Great article. I was going to head out and see what they had, but I’ve been to a few liquidations and this has the same pattern. There are no deals initially, as the liquidator milks the press and the uninformed buyer. The deals will be slow in coming and people will pay more than they thought and get less because of the as is/final sale clause.

This is what happens when a company is managed negligently over a long period of time. The weak get killed off when times get tough. This management culture a CC was not lean, not agile, and ineffective. This despite the effort of many people and consultants who tried to help improve the situation. Maybe if they had actually made the changes they tried in 08 in 05, but they wouldn’t/didn’t and this is the result. There is no magic to running a great company, but CC management was not interested in building a great company. That would require learning and change!

Too bad for Richmond VA’s economy, as the head office employed thousands.

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/risky-business/2009/01/16/circuit-city-liquidates-in-the-latest-massive-business-failure.html

Maybe in March they will really come down enough to make it worth the gamble. They can’t just move the stuff to another store since all are closing. Good luck!

I’ve been to liquidations before and the chance of a good deal versus getting a good deal which turns out to be a lemon is not worth it. This all just boils down to Darwinian economics (poor management) – and what really pisses me off is that Wall street and Detroit can get away with it but the average guy gets screwed once again by the government.

Thanks for the article.

A great article indeed, saved me a trip to the store. Thank you!

I stop at Circuit City last night in Brandon, Florida. I saw a Panasonic model PAN TH42PZ80U for 949$. I went back this morning to purchase it and the price went up to 1,169$. I spoke to the same salesman and he told me that is under the hand of
the Auctioners to raise and lower prices.
I will go to Best Buy tomorrow and try to negotiate with them.

I went yester day and total agree. Prices on line and price you can negotiate at best buy or price at costco are lower and not purchased as is.
I recomend the same – teh prices are higher than Best buys onm sweveral items I was looking to purchase. I can not believe the madness don’t people research the prices at other retailers first?

Mervyn’s liquidated in my town last year Nov/December. I watched the discounts go from 30-40% off to 40%-50 off to 50-75% off. Then they sold the racks. They got rid of everything. Watch the same thing happen here at Circuit City along with the choices.

The discount is 30% in south Austin. The “Deal or No Deal” answer seems dependent on your locale.

[...] Those poor saps who bumrushed Circuit City this weekend thinking they’d save money on a TV were paying more—before sales tax—than at most online stores, according to HDGuru and our own quick survey. [...]

Be careful! The floor models may be less than new stock from a BM/online store but do they work? If they don’t you’re up the creek. Even doubling the current discount (to 20%) you could find a similar price. As the stock dwindles in a month or two maybe they’ll have better pricing.

Well, I had quite the stressfull day today. My wife, who was off for King Day today, spent about $1,400 on a 40-inch Samsung TV, a wall stand, and undercase and other accessaries at Circuit City. She tried to call me at work, from the store, before she made the purchase, but I was at a meeting. By the time I got back to my desk to return her call, she had bought everything for fear somebody else would buy the stuff which was going fast. The store was mobbed. Given the fact we can’t afford it at this time, I told her to bring it all back, but she said she couldn’t because all sales are final. When I got home from work I tried to reason with the “acting manager” over the phone, but he started to threaten me, saying the liquidators are “a ruthless bunch” and “I wouldn’t mess with them if I were you!” — meaning that I better not pursue it any further. I then told him that my brother is the city’s chief of police and that maybe I should have him visit the store if the liquidators are that dangerous to the shoppers. The punk then backed off and said he’d ask his “boss” to call me tomorrow at my place of work and he asked to “please keep cool” before that. First time I’ve ever had that kind of dealing. My wife learned a life’s lesson not to make a purchase like that until she consults me. (I surer than hell would have asked her first before spending $1,400) I expect the liquidation head to call me back and apoligize for his “goon’s” behavior, but I assume he’ll stick to the “all sales are final policy.” Should that be the case, my wife will put everything she bought today up for sale on Craig’s List. We may lose some money in the process, but I don’t need a new TV and I can’t afford one. And I’d rather lose some money than own a TV purchased from goons. Judging from the way the goon back-pedalled when I mentioned my brother, maybe he’s hiding his stash of drugs as I write this.

Just wondering through — any chance Circuit City would take it all back? Nothing was opened. If not, Craig’s List, here we come!

