Circuit City Closes Its Doors For Good 587
bsharma is amongst the hordes of people wanting us to share the news that long beleaguered retailer Circuit City has finally decided to close for good, asking for court approval to close the remaining 567 US stores. "Whalin said management mistakes over the past few years combined with the recession brought down Circuit City. 'This company made massive mistakes,' he said, citing a decision to get rid of sales people and other mismanagement. What's more, given the credit market freeze, Whalin added that no manufacturer wants to sell to any retailer who doesn't have money to pay for the merchandise. At the same time, Whalin said there's still a very slim chance that one or more firms that have expressed an interest in buying Circuit City could still buy it out of bankruptcy over the next few days."
Main mistake they made? (Score:5, Interesting)
Only matching a competitor's price (and not beating the price) meant they were basically forcing their customers to do their job, i.e. price shop their competition. If I find two stores selling the same item, and one store is less than the other, I'm going to the lower priced store. The only time I'd consider going to the higher priced store would be if they gave me a price LOWER than their competitor. A price match is meaningless.
Maybe they changed their policy in later years (after I stopped visiting their stores), I don't know, but the negative perception I developed about them persists to this day. And now they're gone. I wonder if they learned anything?
Please god (Score:1, Interesting)
Make BestBuy next!
Re:Main mistake they made? (Score:5, Interesting)
What about "The Source" in Canada? (Score:5, Interesting)
Here's a picture of one:
http://flickr.com/photos/photofinderguy/2472113998/ [flickr.com]
Re:Main mistake they made? (Score:2, Interesting)
The main mistake Circuit City made IMHO was that their prices were always higher than their primary competitors (Best Buy, CompUSA, etc.).
Circuit City more expensive than Best Buy? It has not been like that in the last 10+ years, at least not in my area. I wouldn't be overly concerned, but now Best Buy is the only shop within at least 60 miles. Guess I have to go exclusively web.
Re:Main mistake they made? (Score:5, Interesting)
From what I remember, in the late 1980s/early 1990s they'd give you 10% over the difference in price. (so if it was $100 less somewhere else, they've give you a $110 refund).
By the time I saw my first Best Buy in the DC area (mid 1990's), they had stopped doing it.
They also used to be one of the few places that actually made good on their extended warranty -- if you had to bring it in 3 times for service, you got a replacement (either same or equivalent model).
Oh well ... yet another memory of my childhood gone (Service Merchandise, Erol's, etc.)
Re:Main mistake they made? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:With Circuit City and CompUSA all but gone... (Score:1, Interesting)
Where I live, even the mom & pop computer shops are less expensive than Best Buy.
Re:Main mistake they made? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:With Circuit City and CompUSA all but gone... (Score:5, Interesting)
An aunt of mine recently decided to splurge on an HDTV. She'd looked at what was available at Best Buy, Sears, etc. and found a nice 40" Sony at Best Buy that she really liked. But she wanted to buy the tv from a local store, not a big box store, for a number of reasons. She's the kind of person who believes in "mom & pop" types of outfits. She's also a photographer and wanted to use the HDTV to view photos from her computer. We went to the local store she was interested in and found the same Sony there. The sales rep bent over backwards to help us out and answer all our questions. I was impressed when my aunt started asking about viewing photos and pulled a photo CD out of her purse. The guy ran around the store, found a DVD player, hooked it up to the tv she was interested in, and let her view the photos. Then she started noticing some of the other HDTV's there and asked if she could view the photos on any of them. So the guy figured out where the feed to all the tvs in that section was and hooked the DVD player up to it, so my aunt was able to look at her photos on a dozen different HDTVs all at the same time.
We decided to do a little more shopping around and grab some lunch before making a decision. We stopped back at the Best Buy and saw that it was selling the HDTV for something like $200 less than the local store. We went back to the local place and asked if they'd match the price. The guy ran off for a few seconds and came back and said they could but then couldn't offer us the free local delivery they typically provide. Big deal - we were planning on taking the tv with us anyway. And the local shop offers full warranty & repair service AND will come pick up the tv for free if any work needs to be done on it.
You'll NEVER get those sorts of services from places like Best Buy. My aunt was treated amazingly well throughout the experience, and the local support she'll get is top notch. If she ever has any questions/problems she can call the store and they'll help her out.
My guess is that as the economy manages to sort itself out over the next year or so you'll see a comeback in smaller individual stores, local/regional chains, etc. that provide MUCH better service. I think consumers are becoming more and more savvy when it comes to realizing that they need to think about things like after-sale service & support, and the big box stores simply don't provide that with any sense of reliability or consistency.
