Circuit City liquidation sparks a Black Saturday

latimes. ^ | January 18, 2009 | Catherine Ho

[dennisw]

Marked-down merchandise attracts throngs to L.A.-area stores as the bankrupt electronics chain prepares to close.

Shoppers eager to grab their share of discounted plasma TVs and Blu-ray DVDs lined up in droves today as Circuit City stores began liquidating inventory. Bankrupt electronics retailer shutting down 567 U.S. stores, laying off 34,000 workers.

By late morning, the line outside the Circuit City in Hollywood was almost 100 people long. Carlos Reyes, 24, and girlfriend Diana Anzora, 22, of Los Angeles, lined up to buy video games and DVDs.

"We don't want to get anything too big," he said. "You don't want to not be able to return an HD or plasma."

Andrew Lobel, 26, had different plans. The screenwriter from Los Feliz -- and first-time Circuit City shopper -- stood in line for 40 minutes for chance to snag a 46-inch LCD television on sale.

"I'm waiting to trample someone to death," he joked.

The scene outside the store looked very similar to that on Black Friday, Lobel said. Steady stream of customers had been lining up outside since the store opened at 10 a.m., said store director Jesse Alcaraz. A handful of them read books to pass the time. Some called friends to pass on the word about the sale.

Inside, the atmosphere was busy but not hectic, as customers mostly flocked to TVs and browsed bins of marked-down PlayStation and X-Box games. Merchandise was marked 10%, 20% and 30% off.

By 5 p.m., the Circuit City in Glendale was running low on popular merchandise, having sold out some television monitors. Laptop computers were also in high demand, said Miguel Hernandez, Glendale store manager.

Today's sales were up 25% compared with most days, and the store had four times as many customers as normal for a Saturday, Hernandez said.

[warchild9]

There’s a local jewelry store over in Cary that’s been going out of business since just after Thanksgiving. They pay street people from Durham little or nothing to stand around with brightly-painted sandwich boards and frighten the newly-arrived unemployed midwesterners who’ve never seen such a thing.

[Vince Ferrer]

I went to my local CC yesterday. It was packed, but I didn’t see the discounts yet that would get me to buy anything yet. DVDs were discounted 20% I think, but the ordinary prices were a bit higher than other stores, so it would just cut the price down to other stores.

[LiberConservative]

Rumor has it the discounts weren’t that great.

[Farmer Dean]

Friend of mine used to have a t-shirt that said”I’d walk over you to see the Who!”

[TexasRedeye]

In NYC they had to actually pass a law regulating multiple going out of business sales become some retailers kept having them for years.

Texas passed a similar law some time ago. Advertise you are "Going out of business" and you have 6 mos to close the doors! This was in response to the perpetual "going out of business" scams. Now they are advertising "GOING OUT for BUSINESS", hehehehehe!

[Boiling Pots]

They NEVER are at the beginning of a “liquidation sale.”

In fact, prices on many things go UP, but people believe they’re getting a great deal, so they buy.

[bobwoodard]

You're right.

If the liquidation company is the same one that did the first round of ~155 Circuit City stores, their MO is to come in, raise prices and then discount the new prices. After all, they get a 3.5% commission on the sales, so they need to keep the prices as high as possible.

Check it out here

[umgud]

I may run down there today and get me one of those really small laptops to take on the road with me......... if the price is right and if they have any left.

[autumnraine]

“Friend of mine used to have a t-shirt that said”I’d walk over you to see the Who!””

I would SO hang out with your friend, HAHA!

[Blue Highway]

There was a Circuit City that in Sarasota FL that just had a Grand Opening (no joke) only a few months ago which is odd as it seemed like it was after or right around the same time they announced they’d be going out of business. I went there for the “Grand Opening Sale” and there was nothing of value or deals to be had. I did have a 10% “Grand Opening Sale” coupon and they did have the marked down price (at the time) a SanDisk 8GB Micro Cruzer USB flashdrive For $29.99. The stupid girl at the cash register looked at me like an alien once I produced the coupon. 5 minuted later dealing with the manager and hemming and hawing about how this coupon is not valid for some bs reason I vowed to never go back there to this trainwreck of a store (Grand Opening mind you). Once I discovered CC had filed for banruptcy and will be shutting down I had to laugh.

[CodeToad]

This also means other stores will see less buying as people grabs deals at CC.

[Maine Mariner]

We also went to the CC store. Most items were marked 10% off. The lines at the cash register were not too long.
People in line were complaining that most items were not on on sale even thought CC people were out on the main road wearing signs. My son bought some stuff for his Nintendo that was marked down 10%.

[Doohickey]

Rumor is correct. There were a few good bargains, but on accessories. Most items weren’t discounted yet.

[varon]

Then I thought about if there were any problems later on I probably wouldn’t be able to take it back to the store.

I was under the impression that Guarantees & Warranties were issued by the manufacturer, not by the retailer.

At least that's been the case with all the electronics I've ever purchased.

[Bean Counter]

I looked at the CC flyer in today’s paper, and it’s no wonder they are going tits-up. Nothing they have on sale is a bargain in my view, and they are still more expensive than any number of other retailers including Best Buy and Costco...

[sportutegrl]

It is false advertising. When the Sears Home Furniture stores went out of business, they were open for months and months with big "going out of business" signs. I expect a store that is going out of business to be selling the remaining inventory, but they were bringing out new merchandise of a decidedly lower quality than what they had carried.

They finally had to add this notice to their Going out of Business ads: "New merchandise is added to provide a better selection to customers." That is not going out of business to me.

[FreedomGuru]

Why bother standing in line? Isn’t 0bama gonna buy us HDTV’s and Ipods and everything? Why isn’t CC asking for a bailout?

[dilvish]

You’d rather the merchandise go unsold and CC’s creditors got nothing? Of course most of these “bargains”, weren’t.

If it wasn’t for CC’s incredibly annoying employees and overall atmosphere I might have gone, even at “bargain” prices (heck even at real bargain prices) CC is just too damned annoying.

[TruthWillWin]

A typical going out of business sale can generate a lot of sales at decent M/U for smart retailers or their liquidators.
I knew someone that worked at Wards selling appliances and she told me that their sales were up 1000% in the 1st month of the closedown and the M/U was actually higher than pre-closedown numbers.

[hoppity]

My wife bought one there yesterday. Lenovo 10.2” 1 GB RAM, 160 GB memory with XP for $340. Seemed like a good price.