[Blake]

deal time at circuit city until the end of march. i'll be out shopping tomorrow.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Bankrupt electronics retailer Circuit City Inc. said Friday it has asked for court approval to close its remaining 567 U.S. stores and sell all its merchandise.

The company said it has 34,000 employees.

"We are extremely disappointed by this outcome," James Marcum, acting CEO for Circuit City, said in a statement. "We were unable to reach an agreement with our creditors and lenders to structure a going-concern transaction in the limited timeframe available, and so this is the only possible path for our company."

In a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Circuit City - the No. 2 electronics retailer after Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) - said it had reached an agreement with four companies to start the liquidation process.

The company said the sale would begin Saturday and run until March 31, pending court approval.

The retailer's Web site and call center will cease to operate after Jan. 18.

Circuit City said employees will receive 60 days notice of the termination.

Employees who are laid off earlier will get pay and benefits for the 60-day period beginning Friday, the retailer said.

Those who remain with the company to assist with the liquidation, will receive pay and benefits.

Circuit City also operates about 765 retail stores and dealer outlets in Canada. The company said its Canadian operations, which employ 3,000 workers, will continue to operate.

The company said it will redeem its gift cards through the liquidation sale, but the cards will have no value once the stores are closed.

"This is very significant. It shows you how bad things are for the the retail industry," said George Whalin, president and CEO of Retail Management Consultants.

Whalin said management mistakes over the past few years combined with the recession brought down Circuit City.

"This company made massive mistakes," he said, citing a decision to get rid of sales people and other mismanagement.

What's more, given the credit market freeze, Whalin added that no manufacturer wants to sell to any retailer who doesn't have money to pay for the merchandise.

At the same time, Whalin said there's still a very slim chance that one or more firms that have expressed an interest in buying Circuit City could still buy it out of bankruptcy over the next few days.

"I wouldn't say it's completely over yet for Circuit City, but it's almost over," Whalin said.

Love Goel, CEO of Growth Ventures Group, an investment banking firm focused on retailers, agreed with Whalin.

"Circuit City isn't a viable business in its old incarnation when half of electronics sales have moved online," Goel said. "CompUSA and Tweeter also didn't make it for the same reason."

However, Goel speculated that Circuit City could still find a lifeline if Golden Gate Capital, one of the reported lead bidders for the merchant, bought the company and restructured it primarily as an online business with very few physical stores.

"This would eliminate overhead costs, vendor conflicts and other issues," he said. "Circuit City has an almost $1 billion online business. So there is a future for it in that regard."

[vachss]

I stopped shopping there after their little stunt a couple of years ago - firing all their senior sales staff and allowing them to reapply for entry level jobs at entry level pay. This was back when the economy was fine, but CC was having trouble competing with Best Buy and, instead of lowering prices or improving service, decided it would be easier and more profitable to screw their workers. To see that sort of high handed treatment of their most loyal employees rewarded with total destruction of the business seems like justice to me.

[slavik]

interesting news.... will have to stop by....

[Blake]

Originally Posted by vachss

I stopped shopping there after their little stunt a couple of years ago - firing all their senior sales staff and allowing them to reapply for entry level jobs at entry level pay. This was back when the economy was fine, but CC was having trouble competing with Best Buy and, instead of lowering prices or improving service, decided it would be easier and more profitable to screw their workers. To see that sort of high handed treatment of their most loyal employees rewarded with total destruction of the business seems like justice to me.

it's just further proof that sloppy management will not get you through this bear economy.

[.:bHd:.]

So what kind of sales are we looking at?

[Blake]

Originally Posted by .:bHd:.

So what kind of sales are we looking at?

i don't know, but i'm assuming everything at least 30%+ off at first, then all the way up to 70-80% on the remaining goods in the closing weeks of march. i'm going to stock up on blu-ray's, video games, etc.

[.:bHd:.]

haha me too that's why I was asking. But i dont think there are gonna be huge sales for at least a good month or too. Just some bullshit to get people in the store.

