Broken Circuit 1
I’ve been in the local Circuit City only twice. Neither time could I find anything whatsoever to interest me. It made Best Buy, which I loathe, look good.
This may be to some extent fallout from Republican Economic Theory, but it is just as much fallout from incompetent management, marketing, and product selection.
Wonder if the local store will go back to its roots as a bowling alley?
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Huennekens approved the plan to sell Circuit City to a liquidator group, capping a tumultuous year for the specialty chain.
January 17, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Circuit City opened a store here in Dover a few years ago while the economy was still fairly good. Things were livelier at the local funeral home than at the local Circuit City store.
Circuit City was hurting before the economy faltered. Once upon a time they had good stores with knowledgeable employees. In 2003, when the economy was still steaming along (or we thought it was), Circuit City eliminated commissioned sales in favor of a straight hourly pay rate. Many commissioned sales associates were offered new positions as hourly “product specialists.” Many left on their own. The company laid off 3900 salespeople “saving” about $130 million a year. They replaced their veteran staff with 20-somethings who talked on their cell phones instead of waiting on customers. Their idea of customer service was self service. They “redesigned” their stores to look more like sectional electronic boutiques than electronics stores, cut their stock, and raised their prices. They also probably over-expanded at the wrong time and opened too many big-box stores. The bad economy may have hastened their demise, but they were gone regardless. No one is to blame here except incompetent management – it happens.
There seems to be an economic cycle for electronics stores. Remember Lafayette Radio, The Wiz, Two Guys, CompUSA, and Egghead?