I was in school around the time Circuit City shuttered. Damn that was sad. I still have some products from Circuit City, Altec Lansing speakers, and a surge protector.
Does anyone still remember Circuit City?
Quote from: ColossalBlocks on April 03, 2017, 11:24:06 PM
I was in school around the time Circuit City shuttered. Damn that was sad. I still have some products from Circuit City, Altec Lansing speakers, and a surge protector.
Does anyone still remember Circuit City?
Yep. Not sad to have seen it go. By the end, it was outgunned and outmaneuvered.
Quote from: Rothman on April 03, 2017, 11:26:40 PM
Quote from: ColossalBlocks on April 03, 2017, 11:24:06 PM
I was in school around the time Circuit City shuttered. Damn that was sad. I still have some products from Circuit City, Altec Lansing speakers, and a surge protector.
Does anyone still remember Circuit City?
Yep. Not sad to have seen it go. By the end, it was outgunned and outmaneuvered.
Their stores were way outdated by the time the company went under. I do kind of miss the 1980s feel that places like RadioShack, Circuit City, and even Sears seemed to have... Too bad most of them stayed stuff in the 1980s in terms of business models and store layouts...all of it came off as low brow and tacky in the modern retail environment.
Absolutely. Bought my first stereo components there with lawn mowing money. Actually was going to get some stuff at a place called Custom Hi-Fi, but it was closed when I went by one evening. Next afternoon, it had a Circuit City sign on the door. 1973, or maybe 1974.
Bought my first component receiver and DVD player there, and I think my father bought me my first computer (a VIC-20) back in 1982 from there.
I remember in fact them demonstrating the Mattel Intellivision system with the voice module, and when you hit the reset button, it would say "Welcome to...B17 BOMBER" (and B17 BOMBER was said in the goofiest voice I had ever heard)
Quote from: OracleUsr on April 03, 2017, 11:55:55 PM
Bought my first component receiver and DVD player there, and I think my father bought me my first computer (a VIC-20) back in 1982 from there.
I remember in fact them demonstrating the Mattel Intellivision system with the voice module, and when you hit the reset button, it would say "Welcome to...B17 BOMBER" (and B17 BOMBER was said in the goofiest voice I had ever heard)
BEEEEE SEVENTEEN BAULMER?
Circuit City was based here in Richmond, with its headquarters at the intersection of Thalbro and Westmoreland Streets, just outside city limits. I remember when it started going downhill for them, mostly due to prices and older stores. While I did buy some stuff from there, it didn't really affect me when they shut down as I was buying my car audio gear and such elsewhere. Even though the metro lost a Fortune 500 company, they did manage to create another company during its heyday that went on to become a F500 company in its own right (of course I'm talking about CarMax).
Their biggest undoing was getting rid of their full time employees and going with nearly a full staff of part-timers. Not only were they less experienced and less knowledgeable, the public didn't appreciate what the store had done to their employees. It was a massive fatal blow that they never recovered from.
The biggest thing I remember about Circuit City is how they'd try to sell you an extended warranty even on a $20 Walkman.
Yeah I do. I'd end up going to Best buy because of better quality and selection.
Of course I do! The one thing I remember most is the tagline "Where service is state-of-the-art!"
Quote from: jeffandnicole on April 04, 2017, 06:02:27 AM
Their biggest undoing was getting rid of their full time employees and going with nearly a full staff of part-timers. Not only were they less experienced and less knowledgeable, the public didn't appreciate what the store had done to their employees. It was a massive fatal blow that they never recovered from.
I think their biggest undoing was Best Buy. In New England we had a number of local small electronics chains, then we had Circuit City, then Best Buy moved into the area with better prices and more selection, and then we didn't have Circuit City any more.
I remember seeing them, I don't think I ever stepped foot in one though.
Considering it only closed about 7-8 years ago, I think it's safe to say most of us still remember it ;).
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 04, 2017, 12:24:32 AM
Quote from: OracleUsr on April 03, 2017, 11:55:55 PM
Bought my first component receiver and DVD player there, and I think my father bought me my first computer (a VIC-20) back in 1982 from there.
I remember in fact them demonstrating the Mattel Intellivision system with the voice module, and when you hit the reset button, it would say "Welcome to...B17 BOMBER" (and B17 BOMBER was said in the goofiest voice I had ever heard)
BEEEEE SEVENTEEN BAULMER?
Now if you want a game that has a crazy scoring system, Intellivision's Utopia would give you a 100 if you had all factories and forts while having reduced the population to zero through pollution and starvation.
I bought mine for $300 when it first came out, added NFL Football and along with my best friend of the time. we went for hours and hours, wiping out our thumbs in the process. One day a friend of his came by and gave us a complete clocking in NBA Basketball as he had mastered the game's fast break.
