Interesting observation about Circuit City

[Martin Pinckney]

As most U.S. members probably know, Circuit City is going out of business. They had a sidewalk placard guy at the local store yesterday, advertising "up to 60% off". (Ever notice how they never seem to get "up to" the advertised percentage on the items you are interested in)?

Anyway, out of curiosity, I went in. There was lots of "stuff" still on the shelves, but NO calculators left! (Save a couple of TI's). I got the impression the calcs have been gone for a while.

Curious, in this day when supposedly ordinary consumers are just not much interested in calculators anymore, they did not last long in the sale! (I bet the HP's went first). Did any members recently snag a 12c, 17bii+, or 35s at CC?

[Bill (Smithville, NJ)]

I usually avoid all going out of business sales. Not sure what the rules are in other states, but in New Jersey you can "Go out of Business" for not more than 90 days in each calendar year. We have companies that have made a living out of going out of business. Following is NJ Staute:

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56:8-2.8. "Going out of business sale" ; time limits
It shall be an unlawful practice for any person to advertise merchandise for sale as a "going out of business sale" or in terms substantially similar to "going out of business sale" for a period in excess of 90 days or to advertise more than one such sale in 360 days. The 360-day period shall commence on the first day of such sale. For any person in violation of this act, each day in violation shall constitute an additional, separate and distinct violation.

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What I really like about the Circuit City "going out of business" ads on TV is they state "New merchantdise arriving daily".

Bill

[Ren]

Another possibility...

HP may not allow discounting on their calcs, so they may have
been pulled (or at least, not restocked) before the big discounts.

We don't have a Circus Pity in our city, were any of the "premium"
TI's (i.e. 84+++ or 89 Plutonium) discounted to 60%? I doubt it...

Ren

dona nobis pacem

[Tim Wessman]

I ended up there on the first saturday to take care of some cell phone stuff and was curious. I wandered to the calculator area and someone was grabbing the last 50g. There were pegs for all the other HP calculators, so I expect the small stock sold out quickly. When I went back in about 2 weeks later to buy a better power strip there was still a nice selection of 84s and 89s.

Amazing how when stuff at circuit city was 40-60% off it finally started to get close to online prices. . . that is why they failed.

TW

[Michael de Estrada]

Circuit City failed because they were a terrible operation in every imaginable way, be it customer service, product availability, technical knowledge and value. There is not sifficient space on this forum for me to chronicle all my horror stories with this outfit.

As an example, I purchased a laptop computer with Windows Vista Home Premium (another decision I have since regretted), which came with 1G memory. I had heard that 1G was inadequate, so I decided to have Circuit City install an additional 1G. When I started to use the laptop, I encountered sporadic problems with it locking up, so I took it back to the store for testing. After two weeks, they informed me that there was nothing wrong with the machine, so I took it back, but continued to have problems. Circuit City informed me that they would not warrant the machine or exchange it with another. I then took it to an independent shop, who told me that the problem was that the additional memory that Circuit City had installed was the wrong speed (it was too slow), and after replacing it with the correct memory, the laptop has performed flawlessly ever since (except for unrelated Vista issues). When I returned to Circuit City with the bill from the shop and the removed memory for credit, they just told me to take a hike.

So, I don't think deep discounting of product would have saved them. Brick and mortar stores survive on good service and technical support, and Circuit City had neither.

[Hal Bitton in Boise]

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Circuit City failed because they were a terrible operation in every imaginable way, be it customer service, product availability, technical knowledge and value. There is not sifficient space on this forum for me to chronicle all my horror stories with this outfit.

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Well put. I purchased a 50 inch plasma TV there last year. The employees I dealt with acted like they were put out to have to help me. A pathetic outfit.
Pres. Obama, don't bail these guys out!!

hal

[Palmer O. Hanson, Jr.]

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I bet the HP's went first.

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Not at the Circuit City in St. Petersburg on February 24 where the only remaining calculators are four 12C Platinum's priced at $60.89.

The next day I checked the Circuit City in Clearwater, Florida. There were no calculators of any kind for sale.

I also did a price comparison at Office Depot. They have the 12C Platinum listed at $89.99 with a ten dollar discount for a current price of $79.99.

Edited: 25 Feb 2009, 9:18 p.m.

[Don Shepherd]

My Circuit City in Louisville had one HP50g yesterday, but they wanted $120 for it and I was only prepared to pay about half that. Considering you can get one at Amazon for about $104, it would seem that Circuit City just doesn't get it. Even during a storewide clearance sale, there are no bargains.