Circuit City is closing so you may be able to find a deal although the web is always cheaper on some items.

True, but Circuit City's prices were never very competitive, at least not in my area, and they weren't very good to their employees. Dropping their knowledgable, commissioned sales staff in favor of off-the-street hourly employees was a mistkae.

I feel sorry for those who have lost their jobs, but Circuit City were bloody awful.  They staff were untrained and unhelpfull.  I tried to buy a plasma TV for them and it took a crowbar to actually get their department manager to speak to me and when I asked questions about PAL/NTSC display modes or what expansion ports the various models had she just pointed that the 4"x2" cards with the prices on and said that all the information was there.

I wonder what happens to the poor sods who bought their extended service plans?

Agree 100% w/ Trev. Having worked retail most of my life, I've witnessed first hand the continual decline and worthless business decisions ALL of these corporations have made.

I actually quit Sears within the week after they screwed me over on my pay. I was supposed to be grandfathered in as an employee that would continue to be on the 100% commission pay scale, when without notice or warning - my paycheck one pay period (another problem was when they switched to bi-weekly pay) was complete and utter nonsense. $700 off! It was bad enough when they dropped commission rates on products that STILL carried a good margin. Yeah, we were supposed to be electronic experts selling $200 DVD/VCR combos at .25% commission and $7 an hour (that was the highest base pay for someone with experience). I could write a frickin' book about Sears and their idiocy - really. Over 10 years with them and what a wild ride it was.

Same with Montgomery Wards. And Best Buy too... used to be commission. Now they are a complete and total joke. In fact, the kids will come up and harass you worse than ANY commission salesperson I've ever dealt with. And then they have the gall to exclaim: "Well, we don't work on commission, so no pressure - if you have any questions, LMK!"... yeah right. Just about every question I've ever asked a Best Buy employee has resulted in either a blank stare or a quick jaunt to a computer hooked to the internet.

Best Buy really frosts me. There's another company that could go under tomorrow and I wouldn't give 2 {bleep}s less about it. For every "cost saving" measure these dolts take, always comes back to bite 'em in the ass 10 fold. Bottom line as always folks - greed.

It's high time the smaller, electronic salons came back. Staffed with older people with an awareness level greater than some drunken/stoned and confused teen or tween   ;-)

All of these companies around me that I used to shop at in IL have gone to the wayside thanks in part to consolidations, ZERO customer loyalty despite their giving excellent customer service & offering better than average goods and advice for decades:

Fry's
Stereo Studio
Highland Super Stores
Fretter
Rex
Rose Records
Computer City
Shaack Electonics
Crazy Eddy
Tweeter
United Audio
Polk Audio
Ron & Terry's TV
Coconuts
Camelot Music
Babbages
Silo
Egghead Software
Musicland/Media Play/Sam Goody/Suncoast
On Cue
Record Town
Child World/Circus World
Zayre
Venture
Cost Plus 10
Chandler's
A&P Grocery
Eagle
Ben Franklin
Luebber's Pharmacy

...and at least a couple more that I can't remember the name of. That's a very long list of defunct companies in a 25 year period. Same is going to happen to Macy's after they destroyed Marshall Fields. Another Chicago tragedy. It's only a matter of time I guess before we're all D-E-V-O.

Oh - and yes, poor lighting. Now that these companies are switching to those stupid compact fluorescent bulbs that have been linked to depression, you can hardly see a darn thing in these places! Every store I've been in to within the last few years (thrift, antique or otherwise) that installed those {bleep}e lights, have all gone out of business. Hmmm... maybe this predicting of the future thing is a lot easier than it seems...  lol

I wonder what happens to the poor sods who bought their extended service plans?

Are Circuit City's extended warranties affected by the liquidation?

    * No.  Circuit City Advantage Protection Plans® (extended warranties) have been backed by third-party independent companies for more than 15 years and as a result, are not impacted by Circuit City's closing.

above from:  http://www.circuitcity.com/closed.html

Matt_H wrote:
Granted, I haven't been to a Circuit City in years, but their closing will leave Best Buy with a monopoly on big-box electronics stores around here - and them I really dislike. Terrible prices and terrible staff. My trend for online purchases will continue to grow.

By me Best Buys are better stocked, better staffed, and cleaner.  Just a much nicer experience that the Circuit City stores in the NYC metro area.  That sad I hardly ever buy electronics in a brick and mortar store anyway, not for years.  I basically use Best Buy to browse at things in person only.

Hi,

 Sounds like most of us are on the same page here. Online shopping is really the way to go, at least for a few years now.
 I still like Sears, great hardware " tools, appliances and stuff " is forever. Well, as close as it gets. Of course ordered via " http://www.sears.com/ ".

Chris