Mervyn’s and Linens ‘n Things announced they’ll be a thing of the past shortly. Now Circuit City, which hasn’t been looking good for a while, is on life support. What other stores will we lose in this economy?
Circuit City Stores Inc. is considering a plan to close at least 150 stores and cut thousands of jobs, as an alternative to filing for bankruptcy-court protection, said people familiar with the company.
Earlier this month, the nation’s No. 2 electronics retailer by sales hired Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP — the law firm that oversaw the Chapter 11 reorganization of Kmart — as its bankruptcy counsel, according to several people familiar with the matter.
Circuit City also retained FTI Consulting Inc. to develop a turnaround plan and investment bank Rothschild Inc. to guide talks with banks and secure emergency financing, these people said.
[Chart]In recent days, the cash-strapped company also has been analyzing how much money it could raise by liquidating hundreds of millions of dollars in inventory.
This just in: Congress has voted to replace its ‘Everything Must Go’ sign with a new one stating, ‘Everything Has Gone.’
Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out Circuit Shitty.
I think it is apparent to anyone with a brain that the Repukes and Conservatives will be swept from Public Offices across the Country in the upcoming Elections for the simple reason that NO ONE, EXCEPT THE MILLIONAIRES AND BILLIONAIRES, IS BETTER OFF NOW THAN BEFORE BUSH AND THE REPUKES DROVE THE US INTO THE GUTTER – THE WAR, FOREIGN POLICY, THE ECONOMY, AMERICAN’S CIVIL RIGHTS – ***ALL MISERABLE FAILURES*** !!! Of course my qualification “Anyone with a brain” might leave out Repukes and Conservatives, but you can’t please everyone !!!
Part of the problems Circuit City are experiencing could be related to its poor treatment of its employees. The well-publicized systematic firing of senior Circuit City floor staff and their replacement by minimum-wage earning neophytes is completely responsible for my not shopping there. I do not appreciate such business practices, and voting with my dollars is a simple way of making such an opinion felt by businesses.
Apart from the fierce competition from Costco and BJ’s, the ill will created by this decision has contributed to their current situation. I’m sure that the employees affected by that firing have spread the word to not shop at that store. Hopefully other businesses can learn from this mistake and treat senior staff with respect and compensation commensurate with their value to the company.
The inflationary policies are going to continue whoever is in office. Who thinks next years US budget is going to be smaller than the last one?
The Fed deficit will continue to balloon out of control. Can anyone remember a Congress that enacted a balanced budget?
#4 DieFundie. That was my experience as well. I would go to Circuit city for blank CD’s and such when they were on sale, otherwise Newegg.com got my business.
Circuit Cit’s staff usually didn’t have a clue and their prices were not as good.
This is just the free market at work.
Next in line…
JC Penny’s
Sears
Radio Shack
#5 Paddy-0
I remember very well how President Clinton was well on track to totally erase this country’s debt. In fact they took the deficit counter down in new york for a time or turned it off. It was actually running backwards. It’s always the republican’s job to rack up debt. Now it’s once again the democrats job to turn us around again. People never learn because they forget their history.
Call me crazy but I think this is part of the normal expansion/contraction cycle of business.
Do we really need a Linens and Things four blocks from Bed Bath and Beyond? They are the same store.
Do we really need a Sams/Costco/BJs? They are the same store.
When the economy was gangbusters and everyone was buying on credit then you couldn’t build enough stores to satisfy the buyers. Kind of the like the US housing market going crazy just to absorb all the spare cash in the world.
Now that things are getting real we will see CC go away. Kmart and Sears are close behind. Anything that simply sells the same thing the guy down the road sells without specialization except for price is in for trouble. I also see stores like Dicks Sporting Goods and Planet Music feeling the squeeze.
TW
#8 “I remember very well how President Clinton was well on track to totally erase this country’s debt. ”
I’ll refresh your memory. It was the House (under Republican control) that shoved the budget down Clinton’s throat. And, even at that, the fed deficit NEVER went down in those years.
infromsea:
“Do we really need a Sams/Costco/BJs? They are the same store.” (and so forth with Circuit City and similar stores like Best Buy).
Yes, we do. It’s called competition, and it keeps prices lower, which is good for customers.
Now I have to say that Circuit City rarely had competitive prices, treated their salespeople not all that well, and didn’t train them so they knew their products. Best Buy used to be like that, but their people seem to be more knowledgeable these days, so they’re eating Circuit City for lunch now.
Circuit City will either figure out what to do to keep themselves in business, will get bought out, or will go into bankruptcy.
I’m glad Dick’s Sporting Goods is going away, as they bought out the far better Galyan’s and then cheapened the inventory at those stores. I won’t buy cheap outdoor equipment that could die on me when I’m far from the trailhead, or the boat ramp.
Sears should dump KMart as a brand and go back to selling high quality stuff only.
10,
You have a highly creative memory. Clinton forced congress, not the other way around. Then again, the Right is known for self-deception and lies.
