Few Deals To Be Had At Circuit City Liquidation Sales
The Wall Street Journal took a look at Circuit City's current predicament today and concluded that they're in deep sh*t. But that's great for bargain hunters, right? Nah. Not really.
"Contrary to consumer perception, you don't typically see tremendous deals" at liquidation sales, said Stephen Baker, a vice president at market researcher The NPD Group.
In fact, some liquidation companies actually raise prices before slapping clearance stickers on the merchandise. Circuit City may not resort to that tactic, but don't assume you're getting a good deal just because the store is closing.
Speaking of Circuit City stores, the WSJ also pointed out that the stores that aren't going under might be empty. As in, nothing to buy.
The "credit noose is tightening," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Scot Ciccarelli, who noted that it's unlikely Circuit City will be able to get the inventory it needs for its remaining stores during the holidays.
The paper also suggested that Circuit City might actually be too broke to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and is trying to stay afloat in order to avoid liquidation.
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@spoco: I agree, but I feel bad for the people that will be losing their jobs.
How many execs are being cut?
Any news on executive compensation and bonuses this holiday? How about for the BoD?
I talked to a manager in a Jersey location that is closing down. Here is the scoop....
He said that every display unit will be moved to open box and price down to about cost price.
Every Monday the prices will drop about 5% or so for 5 weeks, or until they run out of stock.
The liquidator that is in charge apparently will not budge on pricing.
If i find out any more info, i'll pass it along.
Call me a cynic, but when I read this sort of shit:
"Citing a deteriorating economy, tightening credit terms by suppliers and reduced borrowing abilities, the Richmond, Va., retailer said it will close more than a fifth of its U.S. stores Tuesday and begin liquidation sales Wednesday."
I get angry. Instead it should read:
"Citing a history of abysmal customer service, corporate miss-management, tightening credit terms by suppliers who no longer have any faith the company knows how to sell products that are "nice-to-have" purchases at the best of times and reduced borrowing abilities from banks who are fed up with the extreme overhead caused by paying innefectual executive-level management, the Richmond, Va., retailer said it will close more than a fifth of its U.S. stores Tuesday and begin liquidation sales Wednesday using the "current economy" as an excuse."
Well, at least I fixed it.
I wouldn't buy something from CC even if it was 99% off. Knowing this company it still would be some type of rip-off.
It was the same with the Comp-usa Liquidation.. Half of the crap left in there was over the price you could get at Newegg and the other was higher than retail.
@mariospants: Just as much as last year, and the year before I'd expect with a % increase for the increase in cost of living. After all, otherwise the execs could jump ship for a better paying company! We need to preserve our precious leadership! The very same which drove the company into the toilet in the first place.
@Trick: Doesn't matter, they know that a large number of people will see "closing out sale" and go nuts. Even if the prices suck, there will always be suckers.
If everyone thought as you, then we might see some better prices.
People actually get their stuff at these places? newegg ftw!
Hahah, that's so true. Linens & Things is going out of business and having a sale. Before, they always had 20% off coupons you could print and use in the store. Now, they are "liquidating" by taking 10% off the price. Since it's at a discount, they won't take coupons. Thus, we would end up paying more in their "liquidation"!
@mariospants: I don't think it's fair to say that having women run the company is what ultimately ruined it. In fact, that's rather sexist...
I've only purchased from CC 3 times in my entire life. Only once was actually in the store when I went to college - first time in a new city...the only store I could find nearby was a CC to buy a modem...yes I'm old - I bought a modem...lol
The 2nd and 3rd time I only bought from CC because they were running specials and I got both products as promise in a reasonable amount of time...but all the stories I've read about CC from this site...honestly doesn't surprise me that they're closing... Even without the horrible terrible customer service - they can't compete with stores like BB and Fry's anyway.
You're better of paying overnight shipping from Newegg than buying anything at that pathetic store.
