Breaking: Circuit City -- the end

Dead. Today was the last day. And how prescient was this thread last fall?

Hard to believe that 20 years ago Circuit City was considered one of the models of how customer service was supposed to be handled.

 

The demise of Circuit City and Fortunoff will cost our paper about $5 mill in advertising revenue this year.

 

Our Circuit City score closed its doors officially today also. I stopped by middle part of the week to see if I could "steal" any last-minute crazy markdowns, but as many people have already pointed out on this thread, it was the ultimate in price gouging, then marking it down to a reasonable amount.

I was really intrigued by a Sony Bravia 52-inch TV that was "marked down' from regular $3,399 to $1,799. I damn near talked my wife into buying it until a little birdie told me to go across the street to Best Buy to see what they had it priced. Same exact model at Best Buy was regular $1,699.

But like slappy said, lots of sheep walking around thinking they were getting stuff at a huge discount. Even saw one chick buy a Canon Rebel digital camera for $500, then get really pissed when after the transaction was complete, the salesman said "Now, you know that camera doesn't come with a battery, right?" My wife and I had noticed the little tiny sign above the cameras and camcorders that said "Cameras are sold as is, batteries are sold separate." Apparently, she didn't and she was stuck with a camera that costs $599 in the box at Best Buy, with a battery + charger, lens cap and bag. Her camera was just the body and lens.