Update: Circuit City liquidators detail plans to close stores

Going-out-of-business sales are underway at Circuit City locations, with long lines reported over the weekend at many local stores.

But customers expecting massive deals on electronics will have to wait a little longer — merchandise was discounted between 10% and 30% for now, with markdowns set to increase as inventory levels dwindle.

All Circuit City locations are scheduled to close by the end of March, and discounts could reach as much as 90% off in the final days, according to Scott Carpenter, executive vice president of Great American Group, one of four liquidators appointed to close out the stores.

But Carpenter said customers would probably not see such hefty deals on big-ticket items such as flat-screen televisions. Those products will likely fly off shelves well before the end of March, he said.

To read more about Circuit City's collapse and how the news added to the country's bleak employment picture, go here.

-- Andrea Chang

Comments

[MK]

With many recent liquidations incl. Circuit City and CompUSA stores...prices were "restored" to full list, then "discounted" from that number...often leaving a "close out" price HIGHER than the usual retail price.
Know your prices, and fully check any boxed merchandise as there are no returns- in one case a compusa close out buy bought a camera box with a brick inside.
MK

[Craig Bradley]

Store liquidation sales are not that good a deal for consumers in many instances. If there is a lot of traffic, management will largely start with only 10%-20% discounts. If all consumers boycotted a store liquidation sale for a week, the markdowns would be drastic, perhaps 50%. However, greed takes over and people feel they might miss out on that Plasma T.V. or IPod, so they cave-in and settle for a nominal "discount" off of full retail. Consequently, liquidation sales are not worth the time or effort, since all sales are final (no warranty, service, or exchange).

[Brian]

Craig it is interesting that you mention warranty with CC, since they have expressed that their warranty is backed by a 3rd party and all items carry a full manufacturers warranty...

Yes all sales are final, but that doesn't mean that their is no warranty support from their 3rd party or manufacturer.

From www.circuitcity.com/closed

"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.
* Currently, all Circuit City Advantage Protection Plans are fully backed by the Assurant Solutions companies. Assurant Solutions operates as Federal Warranty Service Corporation, Sureway, Inc., and United Service Protection, Inc. Assurant Solutions is part of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE: AIZ), and its extended service contacts are backed by an Assurant insurance subsidiary rated A "Excellent" by A.M. Best Co.

Will Circuit City's extended warranties still be available on products purchased from liquidation stores?

* Yes, we're making no changes to our Circuit City Advantage Protection Plans®. Coverage is national and purchases will still be protected just as they always were.
* Circuit City Advantage Protection Plans® have been backed by third-party independent companies for more than 15 years and as a result, are not impacted by Circuit City's bankruptcy or liquidation.
* Currently, all Circuit City Advantage Protection Plans are fully backed by the Assurant Solutions companies. Assurant Solutions operates as Federal Warranty Service Corporation, Sureway, Inc., and United Service Protection, Inc. Assurant Solutions is part of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE: AIZ), and its extended service contacts are backed by an Assurant insurance subsidiary rated A "Excellent" by A.M. Best Co.

What if a customer purchased products at one of the closing stores and the product needs service?

* For products covered under the manufacturer's warranty, customers should call the manufacturer.
* For products covered under Circuit City Advantage®, guests can call the toll-free number that is printed on the bottom of the product receipt."

[chris]

Its not surprising to see circuit city go under. When i go into Circuit City, Best Buy, etc.. prices are always way higher than if you buy the same thing online. Often i'll go into the store, check out a product, and then buy it from Amazon and save 25-50% .. I've been using this site to find some good deals online:

http://www.zingsale.com

It's a free service that tracks prices of products from online stores (like amazon) and sends you an email when the price drops.

[Simonian]

One of the key ways to determine how good a liquidation is, is to know how long until the store actually closes. If a store is closing in 2 weeks, you can bet that they will have great deals. The Circuit Cities aren't closing until mid to late March, so they are just milking the "liquidation" buzz. I guess that's "smart" business, but for actual deals I would stick with the real liquidations found at http://LiquidationMob.com

[Kevin]