@wattznext: erm... where did you get that? mariospants stated nowhere anything about women running the company?
they should go to washington and get part of the bailout. i here its there for the asking.
Not surprising, anyone who thinks they can get a good deal at a liquidation sale these days is stupid. Remember that the store is not owned by CC at that point, it is owned by the liquidation company. Also keep in mind they ship products from other places to the store that is closing in a desperate attempt to sell them to people who think they are getting a good deal. I honestly believe that most of the stuff in these closing stores is damaged or does not work in some way, and since there is no return policy I would be better off buying it somewhere else even "gasp" if I had to pay a dollar more for my item. Unless of course its something that obviously won't break but these stacks of air conditioners and stacks and stacks of electronics just reeks with suspicion. The last thing I want to be coming home with a 100$ paperweight. I wonder if we will be seeing any CompUSA leftovers during this sale.
Unfortunately there is ALWAYS someone who truly does believe its a good deal, even if you can buy the product at the store next door for a lower price, so the practices of scammy liquidation companies will continue.
They'll just continue till the end in doing what has been the CC BB paradigm: give consumers the illusion of "the killer deal." They'll probably add in mandatory service contracts while they're at it.
Most liquidations I have been seen are outsourced to third parties.
These companies remove anything of value from the store up front and go ahead and sell it. They bring in any kind of junk they can get their hands on and sell it as part of the liquidation.
I have never seen an electronics retailer liquidated, of course (has anyone?), but this has been the pattern in all other liquidations I have seen.
Anyone know which company is handling the honors for CC?
I don't think I've ever seen worthwhile prices in a liquidation until your a month or more into it. By then anything worthwhile is already gone.
@Outrun1986: Uh, I got some sweat deals on processors and mobos when my local compUSA went all liquidat-y. But then again, alot of the general consumer stuff wasn't much of a deal...
@spoco:
I've actually generally had decent experiences with Circuit City. I think their instore pickup is better than most other stores, and I find their stores more pleasant and their prices better than Best Buy.
Granted, I've bought most of my electronics online or from wherever is cheapest, which often means Target or Office Depot. But one less B&M retailer means less competition, one fewer place to price-match, one fewer place to offer a deal on an item, and I think that's a bad thing.
Actually, I'd dispute the math. Not only was everything overpriced at the CompUSA going out of business sale, but half the stuff was broken or missing parts. Some stuff I remember included a router with a sticker saying "will not issue DHCP address" and a high-end gaming computer that was stuck at a "no boot device found" screen. Neither item was discounted beyond the standard % off.
So can does anyone what happens to all the priced-up goods after the liquidation sales? Or is it all sold to suckers? This is a mystery to me.
The death spiral: 1) Best Buy opens a store in a former Lechmere location 2) CC eliminates the sale of appliances 3) CC eliminates the "high-end stereo" room 4) CC pushes the obsolete compact disc format 5) CC pushes the obsolete CRT television format 6) CC mistakenly supports DIVx 7) CC wastes effort on mobile installation 8) CC fails to recognize online computer sales succeed 9) CC decides to close stores, too few, too late 10 CC leaves another wake of failure; Harvey, Tweeter.
@QuiteSpunky: Ugh-- sorry for the terrible grammar. That should read "Does anyone know what happens to all the priced-up goods after the liquidation sales?"
@gggtur: Are you sure? Every time I drive by one of their sign-holding cronies I see "20% off!" on the sign.
I get 20% off coupons from Bed, Bath, and Beyond every month anyway, so the only thing I care about is the loss of competition.
Why, oh why couldn't it have been Best Buy? CC sucks, Best Buy is just plain evil.
I went to a liquidation sale 4 years ago at a circuit city store that was closing. I got a pretty good deal on a camcorder. And i got a sirrius radio set that was still registered in the name of the company and to this day it still works! havnt paid a dime on it :) thanks circuit city! the employees at the store told me about it and they were right! just wish i bought more of them
I've never been fond of CC. Always hated the store layouts since the 90s. I hate BB's layout since they changed it to be like CC (or was it the other way?). I may be a little biased, since I used to like BB... 15 years ago.