[Duplicate comment deleted. Please don’t double post! – ed.]
#8, and let’s not forget that those “good times” were based on worthless paper which we are paying for as we speak.
The financial situation will fix itself one way or another. This is going to be the mother of all corrections and its going to hurt. I won’t mind though. I can head back to the homestead and do subsistence farming if I have to. It will be like a vacation.
paddy’s just upset that it was bill clinton who will forever be remembered as guy who stole all the best ideas from the republicans and actually got them done.
# 12 & #16 You crack me up.
“Recall that it was the Clinton White House that fought Republicans every inch of the way in balancing the budget in 1995. When Republicans proposed their own balanced-budget plan, the White House waged a shameless Mediscare campaign to torpedo the plan — a campaign that the Washington Post slammed as “pure demagoguery.” It was Bill Clinton who, during the big budget fight in 1995, had to submit not one, not two, but five budgets until he begrudgingly matched the GOP’s balanced-budget plan. In fact, during the height of the budget wars in the summer of 1995, the Clinton administration admitted that “balancing the budget is not one of our top priorities.”
#17
pedro makes a very good point. political parties don’t have much pull in the realm of retail, which is a business wherein all juggernauts ultimately meet their demise once someone else puts up a prettier store.
wal-mart will die one day too, regardless the party in control.
Mission Accomplished!
It’s possible the current economic situation was the “last nail in the coffin” but it certainly did not bring CC down.
Circuit City has been dying for at least a couple of years.
Businesses go under even during the best of times. Circuit City is dying because they suck.
I will go into a Best Buy “just to look around” once in a while. I view a visit to Circuit City with about as much enthusiasm as a visit to the dentist.
On the off chance I shopped at CC it was usually because they had advertised something I was looking for at a substantial discount. I would enter the store with flyer clenched in my fist and get in and get out as soon as possible.
That’s really too bad. Linens n Things was the stock to buy 10 years ago.
This just seems like the regular business cycle. Best Buy isn’t tanking…in fact it looks good. Will anyone miss CC? I think they priced themselves into the grave. The firing of their senior people was not a smart business decision. I never felt good going into one.
And as for that budget surplus, did any one notice that all the savings were going to be realized in the years after the Clinton Administration?? It was all smoke and mirrors from the white house.
Except for everyone needing a new TV in February, all these electronics stores are in for a big crunch. Maybe a lot of folks are like me, realizing that credit cards are a personal finance killer. A spouse who couldn’t say no to anything “on sale” has been discharged, so that’s a big help. 🙂
Personal spending is going to drop considerably, and from what I read that’s going to retract the economy to a sane level. If we Americans keep buying American stuff, and dramatically reduce the purchase of imported stuff and pay down personal debt, we’ll all bet better off that much sooner.
BTW, Best Buy is expanding into guitars and such.
I don’t think they’re dying because of the economy. They’re dying because they havn’t adapted to the new buisness models thanks to the internet. Circuit City is getting killed by New Egg, Amazon is killing Borders ect.
But then, Tat does explain why it’s mainly US and European (Rich countries) business that are dying. The heads of these business are US mostly but the bulk of their Labor is over seas.
#18, Cow-Paddy,
I guess Stalinist USSR weren’t the only ones infamous about writing history to suit them. You and the Republicans seem to be shameless on that score.
Clinton said no to the Republican passed budget as it cut funding to too many social welfare areas but increased funding to already wealthy private companies. The government ended up shutting down until Congress accepted Clinton’s budget. Maybe you didn’t get the memo but the American people saw the truth in what was happening and overwhelmingly supported Clinton.
I’d take them any day of the week over those douches at Best Buy.
Fusion, none of what you wrote contradicts what Paddy wrote. The public didn’t like the Republicans’ budget cuts, and Clinton didn’t want a balanced budget. They met somewhere in the middle. Even then, the budget only balanced when money came in faster than they knew how to spend(and the Republicans managed to kind of stop them from spending it).
@gquaglia
There is no way in hell I am going to say anything nice about Best Buy. I only buy at these chains when there is an irresistible sale on an item I want. Even then I know more about the stock than the people on the floor. Pretty sad really.
When these guys were shutting down small businesses all over the country nobody gave a hoot. Long as they could get their stuff cheaper. I say good, give the little guy a chance again. Maybe after this ‘crisis’ is all said and done we’ll all be a little poorer but it might be worth it if it means a level playing field and more opportunity. What am I saying!?!? For a moment I was in dreamland. The truth is those that caused the crisis have their money safely invested and I’m sure they’ll be anxious to take risks again when this is over. That means if they find a bargain like circuit city lying around they might pick it up if it’s cheap enough.
#30 How about this? A bunch of rich banking types want to get even richer. Screw up the banking system with junk assets. Cause a HUGE panic in the world stock markets. After the stocks crash come in and buy company stock on the cheap…