You may have seen on the news or on another thread that Circuit City is going out of business. According to the Circuit City website, today starts the “liquidation sale” during which Circuit City will be selling all remaining inventory in their stores. So, we figured we would check it out. Big mistake. Not worth it.
We checked out two stores in the Milwaukee area and found the same. Everything in the store is 10% off and furniture is 20% off. That’s it. The sales associates are telling people that this is the last day you can “double dip,” meaning that you can get this past week’s sale AND the 10% off. They are saying that tomorrow (Sunday), all prices go back “up to normal.” They are pulling the hard sell saying this is the last day to “double dip.”
We checked out the laptops, iPods, and Wii. Only a couple laptops were on sale, no iPods, no Wii, no Playstation 3 (they were all regular price). So, you did get 10% off, but that was it. We looked at 3 laptops in which we were interested. I used my iPhone to compare prices. We found all three were cheaper at Best Buy (across the street) than at Circuit City’s “liquidation sale.” They were all regular price with 10% off.
So, don’t waste your time today. Not sure what will happen tomorrow, but, today’s sale is crap. Do not bother to fight the crowds. I’m a little disgusted. I feel like it is a bait and switch. Sure, TECHNICALLY, they told the truth. They did take 10% off everything, so, they did “liquidate.” But, it is an obvious ploy to hook you with little payoff.
From the website:
Liquidators will start arriving in our 567 stores across the U.S. over the weekend, and closing sales will start as early as Saturday, January 17. Closing sales will run as long as it takes to sell existing inventory, but are expected to wrap up by the end of March. When the liquidation sales are completed, the stores will be closed.
Liquidation sales begin as early as Saturday, January 17, 2009, and will last as long as it takes to sell through the merchandise at each of the stores. We expect the sales to wrap up by the end of March 2009.
I’m sure the sales will get better as they get closer to closing. Obviously, they are going to try and get the best price for their merchandise. You can wait it out and the sales will get better, but you run the risk of all the merchandise being gone by the time it gets really cheap (that is, 30% off may be enough for most people to buy, while you may wish to wait for 50% – and run the risk of missing out).
So who is manning the stores? The liquidators or CC employees?
All CC employees right now. According to the two stores we visited today, the liquidators (not sure who those people are) arrive tomorrow (Sunday, 1/18), but, CC employees will man the stores until they close.
According to CC’s website:
“Associates at our company headquarters will be asked to come back on Monday, January 19, to find out more about their status and to retrieve their personal belongings.”
I’m sure the sales will get better as they get closer to closing. Obviously, they are going to try and get the best price for their merchandise. You can wait it out and the sales will get better, but you run the risk of all the merchandise being gone by the time it gets really cheap (that is, 30% off may be enough for most people to buy, while you may wish to wait for 50% – and run the risk of missing out).
Here is the problem – CC received permission to sell its inventory to competitors. So, most of the “good stuff” will not be reduced very much. Plus, Apple, Sony, and some other companies strictly regulate sales prices. So, the iPods, Wii, PlayStation, Vaios, etc., will not be deeply reduced.
I did a google search and found some forums were people talked about other CC store closings and said the only thing left when they went 30% off was the “cheap stuff.”
Bankruptcy sales generally don’t end up being very good because of that- they’ve got an obligation to try to repay creditors, and they maximize said return to creditors by selling the good stuff wholesale to other retailers in large lots.
The company that is doing the liquidation is apparently notorious for jacking up prices and then ‘discounting’ based on the jacked up prices. I had thought about hitting CC this morning as I’m planning on getting an ipod touch in the next week, but after reading about how these liquidations normally proceed I decided to skip it.
Man, you are right on the money with this post… I just got back from there and was about to start a thread about how bogus their store closing sale was… With prices that high, and their “sale” prices still priced above best buy’s normal prices, I can see why they are going out of business. I’ve heard the reason for the closure was do to too much expansion into unprofitable markets.
Our circuit city had people with “store closing signs” posted up around town, so of course the store was a madhouse of people. I’m sure in the frenzy people were buying stuff up thinking they were getting a deal.
I agree with the other posters on waiting until the discounts increase.
I do feel bad for the employees though. One CC employee was telling a few people that he’s worked there for 12 years, and this is what he gets…
The company that is doing the liquidation is apparently notorious for jacking up prices and then ‘discounting’ based on the jacked up prices. I had thought about hitting CC this morning as I’m planning on getting an ipod touch in the next week, but after reading about how these liquidations normally proceed I decided to skip it.
This is apparently common practice among the liquidators who handle large retail bankruptcies. The Wall Street Journal printed an interesting article in the last month or so explaining how the liquidators sell products at an equal to, or sometimesgreater than competitors prices, earning them handsome profits via unwary customers.
I’ve seen the same with other liquidation sales and expected nothing less from CC. Local CompUSA did the liquidation thing last year. Everything was 10, 15, 20, then 25, 30% off, etc etc …and the % breaks came verrrrry slowly. So by the time you get to 30 and 40% and 50%, the only stuff left is the crap that’s been opened up, was a floor model, etc. What’s even more frustrating is that they sell opened/broken stuff at MSRP (less whatever % off they’re currently at). Liquidators generally don’t care, and the store mgrs and employees hands are tied…I guess they figure someone will eventually buy it, maybe once it goes to 60 or 70%. Anyways
The wife and I checked the Linens 'n Things twice during their closeout sale. It was a joke, prices were terrible. And I don’t know about everyone else, but I put a fairly high value on being able to take something back if it doesn’t work, so 10% off from Circuit City, even if something was originally the same price as Best Buy, seems expensive to me.
**Dell is easily the worst POS on the market… that’s why they’re so cheap. **
I could care less (er, I can’t care more or however it is acceptable to say in the LR). For my wife and 8 year old to surf the web why would I want to invest in anything that costs more? Once it gets dropped I just get a new one. It makes no sense to ‘invest’ in a computer.