Consumerist.com is reporting that Circuit City may be announcing at 8 AM tomorrow morning that it’ll be closing 155 of its stores. This is still a rumor, so take it with a grain of salt, but it wouldn’t be surprising in lieu of the company’s recent financial woes. There was an article in the Wall Street Journal a couple of weeks ago saying that Circuit City was “considering a plan to close at least 150 stores,” so this may just be all of that stuff coming to fruition. So that makes two retail stores that I worked for in my younger years that have either gone completely out of business (CompUSA) or look like they’re about to crumble (Circuit City). I worked at Best Buy, too, so watch out. → Read More
Circuit City latest financial struggles come in the form of a letter sent from the NYSE. Because CC stock averaged a $1 or less closing price over the 30 days, the fund is falling short of the exchange’s requirement. The company has 10 days to specify how the company is going to remedy the situation and maintain an average trading price of $1 or higher within six months. The fund will receive a “.BC” indicator to notify others of the situation in the meantime. As of writing, the company carries a $0.27 stock price and a bleak future. → Read More
Dark days are ahead for Circuit City stores as the retailer is contemplating closing at least 150 stores and axing thousands of employees. This would free up millions in extra cash flow that the fledgling, dying, rotting, dead electronic retailer desperately needs after a recent credit downgrade puts Christmas inventory at risk. At one time, Blockbuster was going to take over Circuit but later withdrew it’s bid; good thing too ’cause the stock is down 90% since then. ($.42 at 10/20 @ 11:45) Who knows what the future holds for Circuit City, but whatever it might be, probably doesn’t include a light at the end of the tunnel. → Read More
Circuit City isn’t the only brick and mortor retailer stuggling as Tweeter might soon be shutting down. The retailer’s CEO was replaced by a restructuring firm exec and sent out a nice little letter to all the employees. “in light of the current extreme economic conditions and the company’s recent performance,” and that the move “is in the best interest of the company, as well as all other parties in interest.” The move he is referring to is a “temporary transition period” – sounds like transition to the unemployment office to me. The retailer was just bought out of its 2007 bankruptcy but apparently this whole financial crisis hasn’t helped sales. So know the question is: who will go under first? Circuit City or Tweeter? → Read More
Tough times at Circuit City, which you can now buy outright for something like $38 and doing the CEO’s dry cleaning, as a credit agency has just warned manufacturers about shipping merchandise to the store. Seems the credit agency, Bernard Sands, isn’t sure whether or not Circuit City would be able to pay the manufacturers on time. So… a store, which, by definition, is in the business of selling goods for profit, cannot afford the goods in the first place. The world is ending, my friends. Image from Flickr → Read More
Well look at that. Circuit City is offering up the LD BD300 for $50 under the launch MSRP of $399. Better yet, the shipping date is only a few days away on October 10, 2008. Amazon however, still lists the unit at $399 so no word if this is the price is from LG or if it’s a Circuit City promotion. Either way, this is one hell of a deal. You get not only a Blu-ray Profile 2.0 BD Live capable player, but also a Netflix streamer. So what are you waiting for? Santa? → Read More
If you’re in the market for an Xbox 360, especially now that we’re post-price cut, you’d do well to buy one from Circuit City. The retailer is giving away a card for 1,600 Microsoft Points with every console purchase. That’s good for at least one of the Xbox Live Arcade games you play for a few minutes at a clip. You should also note that Circuit City is selling a few games for $15, including Dead Rising, an early console favorite, and GRAW 2. That, and they give you a free t-shirt and $10 gift card. Why, Circuit Cit’s prices are so low, you’d think they’ve gone crazy! → Read More
First, I didn’t think MAD was still in publication and I thought the only thing left was the stupid FOX show, but it’s nice to see that it still is. In issue #492, MAD has a 4-page spoof of a Circuit City (aptly dubbed “Sucker City”) ad that bashes on the retailer and corporate was not very happy about it. The result: immediate removal and destruction of all issues of MAD from Circuit City locations. It sucks when the truth hurts. Excerpt and response after the jump. Update: A CC PR flack sent over an e-mail to the Consumerist saying they were sorry about their reaction to the whole thing, but it’s so toolish. Check it out. → Read More
