Well I honestly believe that we do deliver better customer service than Best Buy and hopefully our customers and tech freaks (you guyz!) will come to realize. Dont knock Circuit City, hopefully the stores that stay open show you how good our company can be. I have hope!
I am a CCity employee at a store that is not closing. I didn't like the way half way through the meeting they announce "This is a store that is not closing!" I was thinking "Wow, so what if we were a store that is going to be closing, how insane that would be" I was just really dissappointed with how it was handled. I hope that all of you effected by the stores that are closing find new oppotunities quickly. Good luck to everyone...
I'm in a Circuit City that's closing with two others within half an hour closing as well. The closest once is going to be an hour away. Luckily I'm a student and this job is just for extra money but I'm really sad for those who actually have this as a full-time job. Not a single person(including managers) is being transfered. At least our PC, car, video guys are being kept around just put out on the sales floor.
My store really did the best it could under the circumstances. Things like that Compaq that we were losing like 25% on though didn't help. We can't be expected to be selling enough firedog or warranty to make up for that. Most people look into buying a cheap computer don't want to pay extra for those things.
to ANONIMOUS & Messyfresh:
first of, I'm a best buy employee, and I feel horrible for what is happening to Ccity employees as do many of my coworkers.. It's sad that Ccity's CEO and board of directors have really screwed this one up and are screwing you guys over. I think its horrible that for someone like Messyfresh who's been working for a couple of years won't be getting any severance as for other employees. Another big culprit, however, are those dumbasses in wal street who really dropped the ball and served as the catalyst for all this economic turmoil our country is enduring. I'm not a business major or anything but I think that even if Blockbuster bought Ccity it would've still gone under.
second, as a former ccity employee, I do believe that management really had a lack in customer focus. At best buy ideas for improving customer experience are always making their way as pilot programs in different markets before being deemed appropriate and effective and making their way as SOP for the rest of the stores nationwide. I also think that with joint ventures, best buy is able to bring different products to the US market. During my time as a customer service rep. I always had to take the blame and get yelled at for ccity not keeping their word on some service plans they sold and that was THE biggest reason why I had alot of upset customers tell me they'd be shopping at Best Buy from there on.
I hope that Circuit City is able to hang in there and pull through. I would much rather have Ccity be our competitor than some entity like Wal Mart who sells total crap for cheap. (yes for you ppl who think that wal mart has better prices: make sure you're not buying an older model that has long ago made its way out of best buy....)
good luck guys! God Bless
All locations in Arizona with the exception of 1 store in Tucson will be closing. Strangely I have been told that all merchandise will be liquidated and not transferred to other stores.
i work at a city store in new york they are closing 2 of the stores that just opened in august/September, even though my store is not closing i will start looking for another job because the way the store meeting went this morning does not look like we will be in business for much longer so ima jump ship while i got the chance to.
As a former CC employee I was with the company during its decline. They let go knowledgeable long-term employees for young inexperienced kids who can work only part-time at the lowest pay rate. They did a disservice to customers by cutting their sales force by over half. (Its hard to help 20 customers with 4 employees.) I got word that the majority of closing stores (such as the one I worked in) are older stores, smaller design than the new BB/CC superstore format. District management was overheard speaking about margin issues, with TV costs getting cut in 2009, CC TV margin will cut from around 15-25% to single digits. They have even gone as far as to sell store shelving to gain income. (Will product lay on the floor?) CC simply cannot compete with online retailers in these economic times. I wish my former colleagues the best in their future endeavors. As for customers.....let the liquidation begin, CC will not be transferring their stock to other stores, the price will decrease until its gone.
Being a Circuit City employee (Though not for much longer; though unrelated to the layoffs) I can tell you that this tip is most likely false. I attended the meeting in question today and all of our managers insisted that no stores are as of yet aware of which are closing and furthermore, that each store would be evaluated personally by a member of corporate; this meaning that not only have we not been informed yet, but that the decision has not yet been made by corporate.
I firmly believe this to be true also because I would fully expect my store to be one of the ones closing, as we are consistently in the bottom third of stores in our district in terms of sales.
it's happening, if you are in the northeast or a strong region it doesn't matter how low you are in the district. my store is almost always at the bottom of the list and we're not closing. i know quite a few people who have already confirmed they know for a fact their store is closing.
I hope they close my local store. I walked out after they tried to sell me the display model without saying it was the only one left on a laptop. Turns out the power supply was missing. They were going to knock $50 off, but the power supply costs $115 to replace! If I went to ANY other other CC, it would include the power supply. SCREW THAT! I set down the Panasonic BD35 and said "Thanks, but no sale." I walked out and went to Best Buy and got a better laptop for the money, plus the BD35, plus $50 off for signing up for their credit card. Zero interest for a year and a half, and cheaper. Gotta love that.
I will be taking my receipt back to CC and showing the manager, and pointing out WHY they are getting shut down.
Please, let these turds be on the list! You do NOT attempt to screw over a long-time customer like that and stay in business.
Best buys kind of growing, I live in the north of Mexico, and, as far as I know, Best Buy is opening stores all wide Mexico, so, is growing to much, I dont care to much about CC, is kind of disappointing, but, anyway, theres other options, like Walmart, target, amazon, I mean, CC was my alternative besides BB.