[cruiser_1982]

One visit to CC and Best Buy, Back to back will say why CC was not good enough. They dont seem to have the best of best brands, but just-another brands. It takes ages for them to display the latest products in the market.They always seemed to be a catch-up and not pioneer. Their Inventory management was poor and all the good stuffs were always not in stock, while the neighbouring BB had it.I hardly bought anything in CC except my playstation 3.

This looks like the result of a bad management than the recession itself. The recession might have made the management to take the decision.

[lancer_rit]

that's more bad news. Retailers including electronic retailers do shutdown in US from time-to-time, but CC being so large and in this climate, will increase the anxiety and recessionary trends :-(
Hope, BestBuy, Compusa, Frys etc survive this downturn.

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by vivekiny2k

it's not just a store, it's 500+ stores and 30,000+ employees.

niche market? 500 stores can not be catering to niche market. look for niche stores if you need your stuff.

ok, niche market may be the wrong term. Either way, they grew up catering to the technology savvy crowd, as aerohit posted, probably why they had to pay so much to their sales folks, because you'd need someone who knew a bit more than the average sales guy.

but at one point, they fired all of them, get cheaper replacements, and decided to cater to the mass market segment, to the joe sixpacks of the world who usually buy from best buy etc.

Trying to compete with the bigger players may not have been the best idea. It's been downhill ever since

[f1fan]

Damn... Thats bad. CC was always my favorite Store compared to BB. Generally their deals and return policies were better than BB.
Really feel sad for them and for all the layoffs that would happen as I have a few of my friends working there too in their IT Dept

[CBlazer]

It is sad to see the stores closing down and thousands of more people becoming jobless. Irrespective of their policies, I'm sure this has a lot to do with the recession in the US. If the current environment lasts for a couple of quarters, we might find even financially sound companies going down.

Speaking of companies getting affected - what would be the impact of this on manufacturers that were supplying to CC? I have a feeling some of the smaller ones will be badly affected by a chain as large as CC going down.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by aerohit

Our Indian e-Zone retailer is doing pretty well, if not great, as it is built on modest Indian values, and not show-off huu haa way of life. For geeks, there is always SP road in BLR, and Nehru place in Delhi :-)

I am continually surprised at your insights, in each post!


I don't know about CC - but ezone has some of the worst mobile prices (compared to HotSpot/MobileStore) and digital accesory (think portable speakers, USB HDD etc compared to NP). Jumbo otoh had a bunch of deals and competitive prices.

Interestingly, I couldn't find anything "modest Indian values" or even modest prices (except some friends who found some deals) in the store. I am quite amazed at how you derived such insights from a retail store that isn't much more Indian than say Croma?

[aerohit]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

I am continually surprised at your insights, in each post!


I don't know about CC - but ezone has some of the worst mobile prices (compared to HotSpot/MobileStore) and digital accesory (think portable speakers, USB HDD etc compared to NP). Jumbo otoh had a bunch of deals and competitive prices.

Interestingly, I couldn't find anything "modest Indian values" or even modest prices (except some friends who found some deals) in the store. I am quite amazed at how you derived such insights from a retail store that isn't much more Indian than say Croma?


I don't know about CC - but ezone has some of the worst mobile prices (compared to HotSpot/MobileStore) and digital accesory (think portable speakers, USB HDD etc compared to NP). Jumbo otoh had a bunch of deals and competitive prices.

Interestingly, I couldn't find anything "modest Indian values" or even modest prices (except some friends who found some deals) in the store. I am quite amazed at how you derived such insights from a retail store that isn't much more Indian than say Croma?

Well, since you dont know anything about CC, you should not have developed any insight regarding my post. May be you get a kick out it - by wanting to post opposite of what i say. The fact is that CC has failed. So has - > Hollywood Video, > Levitz, > Sharper Image, Performance Team Freight, > Linens n Things , > Bed, Bath and Beyond , Sprint, > Quest, Citi - are failing or have failed.


So where exactly is the problem in my post?
I have posted a link about CC firing employees who worked hard and got promoted - is that a problem?
I have posted about CC carrying average stuff in their inventory which can easily be bought Online/eBay for much less price. Is that also a problem?

