Audio Video News

Circuit City Comeback?

SV Staff  |  Jan 28, 2016

Circuity City, once the nation’s top electronics retailer until it went belly up in the late 2000’s and closed the last of its stores in 2009, may be making a comeback, according to TWICE.

The trade publication is reporting that a pair of New York retail veterans, working under circuitcitycorporation.com, have acquired rights to the Circuit City brand and are planning to revive the iconic name in the coming months.

The plan calls for relaunching CircuitCity.com, opening retail outlets, and licensing kiosks and mobile shops, according to the report. The first store is expected to open in June concurrent with a new website; management is aiming to open between 50 and 100 company-owned stores by the end of the year.

Targeted at Millennials, the retail stores will range from 2,000 to 4,000 square feet—much smaller than the huge box stores Circuit City had been known for, the report said. Products, organized in zones, will include “pre- and postpaid smartphones, as well as tablets, notebooks, wearables, networking equipment, gaming products, headphones, drones, 3D printers, health appliances, and DIY devices.” Audio/video gear was not mentioned in the report, although a photo of a TV is prominent on circuitcitycorporation.com.

A statement under the “Technology for Every Age” banner on the homepage reads (verbatim):

Circuit City is an iconic brand in the Consumer Electronic market, Established 1949 and pioneered the electronic superstore format. With our Retail, eCommerce, Franchise and private label branding the Circuit City name will be in more household then ever before.

Under new ownership Circuit City will once again become the leader in online shopping and retail store fronts across the nation. We understand the struggles of online shopping.

Circuitcity.com will be user friendly and will offer a unique shopping experience. Circuit City offers a full-line assortment of consumer electronics products with personalized service to connect people with technology to improve their lives.

Read the full TWICE report here.

COMMENTS
dommyluc's picture
Submitted by dommyluc on January 28, 2016 - 7:37am

No one seems to be mentioning the real reason CC went under in the first place: their support for that stupid Hollywood-backed DVD platform called DIVX, a lame-ass attempt by the studios to keep charging consumers a fee every time they watched a disc - that the consumer ALREADY paid for! It is estimated CC lost over $337M because of this delusional scheme to screw over consumers.

Billy's picture
Submitted by Billy on January 28, 2016 - 4:09pm

I loved CC, seemed a lot nicer then Best Buy. But, words can not describe the horror I felt when I saw what they were trying to do to derail the brand new and promising tech that was DVD. As I recall, the prices of the DivZX discs were pretty much the same as DVDs, plus you had to pay to watch them over and over again. Adding to insult, they were ALL full screen! The Divzx (hey, did ya notice my zx comes with a zx? cheap keyboard!) people decided that widescreen was not needed as almost all consumers wanted FS to match the majority of what people watched TV on. Myself, I had no trouble with a widescreen even on a 20 inch 4.3 screen, but I guess the purists were not the profitable masses. We were all aghast at the thought that the DVD standard would be still born. And then there were Hollywood hot shots( Like Spielberg and others) who were vapidly supporting the Divx and refused to release certain titles on anything but it. I recall one disheartening conversation I had with an overly enthused CC salesman who said, "...and, don't forget, we, and only we, will have "Titanic". As I recall, it was quite a while before I could buy a decent copy of that on DVD, even longer to get an anamorphic one. I have no doubt that the pressure from other retailers and the internet hurt them badly, but DivZX harmed them very badly.

Deus02's picture
Submitted by Deus02 on January 28, 2016 - 8:34am

Well, I hope the new owners have deep pockets since they are trying to defy what has happened in the retail/online marketplace before and since they went out of business. I am rather curious as to their statement, "under new ownership Circuit City will once again become the leader in online shopping and retail store fronts across the nation". If that was the case before, why did they go bankrupt?

To me, considering the current marketplace and in particular the consolidations in consumer electronics at both the manufacturing and retail level, this is like locking the barn after the horses have been stolen, it is just too late. Changes, downsizing and consolidation even in the existing large retailers like Best Buy have changed the landscape forever. Over the last few years, just in my area alone, four out of the six local mid-hi end boutique retailers whom all had been in business for several years are now gone.

No one wishes the worst for one trying to revive a brand, but I believe someone here has an idea whose time has long past.

dommyluc's picture
Submitted by dommyluc on January 28, 2016 - 8:53am

As for the reason of the CC bankruptcy, see my previous post above.
I bought my Onkyo TX-NR717 in 2013 from newegg.com for $499, plus tax but shipping was free, and it arrived at my back door in a day and a half. BestBuy wanted over $800 for the same unit. And my receiver works just as well after being bought over the Internet as it would have if bought from a big-box retailer. If they can't match the prices of online retailers - and it's not just Amazon and newegg that offer ridiculously low prices - then they are doomed. And they can't use that old "well, we're AUTHORIZED dealers", since nearly every electronics manufacturer has learned that if they don't back up their products being sold online, they are in for a heap of lawsuits from irate consumers, so just about all electronics companies authorize online retailers.

chingon510's picture
Submitted by chingon510 on January 28, 2016 - 4:51pm

I wish this was announcing the return of The Good Guys! I know it was mainly a California electronic store but nothing could compete with the product selection. Not Circuit City or Best Buy. Magnolia could but did not offer high end products for multiple types of devices ranging from camcorders tv and car audio. I worked there for years and their staff truly loved the gear and knew what they were talking about. Oh well. Good luck to Circuit City

dnoonie's picture
Submitted by dnoonie on January 31, 2016 - 7:33pm

Do you mean when Magnolia was their own small chain? If so as a northwest native I really miss the real Magnolia Hi-Fi, I purchased 10s of thousands there. I do wish they carried the great but not stupidly high priced brands (Rotel and Arcam come to mind). I went to Hawthorn for that but some of they're sales staff were "believers" if you know what I mean.

That's the type of store that's needed. A small chain that fills the gap between esoteric and general consumer.

This new CC sounds like an Apple store that sells all brands not just Apple. You can get that by going to Target or Sears, etc. I don't understand their market strategy, it doesn't make since.

Cheers,

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