Spying on the Circuit City liquidation sale
At the risk of beating a dead horse, we dropped by our local Circuit City store this weekend to see if the oft-derided liquidation sales had picked up any steam. Hopefully, a couple of weeks into the CC death spiral, the discounts would ratchet up and we'd finally see some good deals.
While others have been prevented by store managers from getting actual in-store shots of the liquidation sales, we ninja'd our way through with the help of the iPhone's built-in camera, much as we did when sneaking pics of Wal-Mart's iPhone kiosks.
Many items were still listed at 10-percent off -- and that's 10-percent off the MSRP, not Circuit City's normally discounted prices, a distinction that has been noted repeatedly by reporters and bloggers. A few categories went up to 30-percent off (time to stock up on video game-hint books!), and even the 10-percent is worth checking out for items that normally don't get any kind of list price discount.
Check out the gallery below for a quick survey of what's on sale. We've even tossed in a few direct price comparisons for laptops and video-game gear to test just how liquid this liquidation sale really is.
New York native Dan Ackerman, a former radio DJ turned journalist, has written about technology and music for publications including Spin, Blender, The Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today. He hosts the weekly Digital City podcast and the New York edition of Editors' Office Hours. Dan's new album, Tales Out of Night School, is available now. E-mail Dan.
Former radio DJ turned
journalist Dan Ackerman grew up in the Bronx and now lives in
Manhattan. He’s covered music, technology, and video games for
more than 10 years. His latest album, Tales Out of Night School
is available now. 
Joseph Kaminski,
when not juggling the dual demands of parenthood and HD gaming, is a
life-long Manhattanite and can be found testing the latest tech in
CNET’s Lab. 
Julie Rivera grew up
and currently resides in Brooklyn. When she's not deejaying,
bartending, or fixing gadgets for friends on the outside, you'll find
her testing, troubleshooting and developing benchmarks for laptops in
the "fish bowl" known as CNET Labs. 
Scott Stein, CNET's
newest laptops editor, was born in Queens and grew up a Long Islander -
and is now raising a kid in NYC. In addition to covering games and
tech, writing screenplays, and performing improv in seedy downtown
establishments, he's also a die-hard, season-ticket-holding Jets fan.
DONT waste your time going there to hunt for bargains bc there aint none to be had.
i will probably go in march to bargain hunt.
also many items i have bout at like newegg seem to be opened all ready. I just bought a new sapphire radeon 3870 and it doesn't have the plastic wrapping sealed on the box* so where's the real deals?
let me know please i,m looking for a nice 32-37"lcd T.V cheap midnightrider92@yahoo.com (*_*) :-)
And as for buying refurbished, maybe, as long as it isn't RCA. I bought a "refurb" RCA TV from wallyworld, and within 2 months I was left with a dead tv. Thank heaven for doing an internship at a tv shop for my electronics degree. I also bought an RCA "home theater system", (which I do believe was a referb) has a tendency not to play dvds.
What that means is that you'll have lost some of the running hours "life". Yes it shouldn't be significant - but do you really know/trust how much you've lost???
If you're taking that gamble, make sure it's a decent discount to compensate.
Last week I was traveling on business and stopped by a store being completely liquidated... I expected the deals would be better than my home store which closed before liquidation. I was shocked that the deals were in the 10% range, sometimes a bit more on floor stock, and the few items I was eying were far less expensive from reputable online dealers and items at the upper-end of CC's line were cheaper at places like Ultimate Audio-Video and even Best Buy Magnolia.
Totally different but Linens and Things was very similar in that respect. For the first few weeks the "sales" were terrible...but once it came down to the end, things were like 50%-85% off...
Yes I worked for an electronics store many years back that got liquidated (in fact, it got liquidated because Circuit City was expanding to the New England area at the time) and they only start discounting off the MSRP and NOT off the actual sale prices. Oddly enough, a lot of clueless customers bought at these prices and there was nothing left when everything got really discounted. I laugh at what some people perceive as a deal. I think people go crazy the minute people hear "going out of business" and they think they are going to get the deal of the lifetime right off the bat...
So if you can't get that HDTV at the price you want it for, no worries. Just think that you know what you should have paid for it and not be the moron who bent over to pay more money for it.
http://bit.ly/GQca
Etan
However, I DID hear a LOT of people complaining to the service desk about the (non) discount. I felt so bad for the employees manning the desk. As if working in an electronics store is not thankless enough (I have done it), they are also about to lose their jobs. I don't think getting all uppity with them is going to do you much good, people!