CompUSA's liquidation was crap. LnT's looks pretty crappy as well. The only liquidation lately that I got any decent deals was Home Depot's Landscape Supply - pretty decent deals that went fast.
I don't get it, though. At the end of the day, they'd rather pay garbage collectors to take away the unsold merchandise than have customers pay them at least a small sum to take it off their hands?
@mariospants: Be sure to pay with cash. I wouldn't trust them with a credit card, especially if they go out of business and there's nobody around to help fix any of their mistakes.
Same thing happened when CompUSA closed shop last year. Deals were bad and merchandise was normally damaged and sold as-is. The employees didn't care because they knew they were gone in a month or two so they kicked and threw boxes around.
@yaj: Why does everyone hate Best Buy? I agree that CC sucks, but you can actually find stuff you want at Best Buy. For a brick and morter retailer, they actually have a decent selection. Seriously, what other brick and morter retailer is better?
@Adisharr: Yeah, but Newegg's so awesome I've ordered stuff via regular/free shipping and gotten it next day.
I think that going-out-of-business and liquidation sales are becoming less and less of the legendary deal they were in the past because of 2 trends. The liquidation firms that come in and try to make as much as they can off the merchandise while trading off the name recognition and location of the store are the first. When they've reached the point of diminishing returns, they sell what's left to the second, stores like Big Lots and Ross that buy indiscriminately in bulk, and are set up to deal with selling the dregs. All the insane deals you might have gotten in the past are now making money for secondary or tertiary retailers instead of just limiting loss for the original company.
I haven't found any decent deals at a liquidation in ages. I think the last one was over 15 years ago at a local sports outfit that was going OOB. I got a pretty nice baseball bat. It's sad that I remember it so clearly but that's how few are far between the real deals are...
@Adisharr: Honestly I don't understand why more brick and mortar stores haven't closed up shop. Surely businesses buying paper and such can't prop up their whole operation, can they?
It's true about clearance companies raising prices.
After my local CompUSA was cut, one of those companies came in to do the clearance. Anything, and I mean ANYTHING of value was 10% under MSRP. Now that is horrible. But, what was worse was the fake stickers showing what the price was "originally". THAT price was written 25-30% above the previous MSRP.
I just wish I had known about this in time to short sell CC on the stock market and profit from their inevitable loss.
NEWEGG FTW!!! (nowdirect not bad either - check 'em out!)
so if the liquidation company raises the prices and then marks them down, does their stupid "same price in-store, online, in the ad" still apply?
*wants to argue w/ someone to take 10%-or-whatever-markdown off the website price*
@QuiteSpunky: Probably sold to suckers, packed up and moved to another CC store that is not closing, moved to the liquidators warehouse if they have one and then packed up for the next liquidation stale, possibly sold to bulk buyers at local auction houses then the goods end up on craigslist, ebay etc.. There's a variety of things that can happen to the merchandise.
@Trencher93: I went to one of the Good Guys liquidations several years back. It was pretty much as people here described, the regular price was set artificially high with the closeout price 'slashed' to about the normal price.
I would think that CC would pull the unopened inventory back to distribution and liquidate all of the display, discontinued and open box stuff. I will still swing by to check it out, but don't expect to find anything all that great.
@britne: Most likely not since the closing CC's will not be owned by CC anymore, they will be owned by the liquidation company. They will likely have signs posted that say any ads and promotions for CC will not be honored at this store.
Needs some Monster with that liquidation? Circuit city will still be able to come to your house and calibrate your flat screen and still adjust your wallet size.
The first two weeks of a liquidation are always light on super deals. CC might avoid the super discounts all together as they're going into liquidation right before the holidays. Now, the stores that get closed AFTER the holidays.... thats where you'll find some bargains.
This company deserves everything that is going to happen to it.