Looking for the best value for a 42 inch and 47 inch lcd. either 720 or 1080. what is your thoughts. Also can I hang a 73inch DLP

I bought a pair of computer speakers with sub-woofer in SilverLake (Los Angeles) for $37 and change. That was the price listed on the shelf, so I didn’t get the “30% off Total Store*” – as advertised by the guy on the sidewlak carrying a sign.

A one meter Monster brand optical cable went for $26. I didn’t buy.

The asterisk on the sign, roughly translated = 30% off Total Store except stuff we don’t mark down and stuff we don’t discount at the register unless you catch us.

They were manually deducted the 30%, and had great difficulty.

Come clean with your readers and educate them about liquidation sales. Circuit City no longer sets prices, the liquidator does and there is no negotiation. And as you should also know,in liquidation sales, all sales are final meaning no returns, no refunds, no exchanges. If you have a problem with your purchase you will have to return it to the manufacturer not Circuit City. (By the way, Circuit City had a generous 30-day no hassle return policy on most products). Again a liquidation rule. Discounts are based on the regular price and not on previous Circuit City price. Liquidation sales will not match other store prices either.Discounts will get better as the liquidation sale nears completion but then most desired products are already sold out.

10% off is not enough dont you think.

DAVID!!
Go to Sears.com and choose store pick-up.
They have this TV PAN TH42PZ80U for $699!

WAY better than CC Liquidation Price!!

Good Luck!

I was at CC on Monday and was looking at the Samsung LN46A650…the original price was over $2,000 and the “discount” price was something like $1849…not a discount AT ALL!!!!

Does Best Buy really negotiate with you? Does anyone have any negotiating success stories with Best Buy to share?

I just got back from a closing Circuit City. What a joke. There are no deals what-so-ever. No wonder they are going out of business. I guess they are going after all the suckers. Maybe I’ll check back in a month to see if prices have been lowered. Otherwise, don’t waste your time.

I am employed by a company that did business with Circuit city … I am so glad that this company is going under … Customer satisfaction should be your # 1 priority and circuit city did not have what it takes in that catagory … we had so many angry customers call us about purchasing our product at circuit city and circuit city being unwilling to help them with there warranty issues… Die circuit city die …

To riverboat – maybe if charged to a card, can do the stop payment through the credit card. Tell the liquidator, if not taken back, will do the stop payment. Worth a try

I for one loved Circuit City…the store in Sanford FL was great…excellent customer service with knowledgeable employees…never a hassle on price matches or exchanges and refunds. The Best Buy in Sanford however leave much to be desired. Anyway…stopped in early saturday the first day of the liqudation sale. Got a second PS3 (the 80gig model) and a 32 inch Sony xbr advetised at 999.00 for the bedroom (it was a diaplay model had been on the floor manufacture date was dec 08 so it hadn’t been there long). Both were advertised at 10% off…talked to the the liqidation manager on duty for a while since they just opened and were not busy yet and then slid in for the kill!! I got 20% off the PS3 and got the TV for 599.00 so they do make deals if you work it right!!!!

I looked at the same two t.v’s at both Best Buy and Circuit City. The t.v. at Best buy was 898.00. The same t.v at circuit city was 999.00. They have no deals, dont waste your time.

I had a similar experience with CC. Went to check the price on a SAM LN52A750. Price at CC was $300 more than Best Buy. Asked the sales kid why they aren’t even matching BB during their liquidation sale. He said that if I had an ad from BB they would match it. I told him it would be easier just to go to BB and buy the thing cheaper. He shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

Sounds like Danas company was selling some junk that got the customers riled up, so what is her beef with CC. Sounds like they didn’t want to mess with the junk either. I for one have had great experiences at CC, very knowledgeable staff and they would price match. If I had to choose, I’d rather BB go out of business, their employees are undertrained and the geek squad is a joke being perpetuated upon an unknowing populace. I also feel for the employees in these trying times.

I bough a laptop for my daughter for school and place a 2 years damage warrantee. How do I go about getting a refund on that from Curcuit City.? Or can I get a refund?

I would go to your local CC and talk to them, But FYI they have a third party picking up all the warrantee’s. They tried to sale me one on the first day of liquidation, I got a laptop for a good deal still haven’t found a better deal yet.