I went to the liquidation sale at Circuit City in Daily City today. I waited in line for about half an hour. I almost decided not to go through the line a few times while in it, but I was really curious to see why so many people were in the line and if there might actually be some good deals.
I had already checked out the street value of most of the things they were selling so I was ready to spot bargains. The prices as listed weren't that impressive, but many were good. I needed some cd-r's and I saw a spool of 100 listed for $12.99. That I thought was a really good deal, that is at least until I got to the check out and they explained to me that all of the Circuit City prices were not valid and that they were taking 10% off of the MSRP. The total came to a little over $28.00. I decided to skip the purchase and put it back. After talking to the employees I also discovered that many of them were former Circuit City employees and that when the sale is over they will all be out of a job.
I walked over to Staples after Circuit City and I discovered that their prices not on sale beat the ones of the items that I put back at Circuit City.
The prices aren't very good in my opinion and shopping there now will put former Circuit City employees out of a job sooner in a very tough job marker.
I say, don't shop there until the end of March. We don't need their stuff that much anyway and it's not likely to be a really great bargain until March anyway.

[pa]

I went to the Seal Beach Circuit City store this Saturday. This going out of business sale was actually a going out of business scam. The impression from the news stories was that everything was 30% off. The only things that were 30% off was furniture (very few) and cables (who cares). Everything else was only 10% off. Considering that Circuit City's regular prices are well above 10% higher than other store's regular prices, you were actually paying more if you bought it there today at their so-called sale. Wake up people! I never shopped at Circuit City after they fired their higher paid, older long term employees and replaced them with younger, lower paid workers. I believe they lost many millions in a lawsuit because of this. The ethical problems of this company are obvious. They deserve to go out of business. Good riddance Circuit City! Too bad the lower level employees will be the ones to suffer. Do you think the upper management only got 60 days severance pay? They deserve to be in prison with the Wall St. crooks.

[kei]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMiBVlXctM8

This explains a lot.

[Thomas]

I agree with most of these comments. I went to the Aventura Florida
CC today and was surprised that prices were only 10% off msrp.
That's no kind of deal. Even so, most of the flat screen tv's were
already marked as sold out. I looked at a 46'' Sony for $1750 and
Googles the model number on my iPhone, to find that tigerdirect
is selling it for about $400 less than the CC sale price.
No wonder they're out of business.

[supag]

People how many times do we have to go through this? There is no DEAL, just more junk that you could do without!

[buyer]

This is definitely going out of business scam(for the moment)! They jack up the prices to make up for the measly discount they are offering. After the late Friday news about circuit city closing out, I went in the following day and the item I was looking (Sony receiver STR-DG820) was still on sale for $326..then because of the closing out, i can get additional 10% off all home audio receivers. I did not purchase that day, thinking it will still drop down. Came back to the same shop today, Monday 1/19 only to find out the price was increased to 426 F---ing dollars. What? The liquidators are really doing a tremendous job milking the hype. I hope these people go down as well.!! Beware. Check prices online before plunging in for the purchase. Good Luck.

[A A]

I agree on most of this comments. I my self is a victim of this scam . I just bough an Onkyo receiver at their Gateway Park branch in NY. I checked the price on Amazon the price is more than 20% lower than their liquidation price. I tried to return he item but they wont let me. they said that the sale is final, no return and no price match.

[carol]

I went to the Santa Monica store on Saturday and today. I was not impressed --- I agree with all these comments. My little Toshiba HDTV 19" was 229.00 from Amazon at Xmas, yet 299.00 with 10% off today. Amazon has better prices as well as other net outlets, so no wonder they are going out of business, especially if they let their long time workers go.

I feel bad for the workers, so this may be one liquidation I'll sit out for, as I'm losing my appetite for big 'discounts' at the cost of American jobs.

[Amar Ket]

what does Scott Carpenter say to the allegations that this is a scam?

now THAT would be interested in...

i am so frustrated with the Times. seems you are always part of the problem instead of the solution..

[Justin]

I think the important thing here is not getting a few dollars off of electronics it is a big corporation going out of business because of greed. Circuit City is liquefying its assets and because of this some 35000 jobs will be lost and even worse for us Virginians another major corporation will be gone. What is most frustrating to me is most people think they just went out of business for lack of money. This is not true Circuit City asked for two days before they were ordered to liquefy their assets, what they were planning to do with these two days is sell their company in which their were two buyers for, yes they had time to sell but they just needed two more days. The only reason the company was ordered liquefy is greed, and not one politician is saying a thing about it here in Va. Keep in mind if Circuit City was in desperate need they would have asked for bailout money in which they did not. I as an American don't stand for this it is appalling to think that media and people just don't care. To clear the whole sale thing at CC they are run by a liquidation company who is looking to make as much money as they can so check your deals before you buy.