Fast forward a little over 10 years: The games and systems were being sold at giveaway prices at thrift stores. My youngest brother liked Intellivision so between the two of us keeping our eyes peeled, we were able to fill in a lot of gaps for missing games.
Today I have an Intellivision games collection disc for the Playstation 2.
Rick
I sure do. I was almost 14 years old when Circuit City went under. I had a Circuit City near me in Bel Air, Maryland (which is a Baltimore suburb). It was eventually converted into an HHGregg, and now the HHGregg is about to close too!
The game actually said, "Mattel Electronics presents–[weird higher-pitched voice] B-17 Bommmmmmmber" (last word drawn out a bit).
We had three of those Intellivoice games–that one, Space Spartans, and Bomb Squad. I liked Bomb Squad best. You had to follow the spoken instructions to defuse a bomb.
Most of them in my area were replaced by PC Richard.
Oh, yes! I bought a Maytag dishwasher that, sadly, I had to leave behind when I moved to my new house.
I also bought my first cellphone there, back when Nextel was a thing.
I might have found this thread a lot more interesting if you replaced Circuit City with Nobody Beats the Wiz. That would bring back some memories for me. My family shopped there a lot more than we did at Circuit City. (Proximity bias, probably.)
Quote from: Roadgeek Adam on April 04, 2017, 02:39:22 PM
I might have found this thread a lot more interesting if you replaced Circuit City with Nobody Beats the Wiz. That would bring back some memories for me. My family shopped there a lot more than we did at Circuit City. (Proximity bias, probably.)
Programable VCR $217 and a 19 inch TV for the low, low 1986 era asking price....nobody Beats the Wiz!
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 04, 2017, 02:48:14 PM
Quote from: Roadgeek Adam on April 04, 2017, 02:39:22 PM
I might have found this thread a lot more interesting if you replaced Circuit City with Nobody Beats the Wiz. That would bring back some memories for me. My family shopped there a lot more than we did at Circuit City. (Proximity bias, probably.)
Programable VCR $217 and a 19 inch TV for the low, low 1986 era asking price....nobody Beats the Wiz!
That one's a little bit older than I am. Hard to believe it's been 14 years since they closed. I remember the one at Menlo Park Mall after it closed that had been turned into some temporary pseudo-flea market. Next to it was a Zany Brainy store (a toy and game store that I loved.). That Zany Brainy store was actually the site of a road meet lunch (specifically the Sunday lunch of the NYC meet in 2014.)
The Wiz stores I remember around here were record stores that didn't sell other electronics. I know the stores in New York were a lot bigger.
The Wiz used to advertise a ton in the Detroit market back in the 1980s. Really there was a variance from the record store sized outlet to the full-sized Circuit City type retail building. I remember distinctly trying to fast forward through VHS tapes (which required getting up until we got a controller with a 3 foot cord) since they would bleed onto whatever thing on TV that we were trying to watch later.
Incidentally those programmable VCRs were a huge deal when they came out. Back in those days you had to put a 6 hour VHS tape in from the second you left the house and just hope for the best of you wanted to record a sports event. Sometimes the event would go long and your tape wouldn't make it, or the power would go out which stopped the recording....which in my observation was way more frequent of occurrence in those days. It was certainly easier to avoid getting the score/results prior to the net since all you had to do was not talk to your neighbors or listen to AM radio.
Quote from: Roadgeek Adam on April 04, 2017, 02:39:22 PM
I might have found this thread a lot more interesting if you replaced Circuit City with Nobody Beats the Wiz. That would bring back some memories for me. My family shopped there a lot more than we did at Circuit City. (Proximity bias, probably.)
One was national, the other I (and most likely most people) only knew from watching hockey games on TV when they were in New York City.
That said, I remember the Circuit City sales people being rather pushy, pushing for us to buy a Toshiba VCR when we went in there. Didn't go back much, but I did get a desktop computer (HP) when they were going out of business. We preferred to go elsewhere for electronics, and later, appliances.
I have a feeling a lot of people know of the Wiz because of that Seinfeld episode.
I do they were in the Milwaukee market from 1995 until their closure in 2009. The one store I was sad to see go.
Yes, and I bought a few things from them. Prices were competitive for my market (Lexington, Ky.) and I think they were pretty much gone from Lexington by the time Best Buy came to town (1994-95; many of my dates with my now-wife consisted of looking through Best Buy's CD selection because they carried lots of imports and hard-to-find stuff back then.)
Quote from: jeffandnicole on April 04, 2017, 06:02:27 AM
Their biggest undoing was getting rid of their full time employees and going with nearly a full staff of part-timers. Not only were they less experienced and less knowledgeable, the public didn't appreciate what the store had done to their employees. It was a massive fatal blow that they never recovered from.