Riverboat, give your wife a break…your an a hole!!

This is a sad deal for everyone… even those who did not like Circuit City. Supply and demand governs the economy. Internet pricing will rise slightly (notwithstanding sales tax pushes)now, and other big-box chains like Wal-Mart and Best Buy WILL raise prices. They don’t HAVE to raise them… they WILL raise them. Circuit City closing gives them an opening to do it and in so doing they’ll increase their profit margins. I work closely with several manufacturers and can tell you in all honesty that televisions, gaming consoles, etc. are priced in the stores AT or BELOW the prices BB and WalMart buy them for. They make their money on warranties, accessories, and games.

I must say that I also find it mindboggling that so many people are completely clueless about how liquitdation works and also how unbelievable their expectations are for $6.00 an hour employees who have just lost their jobs.

what about the three day return law that exists. can’t you return it under that?

Well yet another retailer fails and the options become less and less. One day Walmart will have its way and be the only retailer out there and then all you folks that are beating up Circuit City for not marking everything 99% off the first day of thier liquidation will be begging for someplace else to shop someplace else to spend your money someplace else that is cheaper because as it was already noted they will raise thier prices and they will laugh all the way to the bank. Yes lots of pitfalls when buying from a company that is closing its doors but you know what the stores actually get to act like retailers where they control what goes on in thier store like enforcing thier return policy which has been abused for the last 60 years they get to tell the troublesome customer to hit the door they get the word on this one call the office who cares!!! Yes buyer beware you have no recourse…..and give it time sooner or later it will get to that 90 percent off that you want but dont cry when you dont get what you want….

I only hope they don’t screw the employees over like tweeter did closing early and skipping the final paychecks.

i just got a panasonic 42″ plasma BABY for $300!! I bought 10 of them and sold them all for $700-$900!! I’m rich Biaaatch!!

Problem with the prices is they are set by the liquidating company and not Circuit City. As an LP in one of the stores i talk to folks all day long about how the prices were cheaper when we were in business. Panasonic’s that last week were $2800 are now $3200. The liquidating company has marked all the prices up to there original MSRP and then taken 10% off but we are still doing business from those vultures who think they’re getting a good deal. Oh and by the way we don’t care if you buy from us or the competition. See all you vultures in the stores soon.

Here’s a deal for ya all. Screw Best Buy and Circuit City. Buy from vanns.com. I just bought a 58″ Samsung series 6 touch of color full 1080p plasma. PN58A650 for 2479.00 as compared to Best Buy and Circuit City who were selling for 3799.99 at the time. The price of 2479.00 was right around christmas. I think it’s around 2679.00 now. Yeah these stores all deserve to crumble. They are so ridiculously overpriced. I will probably go to Circuit City in about a month. Hopefully I can find some good Blu Ray movie deals. When my local K-mart closes I was getting Playstation 2 games that were 39.99-49.99 for like 8.00 each. But yeah if you are looking for a tv try Buydig.com or Vanns.com. Vanns has been in buisness since 1961. I had a pleasure dealing with them. Yellow Freight kind of dropped the ball on my delivery time though. But it was due to the holiday’s and the bad weather in my area. So instead of me getting the tv on 12/28/08. I got it 1/2/09. But Vanns was great.

The last major electronic purchase I made was in June 2007. I was going to replace our bedroom TV with a 32 inch LCD. So I do some research, decide on a Panasonic LX-whatever. CC price is over $900, I think $919. I live in Mass. (5% sales tax) but in NH that doesn’t apply. I go online.

PC Connection’s price = $749.99 but I have to pay tax, as they have facilities in Mass. – OK, that brings it to $787, free shipping = $132 savings.

Two nights ago I go to a liquidation store — to buy blank CDs and DVDs – learning the prices were marked up – no, JACKED up. I went to buy 100 CD-Rs and 50 DVD-Rs, the carton display indicated the price was around $31 for both, register says $62. WHOA. Look at the carton display — the clerk said “oh, I can’t adjust that, the liquidator sets the price, I don’t know what to do” — I said “You might want to trash that carton display price…”

If you wanted a deal at circuit you needed to buy before the end of business last Saturday. I got a Sammy LCD for over $500 below what circuit has it on sale for now and a few hundred below every other electronics retailer.

