Circuit City to make a comeback

[golden eagle]

Just when the Best Buys and H.H. Greggs of the world thought they had the electronics market to themselves, Circuit City is getting back into the game with a brand new store opening this June in Dallas.

I have no opinion one way or the other about Circuit City, but hope things work out better this time.

http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/27/circuit-city-is-coming-back/

[Pete from Boston]

It sounds like they intend to open the most recent incarnation of Radio Shack. 

Moreover, shouldn't a store that targets millennials be online?  The same rent as before will fail to be paid as people browse inside then shop online.

But yes, I hope I'm wrong and everyone doesn't lose their jobs again this time.

[jeffandnicole]

So, no more fridges, washers and other appliances?

[Rothman]

This sounds...foolish.

[SP Cook]

Very foolish.  Rat Shack went broke because nobody buys electronic parts anymore, and you can buy a TV anywhere. 

[Jardine]

I'll never forget the last Christmas season at the Omaha CC just before it closed.  On Christmas Eve day across the street at Nebraska Furniture Mart the parking lot was full and vehicles were lined up in the street.  The CC store was virtually empty, parking lot empty, cash registers quiet, clerks standing around wondering where the customers were.

[DeaconG]

I'll never forget the last Christmas season at the Omaha CC just before it closed.  On Christmas Eve day across the street at Nebraska Furniture Mart the parking lot was full and vehicles were lined up in the street.  The CC store was virtually empty, parking lot empty, cash registers quiet, clerks standing around wondering where the customers were.

Because several months prior CC did a very bad thing: they decided to chop 12,000 jobs from the company, and not from the bottom; they cut leads, supervisors, customer service people, logistics folks. You know, the folk who know how the sausage is made?

And then they said "if you guys want your jobs back, you'll have to wait 8 weeks...and take a 50 percent pay cut."

Well, that's nice...except all they did was torque off the employees who got dumped.

Unfortunately, it got on the interwebs...and then folks got BENT. Including me, a loyal shopper there for several years; you don't DO the tip of the spear like that! For (IIRC) a $300 million writeoff they earned a ton of ill will...and they deserved it.

The last time I set foot in the CC in Merritt Island was right about the same time, and the same scene applied. Six, seven months prior you would have been lucky to get a parking space in the back of the lot, now...there were more employees on the floor than people shopping.

This is going to end up like the CompUSA resurrection...a really, really bad idea with piss poor execution.

[triplemultiplex]

This looks like a Radio Shack:


So that means Family Guy predicted the future:

[realjd]

It sounds like they intend to open the most recent incarnation of Radio Shack. 

Moreover, shouldn't a store that targets millennials be online?  The same rent as before will fail to be paid as people browse inside then shop online.

But yes, I hope I'm wrong and everyone doesn't lose their jobs again this time.

But Radio Shack is still around. They stopped pushing cell phone plans and went back to focusing on selling electronic supplies and cool toys. I buy stuff from them semi-regularly for work, especially if I'm at a customer site and need parts.

[Rothman]

It sounds like they intend to open the most recent incarnation of Radio Shack. 

Moreover, shouldn't a store that targets millennials be online?  The same rent as before will fail to be paid as people browse inside then shop online.

But yes, I hope I'm wrong and everyone doesn't lose their jobs again this time.

But Radio Shack is still around. They stopped pushing cell phone plans and went back to focusing on selling electronic supplies and cool toys. I buy stuff from them semi-regularly for work, especially if I'm at a customer site and need parts.

Last I read, they were still around...but still hurting.  Their Super Bowl commercials did not pay off.

[dcbjms]

It sounds like they intend to open the most recent incarnation of Radio Shack. 

Moreover, shouldn't a store that targets millennials be online?  The same rent as before will fail to be paid as people browse inside then shop online.

But yes, I hope I'm wrong and everyone doesn't lose their jobs again this time.

But Radio Shack is still around. They stopped pushing cell phone plans and went back to focusing on selling electronic supplies and cool toys. I buy stuff from them semi-regularly for work, especially if I'm at a customer site and need parts.

