Circuit City Begins to Brown Out
Today began the wind down in the liquidation process for local Circuit City stores after the electronics chain announced yesterday that it would be filing for bankruptcy. Circuit City has 30 stores instate and ten in the immediate area (plus one in Woodbridge, NJ), but the store was not available to say just how many local employees it would have to lay off. Consumerist has an FAQ about the liquidation process—encouraging customers to use their leftover gift cards ASAP, return any unwanted purchases before January 30th and avoid the "big liquidation sales" which they describe as a gimmick where after markups, prices end up "the same or even higher than the price before the liquidation." Any employees laid off in the closing will receive pay and benefits for a 60-day period that began yesterday. Economists fear that Circuit City may just be the first in a number of closings to be announced after holiday sales figures for retailers were even lower than projected.
