The electronics giant fired its highest-paid sales staff to cut costs, then lost the customers they served, and liquidated all 567 stores in 2009.
Born
1949 CE
Died
2009 CE
Lived
60 years
Dead for
17 yrs
At its peak
567 US stores; ~34,000 employees at closure
Cause of death
Replaced
Replaced by
Best Buy and online retailers (Amazon)
The Obituary
Circuit City, founded in 1949 as Wards Company in Richmond, Virginia, rose from a single store into the second-largest consumer electronics chain in the United States, a superstore pioneer that helped popularize the big-box format. In 2007, facing pressure from Best Buy and online sellers, it laid off 3,400 of its highest-paid and most knowledgeable sales associates to cut costs, replacing them with cheaper staff. Service quality collapsed and customers drifted away. Already weakened, the company filed for bankruptcy in November 2008, failed to find a buyer, and liquidated all 567 stores by March 2009, eliminating roughly 34,000 jobs.
Worth remembering
In 2007 it laid off 3,400 of its best-paid, most experienced sales staff to save money, gutting its showroom service.
It was once the second-largest US electronics retailer behind Best Buy, with 567 stores at its end.
Gallery
A Circuit City store during its 2009 going-out-of-business liquidation saleIldar Sagdejev (Specious) · CC BY-SA 4.0An abandoned former Circuit City store building in Henrietta, New York, after the chain's liquidationAuroraTerra · CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources
Circuit City filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and liquidated its 567 stores in 2009 Wikipedia
Circuit City laid off 3,400 of its highest-paid sales associates in 2007 The New York Times
On March 30, 2007, Circuit City laid off 3,400 workers—roughly 8% of its workforce—targeting anyone paid 'well above the market-based salary range for their role,' with affected employees offered the chance to reapply after 11 weeks at lower wages. ABC News
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.
Buried nearby — by shared fate or a neighbouring lifespan.
