Circuit City making comeback years after going bankrupt

whdh.com ^ | January 11, 2018

[ilovesarah2012]

WHDH) — Former electronics giant Circuit City says it is making a comeback.

Circuit City made the announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show, which is being held this week in Las Vegas, according to a CNBC report.

The retailer will launch a retail website on Feb. 15, CEO Ronny Shmoel said.

[ctdonath2]

Yup. So loud that the band performed from orbit.

[PIF]

The new printer I bought last year was cheaper at Office Max than Amazon by a good bit

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Amazon is never out of stock of anything.

Here is my latest retail story: I wanted to buy a new 8 TB backup drive last week. I normally buy everything on Amazon, but went to Best Buy thinking I’d go ahead and pay the 10% California tax just to get it a day early. Paying California 10% on my purchases really grates me the wrong way and I want to deprive those assholes in Sacramento every penny I can.

I picked up the drive on the store shelf (at least this time I didn’t have a salesman hovering over me watching me like a hawk like last time), then went to checkout. The checkout experience at B.B. is the worst in the world. Their POS terminal first tries to trick you into making a donation to some non-profit. You have to click “no” to get past it. Then the clerk said I could save some money if I used my B.B. credit card. The clerk couldn’t say how much I would save until she looked at my account. I don’t carry the B.B. credit card with me so the clerk said “No problem. I can look it up.” I provided my name, address and phone number (by now I’m getting steamed at how long all this is taking).

Then they needed my social security number! That really hacks me off because it is not supposed to be used for identification. I type it into the terminal and, of course, it isn’t the right SS number. Seems my wife opened our B.B. account and used her SS which I couldn’t remember. We were dead in the water. The clerk couldn’t tell me how much I would save if I used a card I didn’t have on me and she couldn’t look up. I wasn’t about to bother my wife at work to get her SS to find out if B.B. could cut my price a small amount.

At that point I screamed “Forget it! I’m using Amazon! This is ridiculous!”

I jumped onto Amazon while in the store and bought the product with one click. No fuss, no muss, no idiot store clerks. It probably took 45 seconds. It was on my doorstep less than 24 hours later, no sales tax and shipping paid with my annual Prime fee. I wasted an hour of my time driving to B.B., $2 of gasoline, and the agro dealing with them.

Good luck CC topping the Amazon experience. Why would ANY investors or exec team think they could possibly launch a new retail operation and succeed?

[Sirius Lee]

Oh my God! Look what's become of me!
My best friends a spider
My girlfriend's a cardboard cut-out I stole from Circuit City
The Devil's got my throat
I'm goin' down that's all she wrote..

[wastedyears]

Hard for electronics stores to compete with Amazon.

It depends on what you need, really. Amazon has a ton of products from every sector of the global economy. Best Buy has lots of electronics, but more for the mainstream purchaser. A store like Microcenter does have electronics, but is geared towards people that really know what they're looking for - my local one has the back third entirely dedicated to PC parts. I put mine together from there. Amazon will never be able to replace window shopping.

[VanDeKoik]

“The retailer will launch a retail website “

Well, good luck against Amazon...

[VanDeKoik]

It was called “Circuit Sh*tty” by a few people I know.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I think you could have added that important line to your excerpt and still been way below your 300 word limit.

Kiosks, showrooms, retail locations?

All very handy for trying things before buying from Amazon.

[PIF]

Yup. So loud that the band performed from orbit.

—

and not necessarily an orbit around the planet where the concert was held ...

[Labyrinthos]

Hard for electronics stores to compete with Amazon.

Maybe, maybe not. I no longer buy electronics from Amazon because of the return policy, which requires either a defect or an unopened box. Thus, if I buy a computer gadget and discover after opening the box that it is too small, too large, incompatible, insufficient power, wrong color -- whatever - I am pretty much stuck with the product unless I want to pay a significant return fee. Such returns are not an issue at Best Buy and Best Buy will match the Amazon price.

[Ciaphas Cain]

Ahhhh yes, the DIVX format. Not to be confused with the DivX codec.

Circuit City figured that people would want to hook their "DVD players" to a phone line in order to ask permission to watch a movie.

I genuinely felt sorry for the poor sap in the commercials who had to smile and spin DIVX as if it was a miracle of technology.

[SamAdams76]

They had the Circuit City stores near me when they were in business. I used to like to go to the Circuit City. I didn't care about interacting with the employees. I just liked to go see the merchandise. I would often buy merchandise there. Stereo equipment. VCRs. Cables (lots of cables) and connectors. Remember monster cable? It was a ripoff but I bought it anyhow. They had computers, software, stuff for your phone, compact discs (at reasonable prices) and other gadgets and gizmos.

It was very 1990s.

It was like a Radio Shack on steroids.

[circlecity]

"Amazon will never be able to replace window shopping."

But many people window shop at the stores, "kick the tires" as it were, decide what they want and then go buy the product at Amazon if it's cheaper.

[dfwgator]

Yup. So loud that the band performed from orbit.

"When Will The Bass Drop?"

[Leaning Right]

> I so miss being rudely ignored by Circus City employees. I’m so glad they’re coming back. <

Best Buy was the same way. Asking a Best Buy employee anything was like asking your angry neighbor to mow your lawn.

Then something changed. Best Buy folks are now mostly polite and helpful (in my experience, anyway). Will Circus City make the same pivot? Even if they do, I don’t see how they can compete against Amazon online or Best Buy in-store.

[ilovesarah2012]

I love Amazon, too. I, too, am a Prime member. But sometimes I do like to actually go and look at things and with our smartphones, we can instantly compare prices. A win-win.

[dfwgator]

Best Buy was the same way. Asking a Best Buy employee anything was like asking your angry neighbor to mow your lawn.

Ok, who lived in South Florida in the 80s, and remembers the ad, I think it was for Sound Advice, with the haughty salesman going, "Really sir, that's a multiplex demodulator!"

[adorno]

The new printer I bought last year was cheaper at Office Max than Amazon by a good bit

If people bothered to shop around, the Amazon hype would end.

[Leaning Right]

Here’s my 1990’s Best Buy story (happened more than once):

Me: I’m returning this electronic device. It doesn’t work. And I’m still within the return period.
Best Buy employee: You must have broken it. No refund.

Me: What? I demand to see the manager.
Best Buy manager: You must have broken it. No refund.

(Contrast that with Amazon’s return policy today. No muss. No fuss.)

[ScoochDude]

That was the last “real job” I had. It is interesting that is your memory of it. I have very few fond memories as an employee. I do remember:

Working for commissions so I hounded every customer I saw.

In the late ‘80s when there were a lot more WWII vets around, I constantly heard something like, “is there anything made in America in this place? I spent 5 years killing them Jap bastards and I’ll be damned if I buy their crap!”
The good ole days.