Oh, is that what they did? I do remember Circuit City and I remember the transition from usually getting helpful staff to usually getting help who didn't know anything but what was printed on the box. I didn't know until now that it was a deliberate policy.
I loved Circuit City. Now the one I used to go to turned into the horrid HH Gregg. Blech.
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.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 04, 2017, 03:25:31 PM
The Wiz used to advertise a ton in the Detroit market back in the 1980s.
I have lived here my entire life. I don't remember The Wiz ever being around here.
I remember Highland Appliance and Fretter's, but not The Wiz.
Huntington had a Circuit City as an out-parcel from the mall. Then they built a larger place next door. The original is now a Chinese restaurant and the second one is an Ollie's Army Outlet. The garage area of both (used to install car stereos) sits empty. Charleston had one, which was in a very non-retail place downtown. Still sits empty.
Rant: re: The Wiz. The chain was mostly NYC metro. Late in life it tried expanding down the east coast as far as Baltimore and sold the name in Canada to an outfit in metro Montreal. Yet, the media, as it does with any NYC thing, assumed that the whole world gets the reference. NYC thing, the other two media centers (LA and DC) never do that. I was reading a business magazine the other day and it called Kroger (the nation's largest grocery, which does business pretty much everywhere but the northeast) a "regional grocery chain". The same publication would list a business in NY metro w/o any reference to its line of business nor its footprint.
Quote from: renegade on April 05, 2017, 11:36:32 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 04, 2017, 03:25:31 PM
The Wiz used to advertise a ton in the Detroit market back in the 1980s.
I have lived here my entire life. I don't remember The Wiz ever being around here.
I remember Highland Appliance and Fretter's, but not The Wiz.
I could be mixing some of what I remember from Detroit and Danbury, CT together. When I was a kid my family moved from Detroit to Connecticut and back to Lansing a relatively short time frame.
I remember Circuit City when they opened in North Little Rock. I liked it better than Best Buy since most of their electronics catered more to a high end crowd. What killed the NLR location was its location, aside from the after-mentioned mis-management (bad corporate decisions, et al)
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 05, 2017, 12:25:01 PM
Quote from: renegade on April 05, 2017, 11:36:32 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 04, 2017, 03:25:31 PM
The Wiz used to advertise a ton in the Detroit market back in the 1980s.
I have lived here my entire life. I don't remember The Wiz ever being around here.
I remember Highland Appliance and Fretter's, but not The Wiz.
I could be mixing some of what I remember from Detroit and Danbury, CT together. When I was a kid my family moved from Detroit to Connecticut and back to Lansing a relatively short time frame.
It all makes sense, then.
Quote from: slorydn1 on April 05, 2017, 11:21:11 AMService Merchandise
Loved that store, and bought quite a few things from them over the years (including my wife's engagement ring.)
Another "catalog showroom store" we visited often in both Lexington and Louisville was O.G. Wilson's.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 04, 2017, 12:24:32 AM
Quote from: OracleUsr on April 03, 2017, 11:55:55 PM
Bought my first component receiver and DVD player there, and I think my father bought me my first computer (a VIC-20) back in 1982 from there.
I remember in fact them demonstrating the Mattel Intellivision system with the voice module, and when you hit the reset button, it would say "Welcome to...B17 BOMBER" (and B17 BOMBER was said in the goofiest voice I had ever heard)
BEEEEE SEVENTEEN BAULMER?
Yeah, that's it.
Circuit City was to Target as Best Buy was to Walmart. Best Buy was/is a noisy store with employees asking to assist in every department, while Circuit City was more laid back, and as I recall was very conservative when it came to noise or blaring music on the overhead speakers -- most of the A/V noise was situated in multiple "rooms" you would enter to experience the sound.
I think I bought an equal amount of stuff between the two back in the day, even though Best Buy had a bigger selection of CDs & DVDs and a slightly lower price.
IIRC, on the west side of Cleveland, both had entered the market about the same time, but I think Best Buy got the better jump on primo locations.
When I moved down to Orlando from Central Jersey we did not have the Wiz and PC Richard & Sons, so Circuit City was the place. I thought it was Florida's version of them until Circuit City went nationwide and did open in NJ later on.
I used to like them and its a shame they are now gone. So are the Wiz, but heard PC is still operating all over NJ.
I worked a temp job at a Circuit City distribution center in southern Illinois for a couple of weeks. We had to remove our shoes and be scanned at the gate before going to work. Cell phones had to be kept in our lockers. Truck deliveries (which I actually did regularly at my next job) and pick-ups had the drivers wait in a fenced-in cage just inside the door. This was all in effort to prevent people from planning how to steal and smuggle newly released products out of the DC. During the short time I was there, a guy was caught trying to sneak a PS3 out. This was in late May or early June of 2006, five months or so before release date. That didn't end well for the employee.