I’m the resident customer service curmudgeon around CrunchGear. I’ve worked customer service as both a peon and manager, and I’ve been on the other side, so I know what’s reasonable to expect. As I said a few weeks ago, if Circuit City destroys your car trying to install a stereo, they should fix it completely. Circuit wasn’t doing that, but reports are that it’s stepped up to make things right. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not going to dis on Circuit City for damaging this car, accidents can and do happen. We were upset that they weren’t being proactive about fixing it, but now, thanks to the Internet, they absolutely are. Good for you, Circuit City. → Read More
Blockbuster has just made a bid for Circuit City, effectively offering shareholders double what their shares are worth. The $6 to $8 bid (Circuit City stopped trading at $3.90 last week) hasn’t just confused me, but real life retail analysts. Said one, “It’s an odd move… Synergies between a video store and an electronics store aren’t that obvious.” I agree. To the layman, both companies don’t look so hot. When was the last time Blockbuster was relevant to your life? Do you use its Netflix-like Total Access service? No one I know does. How often do you walk into Circuit City to buy electronics? I would guess that a lot of you (that is, the more tech savvy) shop online at places like Newegg or Amazon, where deals abound. No having to deal with good-intentioned-but-ultimately-annoying sales staff that way. Although, in Circuit City’s defense, I used to go there all the time in high school when Best Buy was sold out of what I wanted, like Xbox Live in 2002. Best Buy was sold out but Circuit City, which was literally across the street (how smart is that?) had stacks of the starter kit just lying there. The sales guy was like, “Was Best Buy sold out? Figures.” Oh, and how bad is Bloomberg’s Web site? A black background in 2008? Don’t they know how hard that is on the eyes? Image via Flickr → Read More
I drive a Kia Spectra that I just love. I bought it brand new 2004 and one of the first things I did was have an iPod adapter kit installed for the car stereo. I’m an iPod guy, and I want to take my songs with me always. I took it to Circuit City and while the install was fast, they messed up the facing on my dashboard, so now it just sort of hangs there. They told me there was nothing they could do about it, and that I should talk to their insurers, who cover the repairs but have a $500 deductible. The damage estimate was $350. Sucks to be me. But not as much as it sucks to be VTECnical, a poster on Consumerist, who’s 2007 Honda Civic was destroyed by the install techs at Circuit City, leaving it “unsafe to drive” in Honda’s opinion, rendering it uninsurable and thereby undrivable. Circuit’s only willing to refund $3,190 to VTECnical, despite the total bill to fix it coming to $12,119. For everything else, he has to turn to the same insurers I did, and we know how well that went for me. Here’s hoping he has better luck. → Read More
TG Daily is reporting that Circuit City has begun spring-cleaning on HD DVDs by offering them with discounts up to 50 percent. Can anyone confirm this? → Read More
[photopress:ccitybr.jpg,full,center] A little birdie wearing the red of Circuit City whispered into Giz’s ear, saying that the electronics retailer will let consumers exchange their recently purchased HD DVD player for a shiny new Blu-ray one. Only players sold within the last three months qualify—Christmas shoppers would be right on the border of qualification—and Circuit City won’t be advertising the deal much; consumers will have to ask for the promotion on their own. You’ll also have to pay the price difference should any exist. Or, if you’re feeling particularly burned by the whole HD DVD fiasco, you could also just ask for a gift card in exchange for your now-useless player and buy yourself a video game or two. So far, Circuit City is the only U.S. retailer to offer this kind of promotion. A similar one was recently launched in Japan, but that’s all the way on the other side of the world. Now we wait to see if the other guys like Best Buy or Wal-Mart respond in kind. Circuit City Trading In HD DVD for Blu-Ray Players, Says Employee [Gizmodo] → Read More
There’s some pretty sweet stuff going on Friday at Circuit City. You can get a 42-inch Sharp Aquos LCD HDTV for $800, a Roadmate GPS System for your car for $125, or maybe you just would like a fully-loaded laptop for $300? Sure, it’s an HP Compaq, but at three bills you can hardly complain. There’s more deals than that, including some stocking stuffers for pocket change. [Update] Looks like they’re also giving away SD Cards for an insane price. This can’t be right, beef jerky costs more than this. $7 for a 2GB SD Card, that’s got to be the deal of the millennium. Circuit City Posts Black Friday Ad [Dealnews] → Read More
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