Circuit City to shutter 155 stores, locations to go public tomorrow (rumored)

[girl gone mad]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/02/circuit-city-to-shutter-155-stores-locations-to-go-public-tomor/

According to a slew of tips we've received, Circuit City will be closing down 155 of its retail locations, possibly even before Black Friday. Right now details are sketchy, but it seems that the company's traditional "holiday kickoff" meeting was actually a "holiday layoff" discussion instead. Apparently, a full list of store locations getting the axe will be revealed. In the words of a current employee:

"I'm an employee @ Circuit City and today there was a mandatory store meeting for the holiday season and to welcome all the seasonal employees. There was also some tension as rumors were rampant the days before that we were all going to find out we were out of a job today. Luckily, but still somehow unfortunately, I'm still an employee of Circuit City. The same can't be said for the employees of the 155 stores that are closing, possibly even before black Friday. The list of stores that are shutting down will be made public tomorrow. The idea behind closing the stores before Black Friday is to transfer product from the failing stores to the stronger ones to save some money."

This makes sense given the rumors we heard in October and the fact that the company's stock has been been essentially put on death watch by the NYSE -- but that surely won't soften the blow to everyone whose job will be affected by this. If you have more detail on the situation, feel free to drop us a line.

[Hawkeye-X]

1. Circuit City deserves it - it fired their best salespeople and hired idiots

that couldn't even sell you a paper bag much less figure out what I'm looking for.

Fortunately I know what to look for, and find it without the assistance of these people.

Hawkeye-X

[girl gone mad]

2. I can't even imagine what the working envirnoment..

must have been like for the past few weeks.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[2Design]

4. wow - where will we go for our computer needs now -

no compusa, now no circuit city - there aren't many on the ground places and I do not want to buy online because of returns and they aren't great deals and remind me of those scam shops in New York and other cities all run by fly by night places or people who lie to you about everything

[angryfirelord]

6. Deals

This site monitors good deals from Dell and a few other vendors.

http://www.techbargains.com/

[2Design]

9. never will buy a deal - online computer buying is very risky to me

and best buy is normally 20% higher than anyone else

[CatholicEdHead]

8. Best Buy for the most part

and the smaller places will slowly reopen as peoples' computers will continue to break down. Little shops can sustain themselves even in this economy.

[2Design]

10. best buy is 20% higher than anyoone - their sales bring them

in line with what others sell them for every day - I have never figured out why they are always packed - their prices suck

[eppur_se_muova]

5. rumor? It's up on CNNMoney.com now ...

Circuit City to close 20% of stores
Ailing consumer electronics retailer says it will shutter 155 of its US stores by year's end.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Circuit City Stores Inc. said Monday it is closing about 20% of its U.S. stores - cutting thousands of jobs - in an effort to return the nation's No. 2 consumer electronics retailer to profitability.

The Richmond, Va.-based company said it will shutter 155 of its more than 700 stores in 55 markets, including Phoenix and Atlanta, by Dec. 31, laying off about 17% of its domestic work force. Circuit City (CC, Fortune 500) also said it will further reduce new store openings and plans to work with landlords to renegotiate leases, lower rent or terminate agreements.

The move comes as Circuit City heads into a crucial holiday shopping season that could determine its future, amid slower consumer spending that has even the least vulnerable retailers worried.
***
The company said it expects the stores it is shuttering, which generated about $1.4 billion in net sales in fiscal 2008, will not open on Tuesday and store closing sales will begin on Wednesday.
***
more: http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/03/news/companies/circuit_city.ap/index.htm?postversion=2008110309

Time to stock up on Flash RAM drives ...

[JohnWxy]

7. Welcome to the Bush Gramm Credit Catastrophe of 2008 - the American Dream going down.

http://www.geocities.com/jwalkerxy/Bush_Gramm_Catastrophe.htm