However, there were no real "deals" there. It was a total mess and really poorly laid out. I won't miss them.
TVs and Laptops, laptops for sure will not go over 20% MSRP. When CC was a going concern, we constantly sold computers easily at $40+ below cost. There just isn't any margin in the PC industry whatsoever. We made our money through extended warranties, and Firedog Services. Btw, extended warranties are still good, and always have been handled through 3rd party, Assurant Solutions. Don't worry if you have one, its still all gravy baby.
And thank you dadsgm23 for saving me another pointless conversation with another pointless customer (disintegration79) looking for the deal of a lifetime!
I work across the street from a CC that is being liquidated. You wouldn't believe how many people are coming out of there with the Aerosmith Guitar Hero. Across the street at the game spot, it's half the price!
CC is NO LONGER IN BUSINESS!!!!!!!!! Don't believe me? Go to the website and try to purchase something!
CC inventory was purchased by up to and including one of four private equity firms (liquidators)
They set every price, every promotion. Everything! Our store director's immediate boss is the liquidator assigned to each store. Come on Liquidators, is what you meant to say.
i hear you. like ive said over and over in these comments, unless your purchasing something that is truly price-locked by bose, apple, MS, sony, etc, like ps3s and ipods and 360s and their respective accessories, you are -- in the most respective manner -- an ignorant consumer. yea you might score a good deal on some blu rays or season dvds (they are 20% off) but for the most part, its not "a deal." and we all know it. sucks you cant clown with your old store director, ours is still here, although or ops manager put in her two weeks...
hope you've got something lined up before the "march 31st" day......
I bought a iHome ZN9B Clock Radio for my Zune at 20% off retail of $99.00. Had been looking for one of these for a while at a great price. The discount got it lower than I have seen it even on the web.
RIP CC. You didn't always have the best prices or customer service but you did surprise me a few times. I usually didn't buy at CC because they were usually more expensive and lacked stock. How ever I did buy my last computer and an Xbox 360 there because the price was right.
2) Too bad CC, went under--their prices were similar to Beast Buy, but had reasonable return policies, which BB is renowned for NOT having.
I work for circuit city so please If you do go in to a circuit city before we close here are a few things to remember now. 1. Merchandise is everwhere - We have too many customers now and not enough staff to keep things straight. Also no one really is motivated to have a perfect store any longer. We probably have no idea where things are same as you 2. If you are not polite, there will be no service for you. The staff is losing their jobs. We have been pretty much demoted to cashiers also. If you have specific questions about products thats fine, but don't bother looking for a sales pitch. Tell us what you want to buy and be done with it 3. The liquidator has very specific policies about no returns/exhanges or markdowns under any circumstances so there is nothing we can do for you if there are issues. 4. The liquidators are not giving away merchandise. When you complain about the price not being low enough, you just look like an idiot. They are trying to make money, NOT make you happy.
A little bitter, are you? I realize you are probably upset, but there is no reason to be so mean.
Jeff, These liquidation companies have an algorithm for what they do. For the first three weeks, which is their most profitable time of any given liquidation, many consumers who do not typically frequent a Circuit City, (Or linens n' things, or any other venue in a similar situation), will see that "10% off" sticker and go crazy. As a result, they are able to keep up this charade. It is only after the first 3 or 4 weeks that we begin to see what would be considered "regular" Circuit City prices, and after that we really see some excellent deals.
Is this ethical? Arguably, considering that if people would have just had the common sense to hop online and do a price comparison (which some people can do one their phones in store) they would be able to see this, so it helps the liquidators sleep at night. I was at my Florence, KY CC a couple of days ago, and an associate flat out told me that the prices were higher than he had ever known them to be, yet people were still eating these "clearance" prices up. What a joke.
If you want a deal, buy something from a former CC location that are truly price-locked by Microsoft, Sony, Etc. wherever you look. iPods, Xbox 360s, PS3, video game accessories, Bose items....
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by psu_jedi
January 27, 2009 7:16 AM PST
- Since companies like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo generally control the pricing of their gaming products, the 20% off that Circuit City is currently running on all video games and accessories is a true bargain. Case in point, I picked up Guitar Hero World Tour complete set (video game, drums, microphone, guitar) for $150, which is usually marked at $190. Even at Costco I saw this for $175, so it's a good deal.
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by dragontsd
January 27, 2009 7:19 PM PST
- 109 at amazon.
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by LinePlanVolume
February 22, 2009 10:52 PM PST
- $3.50 on ebay
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