[BoostedBMW]

Damn, I always prefered to shop at circuit city over best buy. Their return policy was so much better, and you could pricematch within 30 days with them. Oh well.

[Blake]

shit, i don't care if it's good or not at first...i'll gladly take 30% off a stack of blu-ray's.

[Tondtar]

Momentary thread jack

Speaking of CC, this is a short story told by a friend in NYC. He worked near the old WTC towers and a circuit city store nearby was a regular stop during his lunch break. Going there so many times, he got to know one of the sales guys quite well. He was from Egypt and his name was Osama! My friend said during his visit after 9/11, he noticed the guy's name tag was changed to "SAM"

Thread jack over/

[.:bHd:.]

[Blake]

Originally Posted by Tondtar

Momentary thread jack

Speaking of CC, this is a short story told by a friend in NYC. He worked near the old WTC towers and a circuit city store nearby was a regular stop during his lunch break. Going there so many times, he got to know one of the sales guys quite well. He was from Egypt and his name was Osama! My friend said during his visit after 9/11, he noticed the guy's name tag was changed to "SAM"

Thread jack over/

safe move

[Brunotheboxer]

Originally Posted by Tondtar

Momentary thread jack

Speaking of CC, this is a short story told by a friend in NYC. He worked near the old WTC towers and a circuit city store nearby was a regular stop during his lunch break. Going there so many times, he got to know one of the sales guys quite well. He was from Egypt and his name was Osama! My friend said during his visit after 9/11, he noticed the guy's name tag was changed to "SAM"

Thread jack over/

sam.

[TMNT]

Nikon D40 here I come!

[wj4]

Originally Posted by vachss

I stopped shopping there after their little stunt a couple of years ago - firing all their senior sales staff and allowing them to reapply for entry level jobs at entry level pay. This was back when the economy was fine, but CC was having trouble competing with Best Buy and, instead of lowering prices or improving service, decided it would be easier and more profitable to screw their workers. To see that sort of high handed treatment of their most loyal employees rewarded with total destruction of the business seems like justice to me.

I agree with you, man. I worked at Circuit City for about 2 years during my first 2 years of college. Everything was all good and dandy until they moved in a new management team. During the last 3 months, my friends and I were looking for new jobs on the down low and we all quit within the same week. We were the key employees in the store and that caused the store to go from #1 to almost last in the district.

What's more sad was that since they took off the commission, the folks who stayed got a raise based on how much commission they were getting...and that was the primary reason why they stayed. And like you mentioned, they got axed so they can reapply at the starting wage.

Ever since I quit, I've always been thinking that Circuit City wouldn't last until 2010. Most of the customers we had on Black Friday were the ones who didn't wake up early enough to line up at Best Buy, lol.

[waterp7]

do you guys think they will sell any of their goods online? I hate shopping around during these liquidations because you can't find the item you want and the store won't tell you if it's available.

[Blake]

Originally Posted by waterp7

do you guys think they will sell any of their goods online? I hate shopping around during these liquidations because you can't find the item you want and the store won't tell you if it's available.

the article says online sales will cease after sunday

[waterp7]

my bad

[Blake]

for anyone interested in the liquidation sale, read circuitcity.com

[gonzo]

15 stores in D/FW....

Thats a lot of people out of work.

[Greeney]

I want a tele . Hopefully this gives me a chance, or at least cheap video games.

[PaulBailey@ltbmw]

Same Thing Thats Happened To So Many Electronics Stores In The Past Year. . . CompUSA, GoodGuys, Etc. First Sales Will Be Everything In The Store 10 - 30% Off. Most Good Stuff Will Go. Especially Since They Aren't Buying Or Selling Any New Merch. Then It'll Go Up To 40-50% Off. By The Time Discounts Hit 60 - 80% It'll Be Shit. . . Either Way, This Economy Fucking Sucks. Whether They Were A Shit Store That Treated Their Employees Poorly Or Not, They Were One Of The Biggest Electronics Stores And Even They Couldn't Survive This Recession.