PLEASE GIVE A RESPONCE

will this effect the SOURCE(by circut city) which is in canada

I have done very little business with Circuit City recently so I could care less about them going t*ts up! I have done a lot of business with TWEETER on the other hand. They too, went out of business a few moths ago. Same scenario. Liqidaters took over, hiked the sticker prices back to manufactures suggested retail and then nclaimed to discount from that price point.

Short story. A woman goes into a Ct. Tweeter store and pays for a plasma tv for her daughter’s new under construction family room in August. The woman also pays for the wall mounting bracket, all the cables, a new blu-ray dvd player and a 5 year warrantee plan on everything! All this stuff and the installation were to be delivered and installed when the family room was completed. The daughter goes to the Tweeter store to arrange a delivery of the already paid for merchandise and was told by store management that because Tweeter had announced a week earlier that it was under a liquidaters controll that her mother’s purchse agreement was void.

The daughter was told to leave the store and forget about ever seeingn that plasma tv. The attorney general of Ct got wind of just how unscrupulous the Tweeter liquidators were that he put the company under some intense pressure to make good on those previous purchases to customers.

Tweeter closed about 2 months earlier than originaly announced. I wonder how many more people were screwed out of paid for merchandise?

I think we all know by now that when a business has a so called “LIQUIDATION SALES” it is not what it always appears. Lets all say a prayer for our brothers and sisters who are going to be out of work and struggling to survive.

Circuit City had the best prices but people were too dumb to see it. Now the prices are 10% off the retail price becuase the liquidation company controls all revenue and cost. I bought a 46″ LCD for $650 in november 08 back when everyone cliamed they couldn’t afford to buy anything. when i visited the store again yesterday i saw some people buying the same TV for 10% fo the retail price which was $999. But since its a liquidation Sale every one thinks that they are getting the best deal ever, but the truth is if they would have gone before they could have found some good deals and maybe the store wouldn’t be closing. If everyone just shoped wisely rather than waiting for a store to close just so they can get their “good deal” at the cost of thousands of jobs then the economy might stablize a little bit.

Let’s see what happen’s know that Best Buy is the only Brick and Mortar retailer left in most markets. I worked for Sound Advice(Tweeter) for a lot mof years and it was the best place to buy electronics. If you saw a lower price at a competitor all you had to do was tell the salesperson and the would match it or beat it most of the time. It really is a catch 22. If a company wants to offer lower prices they have to sacrifice customer service and viceversa. Want to fix the economy, tax online purchases. You can talk prices all day but the truth of the matter is that C.E. companies like Best Buy, Sears, etc. are not posting earnings and are not going to be here for long and if that happens online retailers will not have to give away product because there wont be any competition. No that Tweeter is gone; who buy the way was rated best C.E. Retailer by J.D. Power; companies like Pioneer, Sharp, etc. are gonna go under ’cause they focus on building a higher quality product rather than an $899 50″ LCD.
That’s the same logic the goverment uses when setting the federal minimum wage. You don’t want to pay $2000.00 for a quality T.V.; well they don’t want your employer to pay you more than $8 an hour either. Your glad the companies went under, that means your glad that over 60,000 people lost their jobs!!

No I am not glad people are loosing their jobs, People are upset that they are told they are getting something that is supposed to be cheaper, and finding it’s more expensive. Why don’t people start posting what their local store prices are on certain items, so to help others from wasting gas, and time going to their CC store. Lets help each other, rather then get upset. Also, where are people getting on-line pricing from? When I go to http://www.circuitcity.com I find the we going out of business sign, and no display of prices. So help each other so as consumers we can get the best out of something that is wrong, people loosing their jobs due to the Bigboxmart. If people don’t know, that is why they are closing down, they can’t compete with their prices, and Bigboxmart sells sony, and other big brand TV’s, which was CC main source of profit. So if you want to blame someone blame them. Also, their CEO is leaving,that out to tell you about our economy, we can’t be consumers, if all of our jobs are going overseas. We can’t consume if we don’t make anything, otherwise how are we going to get money??? Think about it! What you think is good – Capitolism – is really bad. The Antichrist is here, and the people in China are putting togeather the HD tv’s, computers, etc. That means all they have to do is loose some inventory, and put on their missles, and then shoot the stuff back at us. We are the dumb ones for letting our country go down the tubes! SO don’t blame others for your own dumb actions. And if you can’t help someone, keep your mouth shut!

