Does anyone even remember Circuit City?

[Max Rockatansky]

From what I've seen however, it seems that stores and manufacturers caught onto this and have made products less reliable. My family had an old TV that we kept for at least a decade. I can't imagine that being very common anymore.

Well, yes,  But no evil conspiracy is afoot.  How much did a good TV cost in the 70s or 80s?  Index that to inflation, and see how much less expensive a modern flat screen (which has far more capabliliies) really is.  Probably, indexed to inflation, maybe 15% of what it used to cost. 

A TV in the old days was a piece of furniture and expected to last maybe a lifetime.  And it had technician serviceable parts.  A modern TV is almost a wear item for a home and really cannot be repaired in a meaningful way.

Check out the price on that 19 inch TV from the Wiz in the 1980s in the video I posted as a case and point about cost vs inflation....

[slorydn1]

I am struggling to remember if I had ever even stepped foot in a Circuit City. When I was growing up Service Merchandise and the various department stores (or Kmart) had everything I was looking for electronically.

After I moved here as an adult, I did most of my shopping Radio Shack (we had 2 less than a mile apart) or Best Buy.

Nothing like a little spring cleaning to make a liar out of me.

We were cleaning out some boxes out of the garage and I stumbled across my old RCA video camera. We bought it circa 2000 on one of our trips to Florida, and my wife swears up and down we bought it at a Circuit City somehwere in the general vicinity of I-95 and Hallandale Beach Blvd (maybe Ives Dairy Road??). So I guess I did step foot in a Circuit City at least once in my life, lol.

[hm insulators]

When I lived in Van Nuys, California from 1986 to 2004, there was a Circuit City just down the block. I probably bought stuff there from time to time.

[1995hoo]

We bought two appliances at the HH Gregg in Springfield that used to be a Circuit City. We were pretty satisfied with them, especially the delivery service. But they simply didn't sell enough products to lure us in on a regular basis. You don't buy appliances or TVs every year (or every other year, at least not most people). I buy stuff with the idea of it lasting.

From what I've seen however, it seems that stores and manufacturers caught onto this and have made products less reliable. My family had an old TV that we kept for at least a decade. I can't imagine that being very common anymore.

I think with TVs it's simply a case of the technology evolving and improving so quickly that the old TVs are obsolete by the time they might need repair. Some folks here are too young to remember going from black-and-white TV to color, but I remember when my parents got their first color TV in the late 1970s. I think the changeover from low-def to HD was a far bigger change, in terms of the viewing experience, than the BW-to-color change. Now, barely 15 years after HD became common, a simple HD-capable TV is very basic and cheap. I've been considering replacing our HD-capable rear-projection 51" TV downstairs, but I haven't been able to justify spending the money since it still works fine. Gets harder every year, though, as the newer TVs get better and better and the prices drop.