Hot off the Presses!!!!
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/081110/business_us_circuitcity.html?.v=3&.pf=personal-finance

Most folks thought this wouldn't happen until after the holiday season; so this is sooner than expected.

Its a chapter 11 reorganization.

Don't expect markdowns, yet.

Its a chapter 11 reorganization.

Don't expect markdowns, yet.

They are closing 155 stores, and markdowns have begun there. I hate to see them go locally because they always had the best price on new media.

There will still be stores open, but my guess is that they will become exclusively ecommerce. It would be a pretty good move on there part as the overhead will be cut tremendously. What they did is close the stores that under performed/under achieved sales goals.

Chris

I saw the list of 155 stores. Only one of the stores in my area is closing so it seems there will probably still be a fair amount of stores around depending on your area.

I am still trying to figure out if BB will take over the stores.

Why should they?

They get their market share at no cost. Taking over their stores would cost them.

Good talking to you earlier about a 141.

Why should they?

They get their market share at no cost. Taking over their stores would cost them.

Good talking to you earlier about a 141.

Who knows now :) Yes it was a pleasure :)

Best Buy is not trying to open up any more stores, insted they are trying to reach all of the customers in there specifed areas. Now that Circuit City is out of the way that should be no problem in many areas.

They are closing 155 stores, and markdowns have begun there.

I went into a local store that is closing the other day to check discounts and I wasn't impressed. 10 to 20% off of way overpriced is still overpriced. :D

I went into a local store that is closing the other day to check discounts and I wasn't impressed. 10 to 20% off of way overpriced is still overpriced. :D

I am sure people will still buy when they see a discount its just the way it works.

Best Buy is not trying to open up any more stores, insted they are trying to reach all of the customers in there specifed areas. Now that Circuit City is out of the way that should be no problem in many areas.

Exactly. We're reaching a critical mass now in terms of stores in the Continental U.S. The rate of new store openings is going to slow to a trickle over the next couple years...most of our growth will be organic, not physical.

Circuit City CEO details bankruptcy proceedings, admits possibility of liquidation (http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/09/circuit-city-ceo-details-bankruptcy-proceedings-admits-possibil/)

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/01/11-10-08-empty-cc-store.jpg

01/09/2009

Message from Jim Marcum


Team,

This week, the company filed with the Bankruptcy Court a motion that seeks Court approval for a process that formally puts the company up for sale. A sale could include as a "going concern" (meaning that the acquirer would continue to operate Circuit City as a business), pieces of the company as separate business units (such as markets, regions, or operating units) or as individual assets (such as the sale of inventory). The motion was made public today in advance of a hearing to approve the motion later today.

As we told the Court in our motion, we are engaged in active and significant discussions with more than one interested party regarding a sale of the company. The discussions with each of these parties have focused on a "going concern" transaction. In particular, interested parties are contemplating providing Circuit City with financing to complete a reorganization through a stand-alone plan and/or purchasing all or substantially all of our assets. At this point, the parties have substantially completed due diligence and are in negotiations with us and our major stakeholders in order to finalize such a transaction.

Let me back up and explain in greater detail what this filing means, what led us to this point and what it means going forward.

One of the original requirements of our debtor-in-possession (DIP) credit facility was to have a sale or auction process occur no later than early March if no other resolution had been reached for the company at that time.

Since that time, as we have discussed with you, we have worked diligently to pursue various alternatives for our business – a stand-alone reorganization plan, transactions with strategic partners and sales of all or certain parts of our business.

As we have worked, the world has continued to change. Poor macroeconomic conditions are further impacting our business and our vendors' confidence. Some of our vendors, including some key merchandise vendors, are still unwilling to relax their strict terms and have not provided meaningful credit. Securing better vendor credit and terms is essential for Circuit City's survival.

Faced with these conditions, after consulting with our advisors, the Creditors' Committee and our Lenders, in December we agreed with our DIP lenders to move the auction process for the company's assets forward to this week.

Based on the negotiations with the interested parties that I mentioned above as well as discussions with our vendors and lenders, we are optimistic that we can successfully complete a transaction. Of course, nothing is certain and we can't provide any assurance or guarantee that a transaction will be completed.

A number of outcomes are possible. We could reach a sale agreement and have it approved by the Court before the auction starts on the 13th. These discussions or the auction could result in an approved sale agreement before the hearing on the 16th. Or, we could reach an agreement with the DIP lenders to amend our agreement and change or delay the timing of the hearing on the 16th. To the extent that these efforts are unsuccessful, we will need to pursue a more dire path for the company.

There's no way to sugar-coat this, so out of respect for you I'm going to be completely honest: if no sale agreement is approved, then the company will be forced to liquidate beginning soon after the hearing on the 16th. I'm sure this news will shock many of you because we're doing the right things to move our company forward and are making solid progress in improving our operations. In fact, we've been able to accomplish the following:
As planned, in the months of November and December, we completed liquidation sales in and subsequently closed 155 domestic stores that were underperforming or were no longer a strategic fit for the company.
We have achieved significant selling, general and administrative expense reductions as we restructure our business to align operations with the smaller national store base and have implemented more stringent expense controls.
We retained DJM Realty Services, Inc. to negotiate reduced rent for leased properties and to sell owned properties.

And probably most importantly
The company's sales trends improved significantly during the last two weeks of December, and the combination of the improvement in sales and focus on gross margin has enabled us to continue to operate well within the operating budget required by the amended DIP credit agreement.

What are the next steps?

