Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
#51
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Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
Aaaaah, yes, Lechmere. Great chain where I spent much $$$ on CDs (as well as CC). Now gone as well from the Northeast along with Tweeter.
Yes, Caldor and Bradlees, two more Ghosts of Retail from the Northeast......makes you scratch your head with all the old names gone by. Remember Grants?....The Wiz??.....Two Guys???
As far as CC goes, I shed not one tear. They used to be an awesome place to buy quality gear. I bought my first CD player there in 1989. I still remember the guy who sold it to me, middle-aged, wire rimmed glasses, well-dressed and well-spoken. Knew his stuff about audio, I tell you what.
The last 10 years have been an abomination. Closing the check-out lanes was the last straw. Every time I went to buy even a single DVD I had to wait at CS while some customer was attempting a complicated return of some huge boxed electronics item with pieces missing, etc. EVERY dopey associate in the store would be involved, invariably, not one would step aside and help another customer. Eff 'em, I say.
The only sad part about CC closing is...
All the empty stores that will probably sit there for at least a decade.
In a town near me, the Caldor store is going to finally be torn down after like 20 years, but HALF of the Bradlees store down the road has yet to be filled.
All the empty stores that will probably sit there for at least a decade.
In a town near me, the Caldor store is going to finally be torn down after like 20 years, but HALF of the Bradlees store down the road has yet to be filled.
As far as CC goes, I shed not one tear. They used to be an awesome place to buy quality gear. I bought my first CD player there in 1989. I still remember the guy who sold it to me, middle-aged, wire rimmed glasses, well-dressed and well-spoken. Knew his stuff about audio, I tell you what.
The last 10 years have been an abomination. Closing the check-out lanes was the last straw. Every time I went to buy even a single DVD I had to wait at CS while some customer was attempting a complicated return of some huge boxed electronics item with pieces missing, etc. EVERY dopey associate in the store would be involved, invariably, not one would step aside and help another customer. Eff 'em, I say.
#52
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Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
Since i live in MA also. Yes. I miss Lechemere. I used to go there all the time in the framingham mall off route 30 in the late 80's - 90's. Some stores i never thought would go out of business and Lechmere was one of them. Truly sad. I guess the writing was on the wall with new owners expanding their line into weird territories. They were best when it was basically a best buy type store. Let's not get into Shopper's World or i'll be here all day..
#53
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Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
I bought our first vacuum cleaner there (back when they were carrying appliances) in 1999 - a Panasonic. This was at the Natick store in MA.Its going strong even today.
I bought my first cordless phone there - another Panasonic in 1997 and believe it or not, its still going strong at my parents (after a few battery replacements). Again at the Natick, MA store.
Bought my first HDTV there in Nov '06 - and guess which one - another Panasonic that's going strong. At the Palos Verdes store in Socal.
Also bought my current TV stand there that holds a 65" Sharp Aquos. At the Huntington Beach store in SoCal.
And the Pioneer double DIN DVD player that replaced the stock player for my Honda Pilot. At the Seal Beach, Socal store.
So I will remember Circuit City for all of these.
Yet I am not so sad at seeing them go - horrible store layout, clueless employees, lack of customer service and just about every other aspect that indicated cost cutting measures all the time at the expense of bringing in repeat customers.
There will be someone else in the future but for now the retail monopoly has been handed to Best Buy. While its a more efficiently run organization, the smugness and the arrogance displayed by every 'blue collar' out there makes me avoid them like the plague. The only time I go there is to physically check out some electronics.
Go Amazon for all my purchase needs !!!
I bought my first cordless phone there - another Panasonic in 1997 and believe it or not, its still going strong at my parents (after a few battery replacements). Again at the Natick, MA store.
Bought my first HDTV there in Nov '06 - and guess which one - another Panasonic that's going strong. At the Palos Verdes store in Socal.
Also bought my current TV stand there that holds a 65" Sharp Aquos. At the Huntington Beach store in SoCal.
And the Pioneer double DIN DVD player that replaced the stock player for my Honda Pilot. At the Seal Beach, Socal store.
So I will remember Circuit City for all of these.