My job there, by the way, was loading 48-foot trailers piece by piece, floor to ceiling. They would come down a huge motorized conveyor system, then down a gravity conveyor into the trailer. The huge furniture and home theater TV sets were fork-lifted on ahead of time, and all we had to do with those was nudge them over a bit. Everything else, from cameras to televisions, was stacked piece by piece. Flinging televisions over your head apparently isn't very good for your tendons, as I ended up wearing a wrist brace for a couple of months, and it still flares up if I play guitar for too long.
Quote from: thenetwork on April 05, 2017, 10:11:47 PM
Circuit City was to Target as Best Buy was to Walmart. Best Buy was/is a noisy store with employees asking to assist in every department...
Where have you found a Walmart where employees are seeking to provide that much assistance? :-D :-D
Quote from: hbelkins on April 06, 2017, 04:28:53 PM
Quote from: thenetwork on April 05, 2017, 10:11:47 PM
Circuit City was to Target as Best Buy was to Walmart. Best Buy was/is a noisy store with employees asking to assist in every department...
Where have you found a Walmart where employees are seeking to provide that much assistance? :-D :-D
Hah, whenever I go to Walmart and need to find somebody (like to get a video game out of the case), I have to wander around for 5 minutes to find anyone at all. Especially if I go after like 8 PM (which is usually when I go).
Quote from: epzik8 on April 04, 2017, 12:58:56 PM
I sure do. I was almost 14 years old when Circuit City went under. I had a Circuit City near me in Bel Air, Maryland (which is a Baltimore suburb). It was eventually converted into an HHGregg, and now the HHGregg is about to close too!
All remaining HH Gregg stores to close: http://wjhl.com/2017/04/07/hhgregg-to-shut-down-begin-liquidation-process-on-saturday/
Quote from: Big John on April 07, 2017, 06:07:52 PM
Quote from: epzik8 on April 04, 2017, 12:58:56 PM
I sure do. I was almost 14 years old when Circuit City went under. I had a Circuit City near me in Bel Air, Maryland (which is a Baltimore suburb). It was eventually converted into an HHGregg, and now the HHGregg is about to close too!
All remaining HH Gregg stores to close: http://wjhl.com/2017/04/07/hhgregg-to-shut-down-begin-liquidation-process-on-saturday/
Can't blame the internet for this one. Who buys appliances online?
No surprise there. I went to HHGregg once in Greensboro, NC in 2012. The store barely had any customers (I might've been the only one) and the employees there couldn't be bothered to help. They were too busy standing around bullshitting with each other. Not to mention that Best Buy had a much better inventory. I left and never set foot in an HHGregg again.
As for Circuit City, I don't remember ever going inside one of their stores, but I do remember seeing one in Greenville, NC when I lived in eastern NC.
Quote from: Brandon on April 07, 2017, 08:03:35 PM
Quote from: Big John on April 07, 2017, 06:07:52 PM
Quote from: epzik8 on April 04, 2017, 12:58:56 PM
I sure do. I was almost 14 years old when Circuit City went under. I had a Circuit City near me in Bel Air, Maryland (which is a Baltimore suburb). It was eventually converted into an HHGregg, and now the HHGregg is about to close too!
All remaining HH Gregg stores to close: http://wjhl.com/2017/04/07/hhgregg-to-shut-down-begin-liquidation-process-on-saturday/
Can't blame the internet for this one. Who buys appliances online?
When I got my kitchen redone, while I didn't buy a new microwave, range and dishwasher online, I bought them sight-unseen. Looking around, the selection at the stores are pitifully small. We wanted a flattop range, and the various stores have a few models, maybe. But online, there's a whole lot more available, and with actual reviews, rather than a salesman telling me the obvious.
I eventually saw everything we wanted was available thru Home Depot. The only reason we didn't buy them online was Home Depot offered a special discounted deal in the store that for some reason I couldn't get online. But everything else was the same. Heck, I brought the details with me to the store; the salesperson simply typed them in to the computer and completed the sale.
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.
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 08, 2017, 10:34:02 AM
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.
Quote from: The Nature Boy on April 10, 2017, 11:36:18 AM
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.
Quote from: SP Cook on April 10, 2017, 03:11:32 PM
Quote from: The Nature Boy on April 10, 2017, 11:36:18 AM
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....
Quote from: slorydn1 on April 05, 2017, 11:21:11 AM
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.
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.
Quote from: The Nature Boy on April 10, 2017, 11:36:18 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 08, 2017, 10:34:02 AM
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.