Circuit City, once a bellwether American retailer, is going out of business for good, stripping the nation of its second-largest consumer electronics chain.
I have to say that I am not surprised, but it is sad to see so many people losing their jobs. Circuit City has more than 30,000 employees. Some of them will probably find new jobs, but most of them will likely end up as another statistic in the next round of unemployment figures.
I have never liked the way that Circuit City ran their business. Read my previous post on the subject. I thought they put way too much emphasis on selling extended warranties and not enough on customer service. I also thought that their upper-level management treated their employees poorly.
I hope the cretins that ran this company into the ground find themselves unemployed for a long time to come, but I fear that won't happen. They will be hired on someplace else because of the "valuable executive experience" that they have. The majority of the deckplate level workers will probably have difficulty finding a good job because their experience is in retail sales, a sector that is being destroyed by the current economic conditions in the United States.
For people that are wondering about their extended warranties, this is what was posted on the Circuit City website.
The CEO also addressed this issue in a letter written last month:
I have never liked the way that Circuit City ran their business. Read my previous post on the subject. I thought they put way too much emphasis on selling extended warranties and not enough on customer service. I also thought that their upper-level management treated their employees poorly.
I hope the cretins that ran this company into the ground find themselves unemployed for a long time to come, but I fear that won't happen. They will be hired on someplace else because of the "valuable executive experience" that they have. The majority of the deckplate level workers will probably have difficulty finding a good job because their experience is in retail sales, a sector that is being destroyed by the current economic conditions in the United States.
For people that are wondering about their extended warranties, this is what was posted on the Circuit City website.
I purchased an extended warranty (Circuit City Advantage Plan). Will that still be honored?
Yes, absolutely. Our Advantage Plan service is handled through dedicated service companies not affiliated with Circuit City, ensuring that there will be no disruption in your ability to get service for your covered products.
The CEO also addressed this issue in a letter written last month:
Circuit City Advantage Protection Plans® are offered by a third-party company and are not impacted by transitions in Circuit City's business.
4 comments:
Kind of a shame. When Circuit City first opened, they were a breath of fresh air from the local stereo/TV shops that existed at the time. True audio nerds derided them as carrying only equipment geared for the masses. But, the masses wanted electronic equipment, and CC gave it to them.
Somewhere, they lost their way, and were bested by Best Buy (where it's asier to shop in better designed stores,with better pricing); killed on-line by Amazon, and beaten in volume by Wal-mart.
Actually, I don't know how Best Buy stays in business. If you're not considering Amazon or Wal-mart (or one of the warehouse stores for those big ticket items) these days, you're screwing yourself.
The obvious secret of Best Buy's success was you could get a superior description of technical advantages at Circuit City before going over to Besy Buy for the best price - no need ever to go back to haggle a 'lowest price' guarantee with CC ever!
Many of CC's employees moved to hhgregg, which appears to beat Best Buy, so far. One of them will be closing in 2 years.
Yeah, I used to enjoy shopping there. Well, actually, I enjoyed going there and looking at all of there stuff with an occasional purchase. I really started to dislike them when they started to be too pushy about their extended warranties.
Still, I hate to see a business going under, particularly when it employs this many people.
IMHO, good bye and good riddance. I have only been in CC a handful of times and the staff always seemed to be bothered with doing anything above trying to push that extended warranty and swipe your debit card.
Selection, mediocore at best, they usually didn't have what I wanted "in stock", same with the price of items.
I do feel for the employee's, losing your job so suddenly, and in this down economy would bite. And with CC's reputation for its "Superior" customer service, I don't know if that is exaclty a great resume bullet to push into that next job.
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