Opher BanarieCircuit City To Close All Stores
January 16th 2009 18:40
Back in November Circuit City entered bankruptcy court and announced it would close a few stores in an re-organization attempt. Today, however, the company announced that a re-organization has not been possible and they are closing the remaining 567 stores.
This could represent another 30,000 unemployed Americans, and the removal of another in a long list of technology retailers. Anyone remember Sharper Image, Good Guys, Egghead Software, ComputerLand, BusinessLand, etc.?
With billions of bailout dollars going to banks, auto companies, insurance companies and the like, what happens to the retailer who lands on hard times? What kind of capitalism do we have if there is only one technology retailer? Will Best Buy compete with Wal-Mart for television sales, or will they carve up the market with Wal-Mart taking the low-service price shopper and Best Buy taking everyone else?
The AP article mentions the possible impact on malls and shopping centers, where already vacancy rates are high in parts of the country. If the anchor stores these malls rely on for volume business close, what happens to the rest of the businesses and the mall itself? Will we have cascading closures, the way the mortgage melt-down cascaded through the various participants?
This could represent another 30,000 unemployed Americans, and the removal of another in a long list of technology retailers. Anyone remember Sharper Image, Good Guys, Egghead Software, ComputerLand, BusinessLand, etc.?
[Alan L.] Wurtzel [son of the founder of Circuit City] has previously said Circuit City didn't take the threat of rival Best Buy Co. seriously enough and, at some points, were too focused on making a profit in the short term instead of building long-term value.
With billions of bailout dollars going to banks, auto companies, insurance companies and the like, what happens to the retailer who lands on hard times? What kind of capitalism do we have if there is only one technology retailer? Will Best Buy compete with Wal-Mart for television sales, or will they carve up the market with Wal-Mart taking the low-service price shopper and Best Buy taking everyone else?
The AP article mentions the possible impact on malls and shopping centers, where already vacancy rates are high in parts of the country. If the anchor stores these malls rely on for volume business close, what happens to the rest of the businesses and the mall itself? Will we have cascading closures, the way the mortgage melt-down cascaded through the various participants?
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