TigerDirect Parent Company Buys Circuit City Website
Systemax Inc., parent company to discount electronics retailer TigerDirect and the new owner of CompUSA, has purchased Circuit City's brand, trademarks and e-commerce business, to the surprise of exactly no one.
From the AP:
A spokeswoman for Streambank LLC, the intellectual property consulting firm hired by Circuit City Stores Inc., said the assets were sold at auction Monday to New York-based Systemax. Terms of the deal were not available.
A federal bankruptcy judge in Richmond must approve the sale at a hearing Wednesday.
What does this mean for the Circuit City brand? Well, here's a recent post detailing what Systemax did with CompUSA.
The general consensus is that they improved it. Will they improve Circuit City?
Circuit City brand, Web site sold at auction [Chicago Sun-Times]
(Photo:rchris173)
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Comments:
I've actually had nothing but good experiences with TigerDirect, and I know that people I've recommended them to (i.e., my father) have had good experiences too.
That said, every Circuit City I set foot into during the last two years they were open was a miserable, terrible, pointless excuse for a retail store (I've been a retail cashier monkey before, for years, if I'd ever been that inattentive or that rude I'd have been fired on the spot) so I'd personally be happy to let them stay dead.
However much Systemax actually paid for the intellectual property of Circuit City, I can bet on this: they overpaid.
I have been visiting the tigerdirect outlet store in Naperville, IL since it was still systemax. Was great for bargains back then. Loved the back room. Now it's gone and all they have is mainly regular priced items. I don't usually buy something from the shelves. I end up going up to the computer and going to tigerdirect.com and gettting it out of the warehouse.
I'm actually quite curious what they paid. What is the name of a failed business worth?
It's funny. My brother had such a horrible experience with CompUSA that I refuse to even go to a TigerDirect rebranded as CompUSA store. To me that name is dead. Circut City on the other hand, I never had a problem with, but then I never let anyone there talk to me. I knew what I was looking for and just bought it.
TigerDirect.com has a few retail locations. One of them in Schaumburg IL is transitioning to a CompUSA. I bought a keyboard and mouse from there, and had a good experience. The store was very well put together. It was very much aimed at more of a techie crowd than a mass market circuit city crowd.
GPUs and cases had prominent placement in the store.
My photo was used! Thanks consumerist :)
I was actually looking for a circuit city in Tallahassee, but it had already closed, oh well...
I have a $10 Circuit City gift card that I had fogotten about in my wallet years ago and just found. Does anyone know if there's any chance this will have value on the new company's website?
@Radi0logy: That's a good point. I wonder how much negative publicity CC gave itself in its final days, and would you really want to buy that. Seems counterproductive.
@Yoko Broke Up The Beatles: They paid for the name, which some people still trust, people who don't know Tiger Direct or Comp USA
@exploded: I think there's a real market for a store that doesn't deal in appliances, music, dvds, etc. - just computers, computer equipment and some home theatre. And I think Systemax is gonna fill that.
@craptastico: Similar chances to winning the lotto (I suggest not using the numbers 4 8 15 16 23 and 42, either)
If by improve you mean make it another clone of Tiger Direct in different clothes, yes.
Anything is better then the old Circuit City!
@GavinEstecado: i went to tigerdirect looking for a new laptop, way too confusing... although i might be able to get a better deal there, newegg has a better design.
@Radi0logy: there was an article earlier today about the LnT website -
The newly formed LNT Acquisition, LLC bought the name, Web site, mailing lists, and proprietary brands for $1 million [consumerist.com]
TigerDirect is terrible!!! I loved CompUSA. They had the most knowledgeable staff. It is a real shame they went out of business. I will never, ever, ever buy anything from TigerDirect. Any computer purchases I need to make in the future will be from NewEgg. They are a million times better than Tiger Direct.
Say what? Valuable assets from a bankrupt company were sold to a competent, profit-making company?
Wrong, wrong, wrong! We're supposed to bail these guys out with billions of tax dollars!
/sarcasm
@Etoiles: I've been dealing with TigerDirect for years and have never had a bad experience. Their website is actually fairly easy to navigate if you know what you're looking for, especially considering the vast number of items available.
i hate tiger direct. just about every thing is over priced. some times you do get a good deal but i almost always find it cheaper else where like, geeks,directron,newegg,ebay. i will not buy anything from them unless it is a great deal and cannot be gotten else where.
Compusa was the worst computer store that ever existed for computer techs that rely on a retail store for computer parts. Now that it is owned by Tiger Direct, the name makes sense. If anyone has ever had a bad experiance with Tiger Direct, thats very rare. I have been dealing with them since they came into business and have NEVER had a problem with them. Tiger rocks and they are the best there is. maybe some have had problems with them for lack of knowledge about what they are buying, but for the most part they are the best. Newegg can't come close in customer service. Newegg still is in the 90's as far as service and will be the next one to fail. just watch.
Tiger Direct has a no-bs way of selling stuff. I find they usually have the best price, and I can order something on Monday, and have it on my porch on Wednesday, when it isn't promised until Thursday. Great products and service. Circuit City (Circuit Crooks, as my dad called them), had been notorious for having a-hole salespeople, were inattentive, and sold junk as "open box". Oh yes, they were masters of the bait-and-switch technique too by offering an unbelievable deal on one item (and they had only one in stock) knowing you would come in to buy it, but they would then try to talk you into a much more expensive item. Those bastards, even when going out of business, had marked up computer items (external hard drives/flash drives/webcams)about 25% higher than MSRP, so they could mark them down 30% to still try to turn their profit even at the last days which is the kind of business that got them in trouble in the first place. I miss the convenience, but Circuit City had it coming for a very very long time and it serves em right. Tiger Direct buying the name is the only thing that might ever polish the turd that Circuit City was. If I had been TD though, I might be hesitant to let the general public know that TD owns Circuit City.
Bah, it will end up looking just like Tiger Direct and CompUSA. Systemax will just make the website cluttered with "ACT NOW!" deals and you won't be able to differentiate any of them from each other besides the URL. I'm surprised the Circuit City name is worth enough just to clone TigerDirect.com all all over again....