Yet I am not so sad at seeing them go - horrible store layout, clueless employees, lack of customer service and just about every other aspect that indicated cost cutting measures all the time at the expense of bringing in repeat customers.
There will be someone else in the future but for now the retail monopoly has been handed to Best Buy. While its a more efficiently run organization, the smugness and the arrogance displayed by every 'blue collar' out there makes me avoid them like the plague. The only time I go there is to physically check out some electronics.
Go Amazon for all my purchase needs !!!
Last edited by laidbacklarkin; 03-08-09 at 07:10 PM.
#54
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Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
Oh yeah. Lechmere was my store in the 70's & 80's. That's where I bought all of my electronics. I applied for a job there but they used to give one of those ethical tests along with an application. I think I failed it 'cause I actually would steal bread if I was hungry.....
Boy, and then went The Wiz. And Caldor. And Ames. And finally Bradlees (I worked at their corporate division in Braintree, MA in 1999) Wow, all of those MA stores - gone. Wonder what's at Shopper's World now.
#55
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Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
I have bittersweet feelings about the end of Circuit City. My shopping there goes back decades. Once Best Buy arrived on the scene I knew Circuit City would always be an also-ran. Years of corporate incompetence finally caught up with a retailer that had simply stopped being competitive this decade. I do think Best Buy will become increasingly arrogant in their business practices now without any direct competition from Circuit City.
#57
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Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
I disagree that Best Buy now has no competition.
For optical media like CDs/DVDs/Blu we've got Best Buy, Fry's Electronics, Target, Wal-Mart, Hastings, Costco, and lots of mom and pop operations competing for business in my area... along with all the online retailers.
For optical media like CDs/DVDs/Blu we've got Best Buy, Fry's Electronics, Target, Wal-Mart, Hastings, Costco, and lots of mom and pop operations competing for business in my area... along with all the online retailers.
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Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
haha
alot of the posts that i'm reading here are completely true
i worked for cc before and i'll tell you they have been a sinking ship for probably the last decade
upper mgmt basically ran that place into the ground...yes it was the bad ideas, laying off the good sales people, etc
it's funny because i was watching the news and some people only think this is because of the economy; this has been a long time coming... the slow retail was just the final daggers.
yep, recently the geniuses at cc even decided to populate there store staff with 17 year old kids who like to huddle in groups and talk about myspace and not help anyone.
1 checkout is in use in the store and 1 employee covering multiple departments.... and not to mention all the theft that goes on because noone is available.
good riddance!
alot of the posts that i'm reading here are completely true
i worked for cc before and i'll tell you they have been a sinking ship for probably the last decade
upper mgmt basically ran that place into the ground...yes it was the bad ideas, laying off the good sales people, etc
it's funny because i was watching the news and some people only think this is because of the economy; this has been a long time coming... the slow retail was just the final daggers.
yep, recently the geniuses at cc even decided to populate there store staff with 17 year old kids who like to huddle in groups and talk about myspace and not help anyone.
1 checkout is in use in the store and 1 employee covering multiple departments.... and not to mention all the theft that goes on because noone is available.
good riddance!
#60
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Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
It's just funny thinking about that incident these days when pirated software is such a taboo subject...
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Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
There's not a COMPARABLE store in my state, now (North Carolina), at least not for a good many miles from the Triangle area.
Electronics, maybe.
That said, they're not direct competitors with any of those, as none of them (even the ones we do have here, Wal-Mart, Target and Costco) do specific, targeted, ad-based weekly sales. Target at least does the sales, but often advertises only about half their prices, Wal-mart doesn't do sales period and Costco's stock is heavily limited.
I actually have a feeling we're seeing little flexes of Best Buy's newfound muscle with recent sale prices--just a smidgen above usual. I hadn't seen a "14.99 2 disc" sale out of them in ages, and they were edging toward more often doing 17 or 18.99 TV set sales, at least for the sets that MSRP around 39.99.
Could be economy-induced causation resulting in correlation though.
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Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
I remember Lechmere!
My local CC was once a small cinema. I wonder what's going to happen to the building now.