What'll be interesting.. (Score:4, Interesting)
is hearing all of the stories that are going to come out of the liquidation.
I bet these employees have been holding it in for a long to come out. Now, with the store going away, they might give us a little insight to why they failed so badly.
Re:With Circuit City and CompUSA all but gone... (Score:3, Interesting)
My wife and I had almost the same experience. Our fridge died. We went to Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowes.. Everybody said that it would take four of five days to get one delivered. We decided to check out a local place. They had a great fridge for a great price. Then came the delivery, the answer was how about tomorrow?
Re:Main mistake they made? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Main mistake they made? (Score:5, Interesting)
I haven't paid any attention to CE retailers and I'm not one to really go to the big box stores as a consumer too often. I do know that when I started working for CC beating a competitor's price by 10% of the difference was new in the industry and we did shop and match competitor's prices (We'd go in with hidden mics and record model prices).
Re:More than mismanagement (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:With Circuit City and CompUSA all but gone... (Score:5, Interesting)
Sorry, but Wal-Mart simply isn't competitive with online retailers for electronics and computers. First, as you noted, they only stock limited items. But, if they don't have what you want, it DOES matter, because you not only wasted a trip (time and gas), but you had to deal with the hell of going to Wal-Mart and being around their annoying customers. Maybe Wal-Mart customers aren't so bad where you live, but here in Arizona, going to a Wal-Mart is not a fun experience, unless you like tripping over countless undisciplined children running amok and throngs of non-English speaking customers who walk very slowly and always insist on taking up the entire aisle, instead of staying to one side so you can get by. And good luck not having someone run into your car in the parking lot.
For clothes, housewares, and many other goods, Target is a much, much nicer and less stressful place to shop, but they don't have many computer parts.
Re:With Circuit City and CompUSA all but gone... (Score:5, Interesting)
While I do agree with you, I'll take a moment to play Devil's advocate. Small store owners can be dicks just like the big store owners. I do a lot of grocery shopping at hole in the wall ethnic markets and the staff there can be every bit as surly as disaffected slackers in big box stores. The difference (usually) is that good performance goes unrewarded at the big box stores, actually punished at Circuit City since they fired their top salespeople. In a small shop environment, it should be possible for a good salesman to be rewarded for his efforts, therefore you would expect more positive reinforcement and better reps there.
I worked for a computer guy back in '99 as the box stores were rising in prominence. The mom and pop shops couldn't compete with the box stores on price and this guy decided to add PC hardware to his midrange business that was slowly dying off. I told him that trying to make money off of merchandise was ridiculous and that the only way a smaller shop could compete was on service. If we built a proper service department, we might have a shot at surviving. He didn't, I moved on, and from what I've heard of people who have tried running service shops catering to businesses, its a damn rough game to be in these days. Businesses will pay for lawyers and accountants to come in and help as necessary but they seem to think that computer people should be paid the same rates as the janitorial service.
Apple's first big loss to Microsoft was thinking people would pay more for mac quality but the market said Windows wasn't great but good enough. It'll be interesting to see how it goes in the future. The iPods are ridiculously overpriced as mp3 players but those bastards sell like hotcakes. I guess the bit of genius there was equating this to fashion. People will be ruthlessly efficient when it comes to making practical purchases but when it comes to buying impractical things like handbags, shoes, and designer goods, logic and reason go out the fucking window.
Re:With Circuit City and CompUSA all but gone... (Score:4, Interesting)
Except that they were able to match a "big chain" retailer... and do it with far better service, with the friendly local atmosphere, and built a customer "I think I'll go back to them" relationship.
Frankly, very few people that I know shop entirely mercenarily (is that a word? probably not). They tend to like going somewhere they know and/or trust and/or feel comfortable and/or the people are friendly and pay a little more for the same item.
Re:Prices higher? (Score:4, Interesting)
I wasn't a fan of CC at all (selection, prices, and staff all seemed pretty bad there IMO), but I will say I don't like to see this because as Best Buy's competitors drop, they seem to be getting worse and worse. I remember when Best Buys first started popping up in my area they were actually pretty cheap, but I don't think anyone could claim that anymore.
I guess it just means we have to shop online if we want good prices...which really isn't that bad.
Service? (Score:5, Interesting)
If we are going to discuss this in detail, though, I would specify how you define service:
I don't care about salespeople *at all*, in fact, I would generally just like for them to leave me alone unless I ask is something is in stock, etc. I generally know what I want or can read the back of the package (or often just find the partnumber and read reviews online right there on my cellphone.) I don't expect some teenager to know nuances about RAID setup, PATA vs SATA notebook drives, or what webcam is compatible with linux, etc. After junior high I stopped asking pretty much any non-engineer/programmer/somebody-that-actually-made-the-device anything about computers, as I'm sure many of you did.
