✅CIRCUIT CITY STORE #1697 · 232 E 86th St, New York, NY 10028 - OpenDataGovUS [2023] (2024)

FAQs

Who owns Circuit City now? ›

Circuit City — which since 2016 has been owned by self-described “retail veteran” Ronny Shmoel, also Circuit City's CEO — didn't respond to a request for comment. But the fundraising is presumably the Series A that Circuit City announced in a press release in November.

Circuit City is back — again. The once-ubiquitous electronics chain has made several comeback attempts since its 2008 bankruptcy, and now operates solely online.

Circuit City is also one of American retailing's great fail- ures. In November 2008, the 59-year-old company filed for bankruptcy. Within months, it closed its stores and liquidat- ed more than $1 billion worth of merchandise, and on March 8, 2009, the last Circuit City store turned off its lights for good.

Over the years, Circuit City built itself into 1520 stores in the U.S. and Canada and 46,000 workers. Competitors popped up, such as Minnesota-based Best Buy and discount club stores such as Costco.

Inability to Adapt

While competitors embraced innovation, new strategies, and technologies, Circuit City lagged behind in innovation and failed to stay relevant. Later on, Circuit City ceased selling appliances. Moreover, it did not enter gaming as aggressively as it should have.

Initially, the stock was a tracking stock still under the umbrella of Circuit City. CarMax officially split from Circuit City as of October 1, 2002, when it was spun off as a stock dividend for Circuit City shareholders, with shares also issued to those holding CarMax tracking stock.

Electronics retailer Circuit City is back from the grave, but don't expect that big red logo to appear on the side of brick buildings anytime soon. The company announced a Series A funding round and plans for strategic partnerships with other companies to integrate into already establish stores and platforms.

Circuit City was a fortune 500 company for over 20 years; it was the second largest U.S. electronics retailer, after Best Buy with stores throughout North America and a print catalog distribution in the United States producing more than $12 billion annually.

BRIEF HISTORY

Circuit City opened its doors to the public in 1949 under the name of Wards Company. This date marked the beginning of the electronics superstore concept in the United States (BCRC, 2009).

New store will feature chain's "Connected" concept

VICTORVILLE • Best Buy is moving soon — but not far. The electronics store is relocating roughly one mile to the other side of the Mall of Victor Valley, taking over the vacant Circuit City site.

Are there any Blockbuster stores left? ›

Blockbuster Video filed for bankruptcy in 2010, and many thought that was the end of the chain—noted for its brightly lit stores and blue-and-yellow color scheme. A few stores hung on for another nine years, but today, the last Blockbuster store on Earth is in Bend, Oregon.

On August 22, 2018, Circuit City Corporation officially relaunched the brand name as an online retailer and announced plans to begin operating as a store-within-a-store chain. It also planned to open some new Circuit City retail stores in the future, but never materialized.

Circuit City made a fatal mistake when it fired its most skilled and loyal employees in 2007, in an attempt to cut costs and boost profits. Doing so resulted in a loss of expertise, morale, and customer satisfaction. It also damaged its reputation and culture, and created a gap that its competitors exploited.

Circuit City was purchased in 2016 by Shmoel. Prior to that, its assets were owned by Systemax, the parent company of computer parts seller TigerDirect. After Circuit City declared bankruptcy in 2008, TigerDirect scooped up the company for $14 million in 2009.

In August 2009, RadioShack rebranded itself as "The Shack".

Unicomer Group is based in El Salvador. It is now the owner of RadioShack, which was just followed by an auction in May. It is planning for an e-commerce push and a program for the offline stores. The new strategies of Retail Ecommerce Ventures stood out among the other brand revival attempts.