Thank you hdguru website for saving me the trouble of visiting circuit city. These going out of business promotions are truly a great big farce.

For those of you who pointed out the fact the pricing is set by the liquidators, kudos! You all are spot on. Same thing happened to Linens & Things when they went OOB. The items that mattered were really no less than what you could have gotten at a competitors. They had a ProHeat 2X carpet steam cleaner regularly priced at $300 and some pocket change they discounted to $270, then $250 and finally at $230 — they sold out. But Walmart had the exact same model for $180.

Same concept applies to CC. In fact, great lesson here is when someone is telling you you better hurry and buy what they’ve got or else someone else will, they’re selling you snake oil. They’re trying to artificially drive up demand. Same thing happened in the .com bubble, same happened with the housing market. Buyers just HAD to have what they saw. My advice: slow down, step back and take a deep breath. Wait, you don’t have to have it right now. If a legitimate deal comes along, take it, but be wary of the snake-oil salesman.

That applies to politicians who tell us we need to hurry to pass a trillion dallar bail-out bill. My parents and grand-parents would view with suspicion any urging to “hurry and buy now.”

@ Riverboat:

LOL! $1400 for a 40″! Wow I hope you taught your wife a lesson! Man- I hate how the women folk are always out trying to buy up electronics all the time! Does she watch football too!?

If you didn’t catch the sarcasm- read it again. It is in there.. You sound like a douchebag. What did you do riverboat? did you smack her around a bit? What a guy!

I fill for the employees that won’t have jobs enymore due to this crisis.
can same one send an E-Mail to the president of sircuit city telling hem to lower the prize to 50 or 60% on everithing, i will apresiate

BEST BUY SUCKS AND IS A RIP OFF UNLESS YOU LIKE CHEAP LOW END ELECTRONICS– CIRCUIT CITY CLOSING IS THE WORST THING THAT COULD EVER HAPPEN FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE MONEY AND LIKE HIGH END ELECTRONICS. I BOUGHT A KICKER AMP $700 ONLINE FOR $199 AT CIRCUIT CITY ON SATURDAY. I ALSO BOUGHT A $1200 INDASH FOR $499.

RIVERBOAT IS THE BIGGEST IDIOT IN AMERICA–UR WIFE SHOULD WISE UP AND LEAVE YOUR ASS…

People are freaking morons sometimes. I work for what was formerly known as Circuit City, and I haven’t seen anything that promised lower prices than CC had before bankruptcy. The signs just say “xx% off”. If you goons had made these purchases BEFORE we died (when they were MUCH cheaper), we would still be around. Also, I dont understand how people can expect any of us associates to give a crap about helping them now. Then complain that we dont care. HELLO, we dont care if you saved only $80 on your laptop, you should have come in last month when it was on sale for $300 off.

I was trying to find a computer’s on your site and vew and compare before I drove all the way over to Lakeworth to get one. But I could not find anything about computers, there was Blue ray disk’s, Plasma TV’s and everything els you would expect to find at an electronics store but so links to view the sales on the computers. I would like to be mailed Some info. on Circuit City’s sales(an add orsomething). Or email me info. on the web address I need to find what im looking for. MY E-MAIL IS lzpcomputers1@peoplepc.com

Thank You.
Brian Pugh

They had private liquidators revalue the stock, and the discounts shown are based on those revalued prices. What can you expect though. HP and all of their suppliers want to get their money back from CC. They lost a lot of money from CC. That is what the sale was really about.

To Gonzo, I am sorry you feel as if the customer owes it to you to buy the products so that you can keep a job. That attitude is exactly why CC is out of business. It was never really about how low the prices were because both BB and CC are overpriced.

Never been so happy to see a company go bankrupt,like i have with circuit city,Bad management right from the start,i always said they wouldn’t sustain for long,and here it is,the moment i’ve been waiting for.Their lack of flexibility and their terrible sales policies have made this terrible company sink.As for me i encourage everyone not to buy anything from these ass….s.Good bye circuit city,it’s so great to see you go,noone will miss your communists ways!!!!!!!!