What I do care about is being friendly and helpful with logistics (delivery of the flat-screen TV) or returns / exchanges for defective parts. A few online companies are absolutely fantastic with this (Amazon, etc.), so I almost end up with everything online unless I need it immediately. FWIW, despite their adherence to retail (and rarely ABOVE-retail prices), Best Buy has always been pretty good in terms of my definition of service for me.
Re:Good Riddance (Score:4, Interesting)
Hrm, yes, that's why I can get a Dell laptop from Dell's website, with an employee pricing plan discount, for three hundred dollars more than I can get it at Best Buy... because Dell is the lowest of the low... but not in the way you meant...
Re:Main mistake they made? (Score:5, Interesting)
Me: Do you have any IDE to SATA power adapters?
Salesdroid: What?
Me: IDE to SATA power adapters?
Salesdroid: Uhm... is that like a XBox thing or something?
Me: Is there someone who works in this department I could talk to?
Salesdroid: I work in this department.
Me: ok... uhm, do you have any SATA power supplies?
Salesdroid walks me over to the UPS selection.
Salesdroid: Here are our power supplies.
Me: You know what, I think I'll just go look around on my own.
Re:Main mistake they made? (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't think Walmart is as dangerous as you seem to, though I haven't been in a WalMart in ages. I think that in the race to the bottom, Wlamart is definitely the winner, but I don't see hiring unhelpful workers to sell crap products in dirty stores as a viable long-term strategy.
I don't know of anyone who actually likes to shop at Walmart, though I have a friend who goes there occasionally to stock up on stuff you can't screw up (like paper towels). But everyone in my (not large) social circle has pretty much stopped shopping at Walmart because (as I said above) the employees are surly, the stores are dirty, and the stuff that they sell is crap.
Circuit City failed at least in part because there was a perception that their prices weren't great. But the terrible sales staff and knock-off quality stuff they sold was part of it, too. I expect that in the end, Walmart is going to find out that treating suppliers, customers, and employees like crap isn't winning combination.
I hope I'm not wrong :-)
Don't bother going to the "out of business sale" (Score:4, Interesting)
We had one of the first wave of store closings here back in December. The "going out of business" "20-50% off", etc prices were still higher than the BB across the street. I even visited the store on the very last day where even the fixtures were on sale and everything was STILL over priced, even the fixtures. ...and why would I buy a $2k+ TV, laptop, etc from a store that wouldn't even be there the next day?
Do yourself a favor and avoid the temptation to join the crowds of bargain hunters who think they are getting a good deal just because the tag says "30% off". What ever you're looking for will still be cheaper online or at Best Buy, Office Max, Fry's...
Circuit City...overpriced and useless to the very end.
Re:Service? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Main mistake they made? (Score:5, Interesting)
Here in the Valley, my wife an I say that you can tell the state of the tech economy by the quality of wait-staff in restaurants... It's sort of like a trickle-down employee quality metric: as intelligent tech workers get laid off they replace less intelligent folks in other jobs, which eventually percolates down to waiters and waitresses in Dennys and such.
When the economy is really bad, you get excellent service in restaurants. When it's boom time, you get a ten-minute wait time for a seat in an empty Denny's while four sub-seventy-IQ employees stand around ignoring customers.
Re:What about "The Source" in Canada? (Score:3, Interesting)
This isn't intended as a "get off my lawn" post, but you never made it to RS back in the day, I take it?
Radio Shack used to be a geeky-kids paradise, with electronic components, LEDs (back before they were everywhere), and all kinds of cool stuff. When I was in middle school, Radio Shack was the only place in town where you could go and actually see (and fiddle with--the sales guys were really cool) a computer. A lovely TRS-80 Model II. Heck, my dad bought me my first computer from R.S, as they were the only game in town if you wanted to buy one.
They had ham radio gear, science kits, all kids of "niche" electronics (I saw my first radar detector at the 'shack) and the guys who worked there knew what they were talking about, generally.
Those were the days!
My tale as a Circuit City Music Dept. lackey (Score:4, Interesting)
I worked as a cashier in the Circuit City music department for the first couple years I was in college. It was a pretty low-key job and since CD's were really just a loss-leader to get people into the store there was really no pressure on me to sell. As long as I kept my work area clean and provided good customer service my boss was happy and life was cool. And every month I was able to take home any of the promotional CD's from the previous month - so on the plus side it gave me a chance to appreciate music I wouldn't normally be inclined to purchase (this was pre-napster, mind you). On top of that, the employee discount was pretty substantial. Overall it was a pretty decent gig as far as joe-jobs go.
