Circuit City had the greasiest, slimiest, most unprofessional sales clerks of all time. I never left that store without feeling like I needed a Silkwood scrub-down. I'm glad to see that karma finally caught up with Circuit City, its grimy workers, and its butt-ugly store design.

This is not bad for "the economy" unless you believe that the presence of Circuit City caused people to make purchases that they would otherwise not have. It's not like anyone will be wishing they could buy a big screen TV, but unable to because Circuit City is gone. They'll just pick it up from another retailer. So this does not affect aggregate demand at all.

Circuit City's problems had nothing to do with the floor staff. They may have been terrible, but they always were terrible. And surely people are not opting for Wal-Mart because of the great advice they get from the cashier in the electronics area.

Circuit City's problem was quite simply that on the low end, Wal-Mart offered lower prices; and on the high end, Best Buy offered a more liberal return policy and a better rewards program. Circuit City offered no unique advantages.

This is what is supposed to happen. We've outgrown them; we don't need them any more; so let's put them on the trash heap.

Our DVD player, many of our computer games, and some of our other electronics are from Circuit City. We got our fridge and TV there too, when it used to sell appliances. The salespeople seemed pleasant and knowledgeable. My husband remembers how helpful they were when he picked out a Sony radio/CD player for my birthday a while back.

There was no reason to shop at Circuit City after its experienced staff had been laid off. I went in there once and was met with blank stares when I tried to find out if an item was in stock.

But I think on Salon we can be a bit more honest. This isn't a recession, is it?

and the sales staff never push themselves on you.

I always avoided Circuit City like the plague. You had to defend yourself from salesperson assaults at every turn.

and was that supposed to be an electric plug the store entrance was imitating?

I felt anyone with such ugly store design DESERVED to go under.

Everyone laughs at the creatives, the designers, and tries to get away with paying ZERO for their services, but the designers are the ones who LEGITIMIZE business-- from the simple and inviting Google "look and feel", to Apple (which SURVIVES partly due to its slick look).

Which makes me wonder how Syms stays in business.

No it's not just a recession. It's something much worse. And I think we all know it.

The problem with Circuit City was that it was lousy value - forget the sales people, it was just overpriced. The internet killed it, as much as anything. Why buy something there for a 50% premium?

Here in New York City, where there is no Wal-Mart, the other box store for electronics is Best Buy. Too bad Best Buy will no longer have the competetition.

Fired its top sales staff and managers - and then offered to rehire then at a fraction of their original pay scale.

Circuit city failed because its top management failed, and failed badly.

After they took their staff off commission you could not get help in Circuit City. The staff was too busy talking amongst themselves. Talk about inept management. The stupid management could not have had anything to do with the founding of the company. Best Buy has their own set of problems selling warranties that are near-worthless when you try to use them.

After the crap that Circuit City pulled with DIVX - which was an astonishingly vile idea, a DVD competitor format that required ongoing payments for each 48-hour period in which you watched a movie - this is no more than they deserve.

Unfortunately, the management bastards at Circuit City who approved the DIVX concept are surely still set for life. While many of the store clerks and other workers who were the victims of management's stupidity are probably now struggling on the edge of bankruptcy.

I can't believe I actually agree with Brightstar, for once.

the sneaky salesmanship. coerced into buying accessories that weren't needed. lying to customers. turfing complaints to other departments. and this goes back ten years! they deserved to go; morally and ethically bancrupt. i feel joy at their demise and now, all i see are ads for best buy. i think i'm going to try out radio shack before i go to best buy. at least "these" company stores have managers that are there to take questions and strive for customer satisfaction (imo).

parismom

Right, firenze, this is a depression. Whether we can still manage a "Great Depression of the Early 21st Century," I'm not sure. One thing I'd bet on; that when most of these cynics find their own jobs have evaporated, they will whine, wail and gnash their credit cards like the worst possible yuppie cowards.

In the midst of reading their callous eulogies at the gravesides of recent household names, I was reminded, as I had not been for some years, of my old Political Theory Class. One of the units was on Marx and Engles. They went on about how in the endgame of Capitalism, the competition for Markets would become murderous; the national banks would devour each other, then the monopolies, then the cartels, and finally, the World Banks would meet in titanic struggle.

I should say that there is a dismal chance that they were right, and this collapse may be the early stage of the deadly convulsions of our system.

The great problem is that Marx and Engel may have been dead on in the area of prediction and criticism, but their solutions seem to go against human nature.

We are not suddenly going to see the light, and act like good Christians or whatever major fairy tale you may (nominally, I suspect) subscribe to.

In evidence, read many of heartless comments above.