FangsFirst

This is one of the big problems with living wages. A lot of people have this bizarre assumption that only "teenagers making minimum wage" work retail. I've known far more people that were nothing of the sort than were in my retail experience. The folks who fit that bill at Circuit City (non-parent-supported teenagers) will now have no income--but I guess that isn't meaningful because they weren't "professionals"?

stingermck

Stopped by today. Same sale others have mentioned. Picked up a few $10 DVDs, including Last House on the Left OOP. Lots of customers were bitching that the sale wasnt that good.

Abob Teff

Sorry -- I didn't state that they way that I should have -- I over-generalized to make a point about unemployment numbers. I know exactly what you mean, I spent most of my life in retail management.

I still would not call this 34,000 jobs lost. 6-8 hours a week at minimum wage is technically a job, yes. But in reality it would take 5-6 of those to equal a "living wage" position. I suppose that is what I am trying to say -- there are not 34,000 "living-wage" jobs being eliminated. Of those 34,000 I would be amazed if 10,000 were "living-wage" jobs. The vast majority of those 34,000 probably will not even qualify for unemployment benefits.

You are right ... most of the places that I managed I had adults making minimum wage. For most of them it was a second job. I preferred to hire people looking for a second job because I knew I couldn't provide enough for them to live on and they wouldn't quit when McDonalds started paying $1 an hour more or when we hit our slow season and 20 hours went down to 4-8 hours. I had a far lower turnover rate than the stores that hired 18-19 year old students. However, this furthers my point about "under-employment" being a bigger problem than unemployment.

Josh-da-man

Yes, any "DIVX" DVD player that can be bought today means it can play .avi files encoded with the divx codec, which was jokingly named after the original Divx.

Any remaining Divx DVDs are basically useless. Unless someone wanted to crack the encryption and play them in a DVD-ROM drive, but there's no real rush to do that.

JimRochester

Not to mention, the biggest knock against the original DIVX was the limited availablity of WS and 5.1 even compared to the early days of DVD. It basically VHS on a disc in many cases.

They do nice coasters, mini-frisbees, and emergency mirrors. I think we even had a thread upon the death of the DIVX format with the many uses of the discs now that the format is no good.

FangsFirst

Point taken. Still, I do know a lot of people working full-time retail alone. Not 34,000 out of 34,000, certainly, but still a fair chunk. Even 20-30% of that would still be very much not good--though considering plenty of those second jobbers will need/want a new second job, it will increase competition for the ones remaining, and possibly shut out those who need it simply to scrape up enough to live...

Corey31

This excerpt from an article in a Calgary newspaper says that there is still possible bids for another company to take over the Canadian wholly-owned subsidiary of Circuit City.

JAYARE

are they going to get saw v on tuesday still?

NiCK Crush

Doubtful. And if they do, it will be obscenely priced.

vedderone

i asked about saw and was told all new releases for this week had already been sent back

videoguy

That's good to know! Thanks! For me no WS = No Go!
Was the new avi format really "jokingly" named after the old one? Are the two codecs related at all? I always thought they were using the codecs from the old discs or possibly they improved upon the old one for the new one.

The new divx avi format is kinda a pain in the you know what if you're looking for a free anything to avi software converter. I'm a video editor so I'm always looking for avi as the kind of DV AVI that can be imported into non linear editing software. the new divx avi cannot.

videoguy

Was talking to someone in my family today who knows a guy who had a business that sold car radios to circuit city and his company like 6 months ago even got to the point where they were only going to fulfill any future radio orders by cash only because old orders weren't being paid for.

The CC idiots were trying to order more stuff despite not paying for the old orders!

JimRochester

Pretty common practice. My first retail job back in 1981 was for a small electronics retailer. As soon as he knew the writing was on the wall, he'd order from any distributor that would give him credit knowing he wasn't going to pay. Eventually after he milked every one he could he shut the doors.

BuckNaked2k

This is the mentality you see when a liquidation is announced. The company managing the liquidation counts on this. People are basically sheep, and will follow the mob mentality without doing too much research.

I read on another thread that someone saw a woman at a CC with about two dozen Blu-rays in her cart.....at 10% off MSRP

The real deals won't be seen for weeks, and by then, it will be down to the fixtures.

BuckNaked2k

I feel for everyone who has lost or will be losing a job. I have been there myself. But the reality is, your average hourly retail associate will have a much easier time finding a new job than a $75,000 a year salaried employee. Retail traditionally has a high rate of turn over, easily transferable skills, and laid-off workers can more easily make ends meet on the $350 a week unemployment insurance pays in the interim.

CardiffGiant

I'm always shocked by people purchasing items from Target, CC, BB, WM, etc. for MSRP. A quick check online can find the best price available. I understand that people may not know about speedy's posts and hunt down the best prices like most of us on this board do, but I always find it hard to understand why someone would purchase a DVD for $20-$25 (weeks after release date). I rarely purchase anything in stores anymore, there just aren't as many deals that go on inside a B&M.

FangsFirst

Well, yeah, but the fact is even retail is thin on employment opportunities right now, and the loss of an entire employer won't really help that. Certainly it's not like a 75k salary position (though that's more than a LIVING wage, anyway, and I'm not one of those rich-hating folks, but all the same such a person could find a lower paying job even by 25-35k and still live just fine, though admittedly not at prior levels--but comfortably survive all the same. Obviously circumstances would vary, but by and large 75k wouldn't be a necessity), but it's not like there's an ocean of even crappy jobs right now.

jjcool

Stopped by the local Circuit City yesterday afternoon. 4 or 5 guys with stick signs that said up to 30% off. No signage in store as to what % off what departments were. Saw a dvdrecorder that they had priced at $300 -10%. Same model can be had online for slightly over $200. I walked out. The store was the crowded I've seen it in years, and there were already some bare shelves. Most notoably in the dvd/blueray player area.

Phibes

I recall when a chain of sporting goods stores went under and the one in a local mall did so well with their "going out of business" sale that it stayed in business for some years after the chain died. Wonder if this will happen to some stores?

Star Wars Guy

This is the exact same scene at mine. DVDs and CDs were 20% off. The only other signage that I saw was on some (not all) of their HDTVs and that was just 10% off.

Premise

I got a good laugh at my local CC when I seen Rambo two disc was still selling for 29.99.

breeze13

For what its worth, CC in Wilmington, DE did have some new stock yesterday. For instance, noticed they had "The Express" DVD for $21.99. Also, brand new Legacy Edition of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" for $16.99.

20% off above prices.

elkkthunder

anyone in the know have a timetable of when they will markdown again and what % it will be??

JimRochester

As a general rule of thumb; every week or two they'll increase the discount 10%. It depends on how things are selling at the current %. None of the DVD's appeared to be moving from the one I was at yesterday, but electronics were disappearing at a meager 10% off.

saoirse

I think I'll wait until it's everything for a buck like they eventually did at Tower.