The other departments were a different story. The salespeople were borderline sociopaths. There was tremendous pressure on them to sale -- and I would even see salespeople chewed out in public for underperforming -- but because they were usually such raging assholes it was hard to feel any sympathy for them.
After I quit (due to getting an internship) I never set a foot back in the store. I knew how much the markups were on were on everything, and I couldn't bring myself to actually pay for music.
Re:Main mistake they made? (Score:5, Interesting)
* Best Buy -- Be told that there are 6 of the item remaining in stock, but... uh... "We can't seem to find them. No, we don't do rainchecks, why do you ask?".
* Circuit City -- Find the item, take it to the cashier, see it ring up at 125% of the shelf-listed price, and be told "Sorry, what the cash register says is what goes."
* Microcenter -- Find the item (no advertised sale, but a decent price nonetheless), chat with a guy for 10 minutes about the latest AMD motherboards, and check out without further issues.
Needless to say, one of these stores received the majority of my business, as well as that of the other tech-knowledgeables in the area. The other two shops are not doing quite as well.
Re:Main mistake they made? (Score:5, Interesting)
CC would have the item but BB never would.
The reason for that was because people, like the grandparent, stopped going to Circuit City for general needs and browsing because the overall selection and availability sucked, the prices were high, and the service was crap. However, if you wanted to go in just for the loss leader (i.e. you read the circular or looked it up online and planned your trip) then you were more likely to get that one item because there were fewer casual shoppers and browsers in Circuit City to compete with you for the loss-leader items.
Re:With Circuit City and CompUSA all but gone... (Score:3, Interesting)
>Maybe Wal-Mart customers aren't so bad where you live, but here in Arizona, going to a Wal-Mart is not a fun experience, unless you like...
Trust me, it isn't just Arizona. In Virginia it is the same story. Add to that: 50 checkout lanes of which only 8 or so ever seem to be open, so you have to stand in line listening to the kids screaming for 20+ minutes.
I go to the Target across the street as much as possible- it is a TOTALLY different experience. Clean, quality merchandise, quiet, helpful staff. Unfortunately, they just don't carry everything I need, and Walmart put everyone else out of business. So I wait until I can't any more and then reluctantly go to Walmart (wearing earplugs- I kid you not)
Re:Main mistake they made? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Main mistake they made? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:since when? (Score:3, Interesting)
When I was young in the 80's, I remember at least half of the store was parts and stuff. I thought it was awesome. About a year ago I needed some resistors or something in a hurry and I discovered that it has become two bins with sliding drawers. There's a place locally called Sandy's Electronics that's nothing but components and more, albeit a bit expensive. If they ever disappear I'll probably be forced to order things online.
Do you know of one that is not abusive? (Score:3, Interesting)
CompUSA [cnet.com] was worse than Circuit City in my experience. (That's pronounced com-POOZ-a to show the proper low respect.) The predictable happened. The title of that article is: "CompUSA closes shop".
Incredible Universe had a unique formula. They abused their sales people; I was told that and observed that. The predictable happened: Incredible Universe crashes to earth [findarticles.com]. Actually it crashed to under the earth.
I remember Future Shop in the U.S. as being a confused place. The predictable happened in 1999: Future Shop closing U.S. stores [www.cbc.ca].
Most of the problem with computer retail stores is the same as with any technology company: There are managers who think they can run a technology company without actually understanding their products.
Does anyone know of an online computer and electronics equipment seller that is not abusive?
Re:Main mistake they made? (Score:3, Interesting)
I worked at BB for a couple months when I was really hard-up for work. Here's why no one can find anything:
The inventory team moves shit around nightly. You'll work until close on Tuesday, come back Wednesday morning, some customer asks for a such-and-so, you smile and confidently guide them over to where they are... No, where they were... Like... 12 hours ago...
You then smile and ask them to wait, and run around the store trying to figure out where they hell they put the such-and-sos, check the inventory computer (the inventory system at BB, BTW, I thought was pretty impressive and easy to use), see that we have some somewhere.
Eventually you have to go back to the customer who is impatiently waiting in the aisle and say:
there are 6 of the item remaining in stock, but... uh... "We can't seem to find them.
Sometimes I'd find the stuff had been put away in the back. It was still available for sale, but was invisible to the customer and required the sales person to wander around in the dark for 10 minutes to find it. Ugh.
Re:Main mistake they made? (Score:2, Interesting)