Die Circuit City, Die!

I tend to have a somewhat contrary viewpoint when it comes to a certain economic conundrum we all find ourselves in. Even to this today I remain a bit of a right wing, laissez faire, free(er) market kind of guy with little government intervention. I hate the bailout package. I believe companies who perform and make bad decisions poorly should be allow to die and allowed to die hard. Now without going into the sensitive issue of when those companies actually happen to be commercial banks that are responsible for lending the U.S citizenry money and keeping track of our virtual tender, I'll describe one company I'll be happy to see fade into the abyss or get swallowed and consequentially transformed because it sucks and deserves to lose - Circuit City.

Growing up as a video game playing and heavy metal music loving teenager near Jacksonville, North Carolina, I was pretty elated when we actually got a Circuit city. It was essentially the super-store for the combination of my two high tech loves in my little part of the world.

But in going to that particular branch store in Jacksonville, I either didn't realize, or witness the decay of, the quality of their customer service. I never put much stock in to shopping atmospheres or service quality when making purchasing decisions until I get fed up with Wal-marts who pepper you with employees who speak with poor grammar, always look scraggly, maintain dirty and dingy looking stores, and somehow seem to attract legions of mothers who feel compelled to bring their less-than-five year old children to the store who can do nothing but pierce my ear drums as they cry at the top of their lungs¹. As I've come to find out, Circuit City is sort of the Wal-mart of electronics retailers. Here are the features I've observed in each of the 4 or so Circuit City's I've set foot in for the last 5 years (Jacksonville-NC, Charlotte, San Jose, Emeryville):

1. Staff who are very sassy and don't' talk to you as if you actual are a customer in their store
2. Staff who ignore you, continuing what piddly conversation they are engaged in with a co-worker when you are looking their way to ask a question
3. Stores that are cramped
4. Shelves that are disorganized
5. Dingy looking floors
6. Prices that are starkly *higher* than competitors (most comparisons I've made have been at least $5 every time in a direct comparison to Best Buy).

In that list, number 6 is excusable if Circuity City maintained a competitive advantage elsewhere. Unfortunately Circuit City does not have any competitive advantage whatsoever. It is like the company is fully aware they suck and do nothing to separate themselves from the competition - or do they realize how bad they are? Earlier this summer Circuit City basically gave contract extensions and raises to a sizable chunk of their mid-upper management to make sure they stuck around. It is as almost if the C-level guys in that company WANT to positively reinforce negative behavior.

The final straw came for me this past summer, as I took a bus to the Circuit City in San Jose, which was right off of a bus stop, to pick up a pair of headphones and a case for my Sansa Rhapsody mp3 player. The items were a relatively paltry purchase, but still a purchase nonetheless. I walked to the unattended check-out counters expecting a worker to disengage from a conversation they were having with other colleagues (it was a slow day and they were all shooting the bull with each other). I stood for about 1.5 minutes waiting on one of them, when it dawned on me that I'm either not standing where they expect me to check out (despite there being a counter with a cash register/POS terminal turned on) or that they just didn't flat out give a hoot whether I bought anything or not. I could have spent a fraction of calorie's worth of energy to walk up to one of them and ask where I needed to check out, but I decided not to. I could not fathom giving my money to a store with such porous of service when there are other competitors who I'd rather see get my money. So I voted with my feet and with my dollar, walked 1/4 of a mile to a Best Buy, made my purchase (and *gasp* the workers there actually smiled as they helped me there) and I've been doing the same ever since.

So to Circuit City, I hope someone eulogizes you when you die or get swallowed up. It will not certainly be me.

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1. Those babies are probably all crying as they too do not want to be in Wal-Mart.