So your problem is that i picked eZone randomly, that too just because I happen to live near one. Well, there are many large electronic stores in India, and the prices in India are can be lower for "common items" like Mobile Phones or Stereo Systems or Computers. Niche items are expensive because there is less demand. The eZone or Croma are at par with CC or BestBuy. The only thing is that the buildings are smaller/verticle layout. If you want REAL electronics go to Korea/Tokyo, dont even compare CC or BB or any other crap that you see on your "phoreign cable TV"

Secondly, In India, we dont buy things that we dont really need. We dont really believe in Buy Now-Pay Later way of life. We dont replace our gadgets every six months unnecessarily. Imagine the resources wasted! Some poor guy in working day and night to produce goods and services for you. The mexicans and chinese were poor, but now their kids are going to school and college and working harder than Westerners. The entire landscape is changing.


The fact that you are online and can afford a Net connection is all because of the modest values that your parents taught you indirectly. We live modest, hence we are now able to live comfortable and decent life in India. We have good savings rate. US has ZERO savings rate. Dont even try the MTV Brainwashed Overconsumption way of life, you will go down sooner or later.


Lastly, I am an Indian, so it is my job to buy Indian (wherever possible) and protect Indian interests and Indian industries. Although I regret the fate of CC, i dont give much crap about it. Trust me, you will never see a sorrow thread on western forums if an Indian company goes down. Instead, they will probabaly celebrate such an event. After all, such an event is in their best interests. Fair Enough, Be Brave.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by aerohit

Secondly, In India, we dont buy things that we dont really need. We dont really believe in Buy Now-Pay Later way of life. We dont replace our gadgets every six months unnecessarily. Imagine the resources wasted! Some poor guy in working day and night to produce goods and services for you. The mexicans and chinese were poor, but now their kids are going to school and college and working harder than Westerners. The entire landscape is changing.

in the zeal of bashing westerner's lifestyle and praising your indian principles, you have forgotten the fact that these many indian stores did not exist until IT and BPO companies started siphoning money out of the US businesses promising lower costs.

your talks hold any weight if you did not profit from the changes in indian economy in last 20 yrs, for which the so called westerner society was responsible.

[GTO]

I am not really surprised. Even as a gadget freak, I rarely visited Circuit City.....Best Buy was a favorite to play with the latest toys. I much preferred their display style, staff and store layout. However, I bought most of my stuff online . Much cheaper, these retailers ought to have worked on their online model. What Amazon did to books is a pretty amazing story. Of course, profitability is another story altogether.

[srishiva]

Circuit City has been in the red for quite sometime now. The U.S economy is mostly being built on borrowing money. Hope it does not lead the world into something else major.
However, western society did not grow by developing and consuming all within. People elsewhere bought what they produced for them to become what they are too. Its naive to think India is today what it is because of western society. We were after all the top manufacturing country once. Its a cycle.

[zaks]

I have shopped at CC in the past and also at other outlets like BB. I have to say that CC had an OK collection of stuff for most buyers though the range was limited. But one thing which I noticed was that their staff were not very enthusiastic about talking and explaining to prospective customers. I am a little of an impulse buyer and found that on many occasions their response was muted to my queries. Thats not to say that BB was the best in these respects but still they were better.

I think more than anything it is the online shopping of electronic items which is causing so much of trouble to these big retail stores. Previously online purchase was fraught with delays and inconsistencies with return merchandise, which, have been largely removed now and its more safer and trouble free to shop online. The retails stores have been continuously loosing their luster since this online shopping trend picked up. The price differential when compared to online shopping made them more and more unattractive.
So this online phenomenon coupled with unchanging marketing strategy of these retailers and the present economic downturn did the Circuitcity in this time. It may not be the last though and its sad because it will result in more unemployment and less orders for items and lesser demand and gloomier days ahead .

Please stop this western culture bashing, it seems so silly. We have had our nightmares and they have had theirs. Things don't remain the same and every dog has it's day or rather bad day! In a global economy if anyone significant gets hurt every one suffers dude.