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Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
Are you talking Natick Loews Cinema? If so i know, and that was a brand new spankin' Circuit City moved from right down the road just a few years ago. What a waste. Shuld of just stayed where they were. They ran but just couldn't hide.
#64
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Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
FU Circuit Shitty! I boycotted them 100% ever since their shyster lawyers were trying to hunt down Speedy. Rot in Hell you corporate arseholes.
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#67
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Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
I only went to Crap City once to get one of the LOTR Extended Edtions for 8.99. The store was so disorganized and there was hardly any employes to help.
#68
Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
Aaaaah, yes, Lechmere. Great chain where I spent much $$$ on CDs (as well as CC). Now gone as well from the Northeast along with Tweeter.
Yes, Caldor and Bradlees, two more Ghosts of Retail from the Northeast......makes you scratch your head with all the old names gone by. Remember Grants?....The Wiz??.....Two Guys???
Yes, Caldor and Bradlees, two more Ghosts of Retail from the Northeast......makes you scratch your head with all the old names gone by. Remember Grants?....The Wiz??.....Two Guys???
Only went to CC if they had some gangbuster deal over Best Buy, otherwise it wasn't worth the hassle of trying to find something yourself or get someone to help you. Checking out at the Customer Service area was the most ridiculous retail concept I've seen in a while.
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Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
This rescipe for success is the same iceberg that is likely to bring down Borders next. I just left there after nearly 3 years working, and all of those issues you mentioned were big problems at the location I worked at. Its tough when you are working for a business that is going down swiftly and you can see all the variables right in front of you, but the upper management and corporate just don't seem to see it.
#71
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Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
I'll miss Circuit City because their sale prices were good - I got Half-Life 2 Episode 1 for $8 only 5 days after it released on Steam - and using Speedy's circulars to pre-buy stuff at Beast Buy early at full price and then go back and tag them for a 110% price match was quite nice. Ironically, my last PM involved buying a pair of video games from CC and then hitting them with a BB ad.
Most importantly for me, CC got me into home theater when I was able to score a 51" Sony HD RPTV for $1250, HALF off the current price when I got it five years ago, just because I was in the right place at the right time and overheard a clerk telling another customer about this weird deal they had. It had a built-in HD tuner, too, when those were usually a $200+ premium. Add in a suprisingly impressive Panasonic HTiaB system that rang up at $200 and I was able to get into DVD reviewing and received more than double my investment in "free" DVDs.
It's too bad that mismanagement destroyed the company. (Too bad we can't have the Federal government go out of business for their shenanigans the same way!) I wish we had Fry's here in the Midwest to give BB some competition.
Most importantly for me, CC got me into home theater when I was able to score a 51" Sony HD RPTV for $1250, HALF off the current price when I got it five years ago, just because I was in the right place at the right time and overheard a clerk telling another customer about this weird deal they had. It had a built-in HD tuner, too, when those were usually a $200+ premium. Add in a suprisingly impressive Panasonic HTiaB system that rang up at $200 and I was able to get into DVD reviewing and received more than double my investment in "free" DVDs.
It's too bad that mismanagement destroyed the company. (Too bad we can't have the Federal government go out of business for their shenanigans the same way!) I wish we had Fry's here in the Midwest to give BB some competition.
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Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
What was the triggering moment was when Speedy inadvertently leaked the price cut on the PS3 via the CC ad. He didn't even make a big deal of it - I was the one who spotted it here and made a "ZOMG!" post calling it out - but as word spread, it put Sony in an embarrassing spot as they lied to the press that a price cut was coming before having to cop to the facts the next day. Sony had been lying right and left about all sorts of things (e.g. lack of rumble), but this was a really big booboo and to save face, CC went all jihad on Speedy. Now with no CC to force competition and Speedy ads, a great sadness is being felt in the Force.
#73
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Re: Circuit City R.I.P. Final Words
Thank you CC for the $40 off $200 coupons. I'm not sure i'm graceful for the $40 off Wii and the $40 PSP phat + some other stuffs, but it was definitely nice at the time
So, yeah, thanks CC and RIP...
So, yeah, thanks CC and RIP...
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