That's because a good portion of Radio Shack stores were rebranded as Sprint.  So Sprint now owns electronics stores as well as pushing cell phones and the like.  In a way not too different from Canada with The Source when Bell bought the chain from InterTAN/Circuit City.

[GCrites]

I think Lowe's, Home Depot or Best Buy could simply dedicate 30-40 feet of rack space to a rack jobber to come in and make a section of capacitors, diodes, breadboards, battery holders, electronics project kits and whatnot to make up for the lack of Radio Shacks. You go in a Lowe's and there is a gigantic electrical section with a frustrating lack of DC.

[cl94]

The issue with Radio Shack is that they didn't keep with the times. If they stock common computer parts and train the staff, it could survive. It's damn near impossible to buy replacement/upgrade parts at a brick-and-mortar store anymore and, as someone with some knowledge but not a whole heck of a lot and with online sites not always listing all specs, I'd like to see the stuff in person and talk to a person who may know more than I do.

Take the new Fallout 4 game. One of my brothers got it for Christmas, but we later found out that the game will not launch without an expensive graphics card. Finding a compatible graphics card is not easy and only the specialized "gaming computers" come with them. (That was a common complaint with the game, but that's besides the point). The only store that has anything is Best Buy and there's nobody in the parts section to ask about anything and even if there was, they probably wouldn't know. If we had a Radio Shack for modern computers, it would have been simpler (albeit still expensive).

[nexus73]

Go to Fry's.

Rick

[catch22]

Go to Fry's.

Rick

Not an option for most folks.  Fry's only has stores in 9 states.  Their only strong retail presence is in California.  (I live near Detroit, and the nearest Fry's is in Indianapolis, for example.)

[Henry]

This looks like a Radio Shack:


So that means Family Guy predicted the future:

[Pete from Boston]

Go to Fry's.

Rick

Not an option for most folks.  Fry's only has stores in 9 states.  Their only strong retail presence is in California.  (I live near Detroit, and the nearest Fry's is in Indianapolis, for example.)

We have one of the few MicroCenters here and it's always busy (granted, it is located next to MIT).  The fair prices and ease of picking up computer parts there precludes a fair amount of online buying for me, which in this day and age is quite a triumph.

[cl94]

Go to Fry's.

Rick

Not an option for most folks.  Fry's only has stores in 9 states.  Their only strong retail presence is in California.  (I live near Detroit, and the nearest Fry's is in Indianapolis, for example.)

Yeah. There isn't one anywhere near me, either. My closest is that same Indianapolis one - a full day's drive.

[kkt]

There's a Fry's in Renton, but that's about about 40 minutes there and an hour and a half back, thanks to I-5 through downtown Seattle.  Really makes B&H Photo look good.

[Rothman]

I'm both impressed and annoyed by B&H Photo's staunch stance against being open on the sabbath.

[Pete from Boston]

I'm both impressed and annoyed by B&H Photo's staunch stance against being open on the sabbath.

Not all that unusual where the chasidim are concerned.  47th Street Photo was a powerhouse for years before e-commerce existed and was closed Saturdays.  For a good price, people will wait a day.

[The Nature Boy]

Chick fil-A does pretty well too with their not being open on Sunday thing.

[kkt]

The part that surprises me is the website not even taking orders on Friday afternoon-Saturday.  I expect them not to ship.  But the web site is just a computer.  If they can keep the browsing parts working, why not checkout for shipping when they open?  But I'm not Jewish, so what do I know.  It is kind of charming.

[Pete from Boston]

The part that surprises me is the website not even taking orders on Friday afternoon-Saturday.  I expect them not to ship.  But the web site is just a computer.  If they can keep the browsing parts working, why not checkout for shipping when they open?  But I'm not Jewish, so what do I know.  It is kind of charming.

I never ordered, just visited, so I don't really even have the perspective of them being a national concern.

[wphiii]

Chick fil-A does pretty well too with their not being open on Sunday thing.

Food is a little different from more irregular errand-type things that people are often inclined to try to get done on the weekends.