Results tagged “circuitcity”

Nearly two months after announcing its plan to liquidate—and four months filing for Chapter 11—electronics retailer Circuit City is closing its doors today. The AP reports, "Circuit City was slated stay open until the end of the month, but the final day came early because most of the remaining merchandise has been sold. One of the liquidators (four were handling the sale of CC's merchandise) told Bloomberg News, "Overall, we are pleased with the way things went." Some consumers, on the other hand, might not have been happy with the liquidation sales, such as a Minnesota family that claims they were prevented from opening a TV box to see if it was damaged...only to go home and see it was shattered. The chain leaves behind a number of locations (some rather large) in NYC; it's unclear what stores will fill them in this real estate market.

Electronics retailer Circuit City received approval to auction or break its leases on Friday. A bankruptcy judge gave the failing chain of 567 U.S. stores "permission to begin the auction process," the AP reports.

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.

Guess that new location in the old Tower Records by Lincoln Center didn't work out. After closing 20% of its stores (including 3 in NYC) filing for Chapter 11 last fall, Circuit City has now hired four liquidators to help sell the inventory of its remaining 567 stores nationwide. Acting CEO James A. Marcum said, "We are extremely disappointed by this outcome. The company had been in continuous negotiations regarding a going-concern transaction. Regrettably for the more than 30,000 employees of Circuit City and our loyal customers, we were unable to reach an agreement with our creditors and lenders.” Bloomberg News reports that CC lost market share to Best Buy and Wal-Mart, plus Amazon.com and other online retailers undercut its prices.

Electronic retailer Circuit City announced it will close 155 stores nationwide "in an effort to return the nation's No. 2 consumer electronics retailer to profitability," the AP reports. A total of eight stores will be closed in NY State, including the Gunhill Road store in the Bronx, Flatbush store in Brooklyn and East 86th Street store in Manhattan; two stores in NJ (and one in Connecticut will be closed. The company said it would open fewer stores (a new store opened at Broadway & 66th, in part of the old Tower Records space) and negotiate lower rents. This also means that thousands of jobs will be gone. The company's shares on the New York Stock Exchange have been trading under $1 in the past weeks; the NYSE warned Circuit City that it may be delisted if the stock continues to perform under $1..

The NY Sun reports on a 4-page parody ad for "Sucker City" that runs in the latest issue of MAD Magazine. Circuit City was displeased to find the spread, which "pokes fun at high prices, the breaking of promises found in advertisements, and the employees who save sold-out merchandise for friends." Reportedly a "humor-impaired" employee ordered that all magazines be removed from Circuit City newsstands...yeah, don't worry, MAD's editor-in-chief was equally confused, saying, "We at MAD were shocked and confused by this entire incident — mainly because we had no idea Circuit City even sells magazines." After their removal, the issues were then ordered to be destroyed. That order has now been reversed, and the company has apologized to the magazine.

The Circuit City clerk whose call to the authorities foiled an alleged plot to attack NJ's Fort Dix stepped forward yesterday. Brian Morgenstern, 23, now a manager at different Circuit City, gave his first interview yesterday and spoke on CNN's American Morning about his actions:

ROBERTS: Did these guys strike you as being strange in any kind of way? Did they -- did your radar go off at all?

Continue reading ""I Saw Some Stuff on The Film That Was Disturbing": Clerk Who Made Fort Dix Terror Plot Tip Talks"

More reactions and details about the men who authorities say were planning a terrorist attack on Fort Dix in NJ are emerging. Jennifer Marino, the Brooklyn-born wife of suspect Dritan Duka, spoke to the Post and said, "He works as a roofer all day long. He comes home tired and then he takes the kids to the park. I don't know when he would have had time to plan this. I believe he was set up. Everything they are saying is not true."

Angel Parades was the first person to buy the Playstation 3 at the Sony Store in Midtown (apparently Charlie Murphy was on the scene!) while Sergio Rodriguez bought the first one at the Union Square Circuit City. Rodriquez said, "This is the best game ever. It's so worth the wait. Some people may call me crazy, but I really love to play."

If you haven't showered in a few days, there is a good chance that you're probably waiting on a line trying desperately to score one of the new next generation console releases from Sony and Nintendo.

Man, we thought we were hardcore nerds-- but we're pussies compared to the freaks who stood outside Circuit City last night in the pouring rain, waiting for the Xbox360 to get released. Check out John's photoset on Flickr for all the soaking wet details. Did anyone manage to snag an Xbox360 last night? And if you did, how do our favorite NYC games (Warriors, True Crime NYC, etc) look on the new system?