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Circuit City's coming back!

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Circuit City's coming back!

Old 01-28-16, 07:38 PM
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Circuit City's coming back!

[story]

For those who don’t recall, Circuit City was exactly like Best Buy, except it was all red and white instead of blue and yellow, and also a lot of the stores had a weird smell that was impossible to place. It was this sort of dry, irritating stink that just made you want to shop for DVDs and PlayStation 2 games somewhere else. Anyway, the company shuttered all of its stores in 2008, possibly because of a persistent rumor about how they smelled really weird.

The Circuit City brand is now owned by some rich guys named Ronny Shmoel and Albert Liniado, and Twice says they have an “ambitious, multi-tiered game plan” to get the chain back on top.



I wonder if they'll let me return something on opening day...
Old 01-28-16, 07:49 PM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

I thought TargetDirect/CompUSA had bought them after bankruptcy. Well, I don't mind more competitors like this to go against Amazon, Target, Wal-Mart and Best Buy
Old 01-28-16, 08:08 PM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

Hopefully they'll let me use that gift card I found two days after the final closing.
Old 01-28-16, 08:19 PM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

The Circuit City by me that closed down years ago is still there and still empty...the sign has never been taken down...should make it easy for them to move right back in.
Old 01-28-16, 08:59 PM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

I remember walking up to the DVD section in Circuit City one time and realizing that my friend's personal DVD collection was bigger than Circuit City's. This was in 2005.
Old 01-28-16, 09:10 PM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

Okay, so I'm not the only one who thought Circuit City stores stunk.

And I mean, they smelled bad. Glad I'm not the only who noticed it.

So what the hell was it? Carpeting? Fixtures? Some noxious crap they hosed down the stores with before they opened them in the morning?
Old 01-28-16, 10:01 PM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

I miss Circuit City. Perhaps it's just a feeling of nostalgia as I recall browsing the aisles. And yes, dealing with a particular smell. Though I never felt it smelled bad, just that it was a little peculiar.
Old 01-29-16, 01:38 AM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

They should've brought back Tower Records instead. But if they still carry media (and no DIVX!) I'll check it out. I wonder if they will still require people to be completely clueless about electronics as a condition of hiring.
Old 01-29-16, 08:24 AM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!



Granted 15-20 years ago CIrcuity City wasnt bad. But now...yeah good luck.

Just like dfmaverick2 said, the building here is still sitting there.
Old 01-29-16, 09:03 AM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

Ha, and the store that was closest to me is still vacant. Guess they can just go right back there until they fold again.
Old 01-29-16, 09:13 AM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

The magical return of the Ethnically-Quizzical DIVX Spokesman can't be far behind!
Old 01-29-16, 09:50 AM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

PC Richards moved into the Circuit City building here a few years back. I shopped more in Circuit City back in the day than I do at PC Richards now. That store really sucks. And out Circuit City never had a weird smell to it.
Old 01-29-16, 12:42 PM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

I think that all of the old Circuit City buildings I used to frequent are occupied. One is a Best Buy (and for the longest time, it was the strangest Best Buy ever, in that it still resembled a Circuit City in almost every way, including checking out at customer service), one is a Jo-Ann Fabric, one is a Field and Stream, and one is an Art Van Furniture Store. The one that is a Jo-Ann sat unoccupied the longest, and Jo-Ann just moved from a different building in the same shopping center, and I think their old building is still unoccupied.
Old 01-29-16, 01:01 PM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

Circuit City had that low-pile carpet which I suspect was the source of its distinctive odor. Most big stores are completely done with tile.

Circuity City as a brand would have been better off going bankrupt much sooner than it actually did. The store was the model for Best Buy's expansion and was a great competitor in the 90s. Most younger Millennials likely don't have positive associations with the brand, remembering the rotten chain it had become in the early 2000s before dying.
Old 01-29-16, 06:12 PM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

I miss Circuit City's Black Friday sales...their checkout lines were the worst, but they had a really good mix of stuff on sale during BF. BF to me has not been the same since they went out of business.
Old 01-29-16, 06:27 PM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

I remember looking at some Sony HDTV TVs back in 2006 at Circuit City and buying the new U2 album there in 2004.

They were probably one of the anchor tenants when Pacific Commons was being built in Fremont.
Old 01-29-16, 10:24 PM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

Circuit City always reminded me of Radio Shack. They always took forever to ring you up and had to enter an absurd amount of information about you and alway tried to upsell overpriced batteries. If all I wanted to buy was a dvd or vhs tape, I don't see the need in having to give them my telephoned number, address, etc. Just scan the stupid thing and take my cash. Always took them 20 minutes just to ring up a simple item.
Old 01-29-16, 11:14 PM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

I remember buying my first non-PC DVD player at Circuit City. It was an open box special Sony. I paid $200. It lasted about 2 months. The building is now a Fresh Market.
Old 01-30-16, 01:10 AM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

I once got asked if I wanted to buy a "protection plan" for some DVDs I was buying there, in case they ended up getting scratched. I laughed and told them they were asking the WRONG person about that since that never happens to my stuff!

Still wondering how this'll turn out, and if they'll remember why it went under the first time.
Old 01-30-16, 10:18 PM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

Wonder if Speedy will be more careful about posting ads.

I hope it works out for CC, but retail seems to be on the decline.
Old 01-31-16, 10:24 AM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

Was Circuit City the place where you picked out what you wanted, and then the back-of-store people sent the product out on a rolling conveyor belt?
Old 01-31-16, 10:31 AM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

That was Service Merchandise.
Old 01-31-16, 10:03 PM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

Originally Posted by Ranger
That was Service Merchandise.
Wheel of Fortune used to give out gift certificates for them when you had money left in your "account" back in the day when you had to purchases prizes after solving puzzles.
Old 02-01-16, 09:05 AM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

Originally Posted by Alan Smithee
I once got asked if I wanted to buy a "protection plan" for some DVDs I was buying there, in case they ended up getting scratched. I laughed and told them they were asking the WRONG person about that since that never happens to my stuff!

Still wondering how this'll turn out, and if they'll remember why it went under the first time.
Yeah I would tell them I dont plan on throwing the disc across the room, so i'll be fine.
Old 02-01-16, 09:14 AM
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Re: Circuit City's coming back!

Originally Posted by PhantomStranger
Circuit City had that low-pile carpet which I suspect was the source of its distinctive odor. Most big stores are completely done with tile.
Most of the Best Buys around here are mostly carpeted, with only the main walkways between sections being tile. Same thing with the PC Richard that moved into the old Circuit City building.

Originally Posted by movieguru
Circuit City always reminded me of Radio Shack. They always took forever to ring you up and had to enter an absurd amount of information about you and alway tried to upsell overpriced batteries. If all I wanted to buy was a dvd or vhs tape, I don't see the need in having to give them my telephoned number, address, etc. Just scan the stupid thing and take my cash. Always took them 20 minutes just to ring up a simple item.
The phone number I gave was always 867-5309. If they asked for a zip code, it was always 90210.

Originally Posted by mndtrp
Was Circuit City the place where you picked out what you wanted, and then the back-of-store people sent the product out on a rolling conveyor belt?
I remember the Wiz used to do this. When I got my first home theater receiver back in the day, it took forever to make its way up.

Last edited by jjcool; 02-01-16 at 03:29 PM.

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