Remember Crazy Eddie? Remember The Wiz?

In case you haven’t heard, big box consumer electronics chain Circuit City today filed for bankruptcy. The company, which has seen sales plummet during the past several quarters due to eroding consumer confidence (not to mention fierce competition from Best Buy), announced just last week that it was closing about 155 stores in order to cut its losses (with 566 stores to remain open).



Now Circuit City says it has to file Chapter 11 because it needs protection from its creditors, which include some of the biggest electronics and computer manufacturers in the world. For example, the company owes Hewlett-Packard $118.8 million; Samsung, $115.9 million; Sony, $60 million, Zenith, $41.2 million; and Toshiba $17.9 million. Seeing as how it cannot move merchandise fast enough in this economy to cover its payments, the company basically had no choice but to file for bankruptcy.

But the fact that Circuit City filed for Chapter 11 going into the holiday season is making a lot of people wonder whether it will even make it through 2009. Typically, when an electronics superstore makes this type of an announcement, that’s it – it’s toast. Consumer electronics is such a highly competitive and volatile market that once you have some bad publicity, it’s over. Just look at what happened to Crazy Eddie and The Wiz. Typically, there is no “rebound” when you’re in consumer electronics.

Granted, the company has secured a special debtors’ line of credit to keep stores open and pay its employees – so maybe, just maybe, it will survive. The thing I’m wondering, though, is will we see any new products in Circuit City stores this holiday season? What if Samsung or Sony came out with a hot new item just this month? Would Circuit City be able to get it onto the shelves before Christmas?

I’m anticipating that store supplies will be low, with a limited selection of hotter-selling items. I could see them having difficulty getting newer stuff in quickly, considering they owe the manufacturers so much money. But then again, who knows, maybe they have enough in stock — since it’s likely fewer people will be shopping for electronics this year anyway.

One reason I’ll be staying away from Circuit City this holiday is the fact that it has reduced store staff to the bare bones. Getting poor customer service when you’re trying to make a decision on something and get out the door in a reasonable timeframe can be really frustrating. Plus I’ve already had several bad experiences at a Circuit City store in CT due to a lack of help: One time it took nearly 20 minutes just to find someone who could assist me with the simplest of questions (do you have this item in stock?) – another time the sales guy assured me that the model I was buying was the right one based on the features I needed, but when I got home I found out he was completely wrong, thus forcing me to bring the item back for an exchange (and thus wasting another hour of my life).

This is a contrast compared to my experiences at my local Best Buy store, which is right down the road from Circuit City. At Best Buy, there’s always someone around to help me. In fact, the staff is constantly asking me “can I help you with something sir?” to the point where it’s almost annoying. But in my opinion it’s better to be asked too many times than not at all.

And then there’s the issue of product knowledge: I don’t know what the deal is with Circuit City, but their people seldom seem to know what they’re talking about. Whereas at Best Buy the salespeople are usually quite knowledgeable, no matter what the product is (and the one time the salesperson didn’t know the answer to my question, she said “I honestly don’t know, but hold on one second and I’ll find out for you” – and she did). There seems to be a noticeable gap in how these two companies train their salespeople.

Of course, I realize these problems can vary from store to store, and from salesperson to salesperson. But isn’t the big box retailer’s goal to provide consistency of service — consistency of experience? That’s why I have no problem saying, “so long Circuit City – you might still make it — but I’m willing to bet you won’t.”