Twilight at Circuit City
"We'll be here until March 1 or until all the inventory is gone," said the Verizon-in-a-box rep at the Circuit City store on Hollywood Blvd. in Los Angeles. Circuit City announced that it would be closing its 567 U.S. branches by March 1 and would lay off approximately 34,000 employees.A line stretched around the corner on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and by Wednesday the parking lot was at 50 percent capacity. Several people exited the store emptyhanded.
Inside "The Dark Knight" played at full volume on plasma screens, the speakers crackling - not an enticement to buy. Already-overpriced DVDs were marked down 10 percent, HDTVs were marked 30 percent off their markup.
Quick comparison shopping revealed that the Sony 350 Blu-Ray player, one of three remaining Blu-Ray players in the store, was, at $269.99, about the same price as could be obtained online, and more expensive than the same model at Costco.
"Where will you go after March 1st?" the Verizon booth employee was asked.
"If I can't get transferred to another store, unemployment," she said.
"How hopeful does it look?"
"Not hopeful," she said.
A Firedog.com Scion XL was parked outside, ready to spring into action. Firedog is/was Circuit City's answer to the Geek Squad, an in-house team of computer professionals. The difference between Firedog and the Geek Squad, however (in addition to Scions vs. VW Beetles), is that Firedog is owned by Circuit City, whereas the Geek Squad is the contracted service provider to CC rival Best Buy. This means that the Firedog guys are losing their jobs, too.
"I've got my application in to the Geek Squad already," one employee said. "But so does everyone else here. I like the Volkswagens better."
"So is the management waiting around until everything goes? Those boxes of Mentos?"
"We'll probably just throw those out," he said.
"If I come back on Valentine's Day, how much will that Blu-Ray player cost?" he was asked.
"If it's even there? Maybe 10 bucks less," he said.
See also: Circuit City
Labels: bankruptcy, circuit city, economy, retail
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