Posted 05/25/09 at 08:47:03 AM by Paul Lilly

Circuit City has risen from the dead, at least in online form, and as is most often the case when an entity emerges from the grave, decomposition rears its ugly head. In this case, it's the new CircuitCity.com's return policy that has been withered, but more on that in a minute.

Last Tuesday, Systemax -- the same company that owns TigerDirect and purchased electronics retailer CompUSA's intellectual property last year -- closed its agreement to acquire trademarks, domain names, and customer list of email addresses and "other basic customer information" of Circuit City's online business for $14 million plus a share of future revenue over 30 months, CNBC reports. 

The online portal relaunches today and it looks just like the Circuit City of old, except for the return policy. Not even a full day under its belt, CircuitCity.com is already catching flak over how returns are processed. Under new ownership, non-defective returns "will be for store credit or refund at CircuitCity.com's sole discretion." But even worse than potentially getting stuck with store credit, some items are just plain nonreturnable.

"Products from manufacturers such as Compaq, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Toshiba, Epson, and others are not returnable to CircuitCity.com FOR ANY REASON," states the return policy.

In other words, welcome back, and buyer beware.

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Posted 04/08/09 at 09:43:42 AM by Paul Lilly

Anyone miss Circuit City yet? For those of you that do, you may be in luck. Sort of. While the bankrupt electronics chain won't be making a brick and mortar comeback anytime soon, it appears Circuit City has some kind of future planned online. Going to Circuit City's website now reads:

"CircuitCity.com is also temporarily closed, although we anticipate the website will reopen in the coming weeks. Please check back for updates."

What exactly the former chain has planned so far remains a mystery. News site TGDaily notes that calls made to the company's office in Richmond, Virginia have gone unanswered, and without any kind of statement from Circuit City or its liquidator, that leaves the online message as the only clue we have to go on.

Circuit City did everything it could to avoid going out of business earlier this year and last year, including closing down over 150 stores and cutting 20 percent of its workforce. But it was unable to find a buyer and, following a controversial liquidation sale, closed its doors for good last March.

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Posted 04/02/09 at 04:30:49 PM by Andy Salisbury

For those of you that still have a Circuit City credit card in your wallet, fret not – the minds at Chase have decided to allow you to use that (still good) card at Best Buy!

In a letter from Chase, Circuit City cardholders were told, “Chase has arranged for you to be able to use your account at Best Buy for all of your consumer electronics needs… In May 2009, we will be sending you a replacement Best Buy branded credit card that you can begin to use as soon as you receive it. Your account number and all of your existing rates, fees and terms will remain the same, which means that any existing regular or promotional financing balances will be treated the same way they are today.”

So, good news! If you hopped on board the sinking boat, you’ll soon be taxied via life raft to the bigger, still floating boat.

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Posted 03/09/09 at 03:30:19 PM by Paul Lilly

Turn out the lights, the party is officially over. Circuit City's chain-wide liquidation sale came to end yesterday, marking the final day of operation for any of the former electronics chain's stores that had remained open in an attempt to clear out inventory.

"Thanks to record shopper turnout at many of the store locations and the attractive discounts offered on all merchandise, the sales actually went quicker than we expected," Scott Carpenter from Great American Group said in a statement.

Circuit City, who fell on rough times last year, did everything it could to try stay in business, including closing down over 150 stores and cutting 20 percent of its workforce, securing a massive loan to pay off debt, and trying to find a buyer interested in keeping the store afloat. But on January 16th of this year, Circuit City announced it would close all of its remaining 567 U.S. stores.

The liquidation sale that followed was met with a bit of controversy when reporter Nydia Han for ABC Action News sent a camera crew into a local Circuit City and found that several of the liquidation prices were higher than Best Buy's regular pricing.

Reaction to Circuit City's departure? Hit the jump and offer up an obituary.

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Posted 01/27/09 at 09:45:11 AM by Paul Lilly

Tech vultures looking to barnstorm their nearest Circuit City in hopes of plucking the electronics chain's low cost remains are instead finding themselves leaving empty handed. It's not that all the good deals have already been picked over, but there just aren't very many good deals to begin with.

Consumer investigative reporter Nydia Han for ABC Action News sent a camera crew into a local Circuit City to compare the bankrupt chain's liquidation prices to that of Best Buy and other stores. The crew examined 25 items ranging from DVDs to big screen TVs, and in many cases, Circuit City's sales prices ended up being higher. Examples include a TomTom GPS marked down to $180 versus $150 at Best Buy, and a 42-inch Plasma TV marked down to $900 versus $850. Of the 25 items, ABC Action News says 10 of them were cheaper at Best Buy, with other items selling for less at discount chains like Wal-Mart. And all of them could be bought for less online.

According to ABC News, liquidators tasked with getting as much money as possible from store closings are allowed to raise marked prices and bring in outside merchandise. To drive the point home, ABC showed a Sony laptop selling for $800 before the liquidation sale, but now sports a price tag showing it marked down to $837 from it's 'regular price' of $930.

Watch the video here, then hit the jump and tell us if you've found any notable deals at your local Circuit City.

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Posted 01/18/09 at 07:07:24 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Circuit City announced on Friday that it will close all of its remaining 567 US stores. As a direct result of the retail chain's closure 34,000 people have been rendered jobless.The company had been in talks with a few potential buyers for quite sometime. In fact, the parleys reportedly  went beyond midnight Thursday. However, as the discussions bore no fruits Circuit City was left with no other choice but to liquidate itself. Circuit City is currently offering discounts of up to 30% - which might be revised later - as part of its liquidation sale. Cnet’s Brooke Crothers’ described the situation inside the Circuit City store he visited as chaotic.

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Posted 01/12/09 at 06:18:05 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Blighted electronic retail chain Circuit City is in discussions with several interested buyers, the company’s CEO Jim Marcum revealed to its employees in a letter. He also informed them about the likely course of action for Circuit City, which has filed a motion with the Bankruptcy Court seeking permission “for a process that formally puts the company up for sale.”

Marcum wrote that parleys with interested buyers have been focused on a “going concern” transaction, whereby the buyer will not dismantle Circuit City’s business, but just reorganize it. If the company fails to secure a sales agreement by the 16th, it will have to be liquidated. He asked employees to stay focused on the job at hand and work hard.

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Posted 12/28/08 at 11:38:09 AM by Justin Kerr

This might not surprise anyone, but it turns out even the steep price cuts retailers used to entice consumers wasn’t enough to offset the sputtering North American economy. This holiday season – which typically accounts for around 30 to 50 per cent of a retailers total sales, was a bust that rippled across every retail sector. According to preliminary data released by SpendingPulse – a division of MasterCard, total retail sales slipped 2 to 4 per cent. While the electronics sector’s slip of 26.7% sounds substantial, it can’t even hold a torch to luxury item’s such as jewelry which sank almost 35%.

On a more positive note, online retailer Amazon.com said its 2008 holiday sales were its “best ever”. The retailer reportedly received orders for over 6.4 million items. This is good news for Amazon, and helps to back up claims from SpendingPulse’s which showed that more and more, consumers are making the switch to shopping online. Overall online sales declined a meager 2.3 percent from the previous year, however this is in stark contrast to 2007 when e-commerce grew almost 22.4 per cent. With big name brick and mortar retailers such as Circuit City already facing bankruptcy, weak holiday sales might see even more blood shed in the retail sector come January.

The clock is ticking, and the boxing week picture is not yet clear, but it remains to be seen what if anything will put retailers back in the black.

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