Circuit City pulls the plug

[Badgerinmaine]

We've been thinking about a new TV, and I was just on Circuit City's site this morning. This evening comes the news that their efforts to survive bankruptcy have failed and that they will begin liquidation sales as soon as tomorrow:

http://www.circuitcity.com/closed.html

34,000 of their workers will be out of a job soon.

[mraynrand]

That's clever. Or how about "Short Circuit City"

[Joemailman]

Good news for Best Buy, I guess...unless they're next. I've always preferred BB to CC because of their financing offers, currently 18 month free on purchases over 499.00. Maybe CC should have tried that, or maybe they lacked the liquidity to do it.

[Harlan Huckleby]

Re: Circuit City pulls the plug

34,000 of their workers will be out of a job soon.

where the fuck are these people going to get jobs?

on a related note, I was helping a friend switch from Charter to AT&T for TV/internet this afternoon. AT&T tech was so superior to the sad flunky from Charter. Uhhh, the AT&T technology is so far ahead of Charter's over-priced hodge podge, if this were a boxing match they'd stop the fight.

It is good that Best Buy drives Circuit City out of business, and AT&T drives Charter out of business. I guess.

Depressions are good for consumers. Consume away, you rich people!

[SkinBasket]

One of the major reasons those 30,000 plus people are out of work is they did a shitty job. The interweb is littered with tales about just how poor the average shopping experience at CC was, how high the prices were, and how limited the stock was - even before the distributors cut shipments when they closed those stores a few months back. Best Buy didn't drive anyone out of business. They're just trying to survive using the same outdated business model too. CC drove itself right over the brink without so much as blinking.

Sure, not all 30,000 were responsible for the collapse of the company, but it was a pretty poorly run operation from top to bottom so now those people will have to find jobs being lazy, unmotivated salespeople, unconcerned customer service reps, unqualified supervisors and middle managers, and crappy upper management elsewhere. There still seems to be plenty of room for people with those qualifications these days, so I'm sure most will land on their feet at your local American, Best Buy, and Target stores.

These places expanded wildly during the dot com boom, then afterwards, when internet shopping became the norm and people could find the same products for, in a lost of cases, literally a fraction of the cost, they didn't change anything other than continuing to provide worse and worse customer service. Really, the only thing that changed is they offered in-home services to try to increase revenue.

There's still a place for large electronic stores where you can go ask your average uninformed teenager a tech question and get a bad answer then pay too much for something you don't need, but they better at least be nice about it so people will come back.

[HowardRoark]

Really, the only thing that changed is they offered in-home services to try to increase revenue.

This is true. About a year ago, I decided I was going to upgrade the house to HD TVs. I had to buy three new TVs, surround sound and a Blu-Ray player….with all the cords, etc. that go along with it. The 22 year old “manager” was the easiest guy I ever dealt with in my life as far as getting talked down. He made it known that as long as I hired his people for $400 to install all this stuff, I could pretty much set the price for the equipment. Including the $400, the overall price was considerably less than everywhere else I went.

I walked out of there knowing this company was not going to be around long.

[sheepshead]

I bet there's 3 within 5 miles of me. That's crazy. Retail is out of hand, I feel bad for the employees. Eventually the good ones will run other stores and do well. There will always be a need for hardworking dedicated employees.

[bobblehead]

Re: Circuit City pulls the plug

34,000 of their workers will be out of a job soon.

where the fuck are these people going to get jobs?

on a related note, I was helping a friend switch from Charter to AT&T for TV/internet this afternoon. AT&T tech was so superior to the sad flunky from Charter. Uhhh, the AT&T technology is so far ahead of Charter's over-priced hodge podge, if this were a boxing match they'd stop the fight.

It is good that Best Buy drives Circuit City out of business, and AT&T drives Charter out of business. I guess.

Depressions are good for consumers. Consume away, you rich people!

Of course its good that the weak failed and the strong survived. Now, when the survivors get fat, complacent, fall behind in technology, ect, an upstart will come along and crush them. its the nature of things.

I buy most of my electronic equipment at Sam's Club. They never steer me wrong, have great quality for the price and stand behind the products 100%. I don't stay up on things enough to know when I'm getting ripped off, but I do know that I have never bought something at sam's only to feel that it was a bad deal later.

[GBRulz]

I have always preferred CC, up until about three years ago when they got rid of all their higher paid employees and brought in the ones who would work for $8 an hour. I noticed a huge difference in the way stores were ran, employee knowledge, etc. The thing that ticked me off the most is that they were often out of stock of things and seemed to encourage me to shop on their website. I buy a lot of my electronics online, but if I need a pack of CDR's, I would expect them to have them in stock, but nooooo.

Like CC or not, the bad thing is that's one more choice that we don't have.

[GBRulz]

Re: Circuit City pulls the plug

I buy most of my electronic equipment at Sam's Club. They never steer me wrong, have great quality for the price and stand behind the products 100%. I don't stay up on things enough to know when I'm getting ripped off, but I do know that I have never bought something at sam's only to feel that it was a bad deal later.

See, I think Sam's is high for electronic items. Especially on computers, printers and ink. They carry some no-name TV's with cheap prices, but their brand names vs. other stores aren't really any cheaper. Like anything else, you have to shop around.

[Harlan Huckleby]

Eventually the good ones will run other stores and do well. There will always be a need for hardworking dedicated employees.

I can't speak directly for he job market in retail. But my experience is that the largest share of jobs do not require or reward hardworking, dedicated employees. The three qualities most in demand by employers:
1) Basic reliability. Show up on time and do an adequate job.
2) Stay at the job at least 6 months, preferably a year, to absorb some training.
3) Be willing to work for a very low wage.

Most businesses are able to make a profit only with an adequate supply of such people. When you hear the state Chamber of Commerce complain about a "labor shortage", they are talking about responsible, capable, cheap workers. Sometimes there is a shortage of some very specific skills.

I have lived through several recessions, two boom periods, and it has pretty much alwaysl been the same: Jobs that pay a decent salary are precious, there are never enough to go around.

[Badgerinmaine]

Like CC or not, the bad thing is that's one more choice that we don't have.

Aside from the loss of jobs, this is the worst part of it in my mind. I found their web site easy to use and also found their employees to be more knowledgeable and helpful at our local store than the ones at our local Best Buy.