Circuit City short-circuiting?

from MarketWatch:


Circuit City loss widens; company reviews business

By Andria Cheng, MarketWatch


NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc. said Monday that its quarterly loss widened, hurt by charges to write down the value of its fixed assets and a significant decline in traffic that led to worse than expected sales.

The company withdrew its previous fiscal 2009 outlook as it said it's reviewing all aspects of the business ahead of the holiday season, its biggest selling period.

Circuit City shares fell 11% in pre-market trading.

Net loss widened to $239.2 million, or $1.45 a share, from $62.8 million, or 38 cents, a year earlier. Sales in the quarter ended Aug. 31 fell 9.6% to $2.39 billion from $2.64 billion, the Richmond, Va.-based company said in statement. The decline was worse than expected by analysts. Same-store sales dropped 13%, led by a drop in the U.S.

Excluding a $73 million non-cash charge for a write-down, the pre-tax loss from continuing operations was $162.7 million, narrower than the company's previous forecast of $170 million to $185 million, because of improvements in gross margin and expense control, Circuit City said. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/circuit-city-loss-widens-company/story.aspx?guid=%7B5AC74FA7%2D0C0C%2D49C1%2DA81F%2DC61F537E7154%7D

good salespeople is a viable business plan.

a year or two back, so they could slash payroll costs?

They wound up with a bunch of new employees who couldn't answer any questions, and that encouraged customers to look elsewhere, where their questions could be answered. If it was Circuit City, they deserve all the grief they get, because a good employee who knows what they're doing is worth 4 untrained employees.

they've been in trouble for a year or so, their customer service is the pits, and their prices aren't competitive. Selection has been poor also.

To hell with Circuit Shitty. I made the mistake of going in there for a freaking USB cable and the constant "sales-ing" I got was just brutal. I couldn't even look at the cables on display without having to fight off a dozen salespeople. It was ridiculous. I'd rather go to WalMart, and that's saying a LOT.

I had my little converter box coupon (another government subsidy and for the boob tube, no less!)in hand and it really looked decimated in there. It seemed to be far more barren than a store should be, so perhaps this is why...

Welcome to DU :hi:

How much did it cost? I walked out when the girl said I couldn't use both coupons for one box (which cost around $60). I am sure I can find cheaper.

She's right, you can only use one coupon per box.

The cheapest I've seen them is $50 at Walmart (making it $10 your cost), but the reviews I read said that the Circuit City one (the $60 one you are probably looking at - the Zenith DTT901 - red box?) was better than the 2 models Walmart carries.

I believe it had to do with the Zenith having additional features available using the remote control (so you don't have to get up and walk to the box to do certain things).

At the time, I decided those extra features were worth the difference between $10 (my cost) and $20 (my cost).

I get more channels now than I did over analog, and they are crystal clear. I expect to get even more channels closer to Feb '09 when more stations start to boost their digital signals.

Downside is when it is raining I get fewer channels.

I don't watch much TV, so I don't have cable or satellite. It's just not worth the expense to me, I get NBC, ABC, CBS, and local stations over the air for free, and with the digital box they look as good as they do over cable. :woohoo:

They NEVER had decent employees and now they have worse. They are just like Guitar Center in that they try to keep their sales staff trapped in the store for long hours just so they can get them on sales commission and avoid paying minimum wage.

I talked to one kid who quit after his check was 125 for two weeks work.

big-screen TVs are pretty far down on their shopping lists.

BTW, I was in their Union Square store in Manhattan a month or two ago, and it was really a mess. There was a lot of empty shelf space, stuff was just kind of piled up haphazardly, and employees were just hanging out shooting the breeze. This is a really high-profile store, too, so it can't be a good sign.

I would always go to Best Buy for my stuff; they just had more variety. But to tell the truth, I don't like going in those types of stores anyway! All the chaos of 20 tvs on at the same time...Ugh!

It's to make you more vulnerable to a hard sell.

Just had to ask.

Too many "same-as" stores.. People who feel poorer will stop buying stuff.. It's just the way it goes..