I want you to understand that the management team has worked tirelessly to avoid coming to this point. In fact, the reason I am communicating this via email, instead more personally, is that Bruce Besanko and I will be on the road trying to get support from our banks and our vendors for a deal.

Over the next week we will continue working with interested parties. In the meantime, we've got to stay focused. We must continue to show improvements to the parties who are interested in buying the company and to our vendors and lenders. The auction process is set to conclude at the court hearing on January 16th, so we will soon know whether or not someone will step forward and purchase the company. While we would all prefer it to be sold in its entirety, we cannot say for certain that will happen.

If you receive questions from our guests, your families, friends or acquaintances, please continue to use the Q&A document provided on ccity.com. This news does not change the answers to those questions or the way we respond to customers. Again, the only thing that I can ask of you is to continue to work hard through this major distraction so we can continue to show improvement in our results to any potential purchasers.

Unfortunately, we won't be able to discuss the outcome until the auction process concludes on the 16th. I apologize in advance that I won't be able to discuss it further.

Thank you,

Jim

Chris

Anyone who shops at Circuit City is an idiot.

It's time to spend those gift cards.

Anyone who shops at Circuit City is an idiot.I disagree. CC has always been good to me and the people i care about over the past 30 some-odd years. BB on the other hand has pulled some seriously underhanded business practices with me and mine a number of times, and they routinely lie to their customers in an attempt to upsell or steer them to more profitable products. CC has also been guilty of some of this to some extent, but they're far far better than BB in this regard. I would hate to see CC go out of business. I always choose CC over BB if at all possible and i would hate for BB to be the only local choice for my various quick and easy needs. I detest buying from BB and with CC around, i rarely have to shop there. I actually drive past two Best Buy stores when i go to the nearest Circuit City store.

Except for the 30 day return policy, buying from CC shouldn't be an issue since anything you buy is covered by the manufacturers warranty anyway.

Have to agree with Randy.Bought multiple panels and never had issues even with multiple returns.And I will add that as far as pricing, all my purchases = or beat all but the sleaziest of on line retailers.

Have to agree with Randy.Bought multiple panels and never had issues even with multiple returns.And I will add that as far as pricing, all my purchases = or beat all but the sleaziest of on line retailers.

Doubt it. I've pretty much exclusively bought online over the past couple of years and it's always cheaper online when you factor in no tax free shipping. I always hit up Pricegrabber and ebay to see what the market value is before purchasing.

I have always found Best Buy easy to work with and I have been able to negotiate killer deals with them. One example is a 60" kuro Elite for a friend at a price less than the best current online price. Just negotiated a 55" Samsung 950 LCD at the same price as the lowest online dealers. Purchased a Blu Ray player today at 65% of list. They are easy to work with and willing to negotiate great deals if you know how to do it.

omeletpants, care to share your negotiation techniques?

i disagree. Cc has always been good to me and the people i care about over the past 30 some-odd years. Bb on the other hand has pulled some seriously underhanded business practices with me and mine a number of times, and they routinely lie to their customers in an attempt to upsell or steer them to more profitable products. Cc has also been guilty of some of this to some extent, but they're far far better than bb in this regard. I would hate to see cc go out of business. I always choose cc over bb if at all possible and i would hate for bb to be the only local choice for my various quick and easy needs. I detest buying from bb and with cc around, i rarely have to shop there. I actually drive past two best buy stores when i go to the nearest circuit city store.

Except for the 30 day return policy, buying from cc shouldn't be an issue since anything you buy is covered by the manufacturers warranty anyway.

+1

I have always found Best Buy easy to work with and I have been able to negotiate killer deals with them. One example is a 60" kuro Elite for a friend at a price less than the best current online price. Just negotiated a 55" Samsung 950 LCD at the same price as the lowest online dealers. Purchased a Blu Ray player today at 65% of list. They are easy to work with and willing to negotiate great deals if you know how to do it.
I have to agree here. Wow agreeing with Omeletpants, never thought that would happen (I mean that in a nice way). I have gotten great deals from Best Buy and they've always made things right for me. Five or six years ago Circuit City was a good place to shop but once they fired their experienced sales staff the stores in town went downhill fast. I hate this news for those who work there, its not the time to be looking for a new job.

I've found that with any retail store, it all depends on who you talk to. One manager might not be willing to work with you, but another might. This varies store to store, even within the same franchise.

I never had good luck with my local circuit city until it came under new management about 8 years ago. Ever since then, they've been my go-to as far as B&M stores.

I've always been able to get better pricing & service from CC over BB. Have purchased several items from CC over the years.

I've been expecting bad news on this front, given how sales of electronics were way down this Christmas season. If your company was in trouble before the Christmas season, then you are going to be in a world of hurt afterward.

Last I heard CC employed 45,000 workers companywide.

CC going down is not going to help those who used the CC vs BB competition to negotiate better deals.

Doubt it. I've pretty much exclusively bought online over the past couple of years and it's always cheaper online when you factor in no tax free shipping. I always hit up Pricegrabber and ebay to see what the market value is before purchasing.

They repeatedly price matched online prices for me.And when they couldn't match they would discount heavily.
Not like Pricegrabber , Techdeals , Streetprices or any of a dozen other sites are part of some super secret society.
Its all in your approach.;)

Not true.....some stores just wont do that.
Some stores have such good sales they have no need to do any matching other than local B&M's.
My close BB is like this, they had more tv sales in '08 than they did in '09.

Okay:rolleyes:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=813384