Krisco420: @rochelleyoshie place called second obsession Or something like that.Its@ alas down by foot action&radio shack. The toy is called Be@rBrick
about 23 minutes ago
Koufie: @MartaK83 I never understood why the iPhone was only sold at Apple stores or AT&T. Why not sell them at Radio Shack and others as well?
about 2 hours ago
Evorgleb: @NillaBooty the Pre comes with a 100 dollar rebate unless you buy it from best buy or radio shack. They apply the rebate on purchase
about 9 hours ago
ganamaC_cirE: @djcruzctrl radio shack or best buy
about 10 hours ago
FreeListSF: Old Archer Video Processor: Radio Shack brand video processor. Use RCA on the back. Audio ports are worned or d.. link
about 22 hours ago
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Actually, I'm surprised Circuit City made it this long. |
 | By Andy Tarnoff   Publisher E-mail author | Author bio More articles by Andy Tarnoff |
| Published Nov. 11, 2008 at 3:28 p.m. |
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So Circuit City has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Earlier this month, the electronics chain said it would close 155 stores and lay off 17 percent of its employees.
This is about the least surprising news I've heard all year.
In fact, I'm surprised Circuit City made it this long.
Without fail, every single time I entered a Circuit City, I had some sort of crazy experience that left me wondering how this place stayed in business. It happened, most recently, last month, when I went shopping for a digital camera.
I asked the guy in the camera department if he sold any point and shoots that featured aperture priority. The kid just stared at me like I asked him if they sold plutonium. How stores like this expect to sell $500 cameras without knowing what an F-stop is, is simply beyond me.
Every other shopping trip I've had at Circuit City ended similarly, whether it was from confusion on where the physical box to the product I had just purchased was hiding, or whether an employee could answer even the most basic questions about products in his or her department.
I'm guessing I'm not alone, either, as the parking lot at the location on S. 76th St. is always empty, while across the street at Best Buy, it's full. I think the only cars in Circuit City's lot are actually from diners at the Red Lobster next door.
There are only a few stores of which I have such a low opinion. The worst, by far, is RadioShack. I've nearly gone postal when employees resort to "checking in the catalog" to see if they carry a basic product. And don't get me started on their insistence that I offer up everything from my name to my blood type when I buy a RCA cable. Put simply, the shopping experience at the Shack is crap.
But that's why only the strong survive. Take CompUSA. That place was terrible. And now it's history. Maybe the free market system does work after all.
I'd love to hear your memories of bad experiences at stores that ran themselves out of business. Chime in using the Talkback feature below.
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17 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review. |
Recent Talkbacks ...
Posted by jfoust on Nov. 18, 2008 at 9:26 p.m. (report)
Radio Shack? You've got questions. They've got blank stares.
| Rate this: |
Posted by blogger1818 on Nov. 12, 2008 at 2:09 p.m. (report)
As a Circuit City employee at one of the stores mentioned, I can agree and relate to most of the article and the comments posted. As an employee, you should have a sense of pride in whatever it is that you do, so I try to provide the best possible customer service I can. But at the same time, being paid roughly minimum wage with no comission, I do not have an extreme sense of urgency to go above and beyond what is minimally expected of me. If you pay someone slightly over the minimum wage, that is what you will get: minimal effort. Whereas I do think there is a place for low skilled workers in the company, it should not make up your complete sales force. Most of the wrokers I know view their employment as a transitional job, whether it be from high school to college, or college to the real world. Circuit City's problems started at the corporate or executive level, not at the store level. Several years ago Circuit City started laying off their most loyal employees because these employees were making what Circuit City believed to be above market salaries. If you plan to compete as a higher end electronics retailer, you must have an adequate salesforce that is motivated to sell.
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Posted by High_Life_Man on Nov. 12, 2008 at 11:48 a.m. (report)
I blame the 12 feet of receipt they give you!
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Posted by TomSellecksMustache on Nov. 12, 2008 at 11:19 a.m. (report)
I generally avoid the employees at any electronics retailer like CC, Best Buy, etc... It is a very rare occurrence that they ever provide value to my shopping experience, especially when anything high-tech is involved. I worked in the computer dept for best buy in college and there were maybe two or three other people who actually knew their stuff. The rest of them fancied themselves as computer people because they worked in the computer department, not because they actually knew anything about computers. Anyway, I miss CompUSA, not because they were any better from a service aspect but they always had more variety in computer equipment. This was mostly late nineties and early 2000s I'm referring to. Need a power supply, high end video card, 100 CD+R discs or 100' of ethernet? CompUSA had it, best buy and CC either didn't carry it at all or maybe had like one thing to choose from. Sadly, if you could wait longer, the internet always provides better choices for this sort of stuff so it doesn't surprise me these companies are dying. Yet Radio Shack still exists... I have no idea how that is possible. Radio Shack is like a tumor you cannot kill.
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Posted by jhill0129 on Nov. 12, 2008 at 10:48 a.m. (report)
How about those receipts? I mean, could they have made them any longer? Every time they printed my receipt, I expected a guy dressed in a renaissance faire costume to appear from the back saying, "Hear ye, hear ye!"
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