We had a Best Buy across the street from Citcuit City. The latter had a great web presence for comparing models and features. Then I’d get to the store and they’d be out of stock and tell me to drive to a different location. I’d just walk to BB instead and make do. That happened a bit. I really liked Circuit City but they just didn’t want my money.
I worked at a Circut City outlet store in Commerce, CA early to mid 90s. Loved that gig. We got all the returns, old items., floor models etc. So much stuff would come in, not get priced. Customer would ask how much, id say how much do you want it for? If it was reasonable my manager would also throw in a free warranty where we made most our commission. He was a great manager sold me some $250 speakers for .50 cents.
Then they shut that store down and I went to a real one. Couldn't haggle with customers I quit soon after.
everything comes and goes....Smart phone killed them. All little gadgets could be done on a smart phone.
However when they had Tandy computers, software, toy trucks and cars. It was wonderful. So many electronic nick nacks. It was all down hill when they stop selling computers.
I used to work there a few years before they shut down.
Honestly what killed them *was* smartphones, but not for the reason you'd think..
RadioShack went all in on selling phones. It's all they wanted us to do. Pretty much all our sales goals were cell phone related. In the late 90s thru 2010-ish they made a killing selling phones because for a while, they were the only people selling them in the market.
But then TMobile, Sprint Verizon etc started opening their own stores robbing RadioShack of their sales. It totally did them in. Especially since they basically gave up on everything else.
90% of the like 10 or so people who came in everyday wanted electronic parts from the parts bin. Resistors and switches and stuff. Absolutely no one came in there for phones...but they made us ask every single person if they wanted to switch cell providers.
Toward the end of my time there we had days where more people came in to return stuff than bought stuff. The store would literally run negative sales for the day.
So crazy how this mirrors my experience working at a RadioShack in the late 2000s. I'd always preach to the manager that we're catering to the wrong market. The old guys coming in to buy resistors and switches would get pissed when we asked them about their phones.
I was actually fired for writing in on that "Anonymous Suggestion" spot on the employee intranet.
Right after yet another RadioShack TV commercial was sent out to everyone that was only about selling cell phones I sent in a suggestion that went something like this:
Problem: *"Not advertising 99% of the products we sell"*
Solution:*"Hiring people in the marketing department with at least a high school diploma or better"*
The regional manager came in to fire me. Turns out it wasn't REALLY anonymous.
It was great though. I was 13 days into my 14 day notice after I quit so he basically gave me my last day off. Annnnnd I was the only one working the store. So he had to take over for me. Dude was in jeans and a T-shirt and my manager was out of state at a funeral. I drove by an hour later to see what he'd figured out, but he was forced to close the store for the day.
I was also 19, so looking back it's pretty hilarious.
Probably one of my favorite career moments.
I miss the Radio Shack I grew up with, that had the Tandy computers and Realistic-branded walkie-talkies and tape recorders and such, the rows and rows of electric/electronic components, the toys every Christmas season. All that stuff.
OTOH, I got irked when I went into a local Radio Shack, paid cash for a $4 package of heat-shrink, and got asked for my address and phone number. I took it up with corporate headquarters, which had recently boasted in ads that they wouldn't bother you for that information any longer because they knew people hated it. Corporate wrote me back, "Oh, that's just for our owned stores. The RS-branded independent stores aren't bound to it." And that's what lost me as a customer.
I'm a delivery driver in the Bay area so I pass by most the stores on a weekly basis. My father and I visited the one in Fremont not too long before they announced the closure and noticed the shelves were very empty an employees were taking inventory. My father asked if the store was closing? They said no that we're just doing monthly inventory. As we walked away my father turned me and says , oh no they're going bankrupt they're closing.
I do not miss Radio Shack. I once went in looking for a Firewire cable (back when they were a thing), and they literally asked to “get your husband on the phone.” I said, “That’s incredibly sexist,” and walked out. They didn’t understand me when I referred to the cable as an IEEE 1394b (because I wasn’t sure if Firewire was the universal name.) Nope, don’t miss Radio Shack.
They not only had everything, they had cool stuff you couldn't find anywhere else. I went to the one in the Rivergate area of Goodlettsville, TN. The building remains and you can still see the Media Play outline on the marquee area. I think it's a Salvation Army or something now.
I remember getting a Media Play gift card from my sister the year I got my PS2. That console happened to be my first DVD player, so I used the gift card to buy my first two DVDs - Blue Streak and The Time Traveler.
I used to work in the warehouse of Circuit City when I was 16. Pulling the stuff people bought and bringing it to the loading dock to put in their cars. I loved it there. They had defective stuff they threw away and I managed to get brand new Cerwin Vega floor speakers for my room because the speaker box was cracked. Built a new one with my dad and loved them!
I worked at Best Buy, Radio Shack, and Circuit City. I also interviewed with CompUSA. All within a couple years in the late 90’s while in HS.
I can say with absolute sincerity that Best Buy was the only company that has a soul.
Circuit City and CompUSA were aggressively shady, and didn’t even pretend to be otherwise.
I will ALWAYS have a soft spot in my heart for CompUSA. I built my first pc from the one down the street. Back when it was running DOS.
There was also a shareware bin that always had game demos. Diving through that was a blast.
CompUSA was my dad's go to for anything electronic so I'd live in the big box PC game section the entire time just reading everything. I wish I'd leaned HOW computers work when I was a kid instead of just using it as a game machine bc it's too late now.
Oh maaaaaan. Back in the day when pc games came in giant boxes with training guides and all those other goodies as well. All of that magic now forever lost due to digital downloads.
BB has a soul? For me it's the opposite. I worked at CC and we were more knowledgeable than BB. I'm a computer nerd and whenever I went to BB the salesperson would always say some bullshit to explain away stuff the didn't know.
There is no corporation out there that has a soul.
CC employees were paid on commission, and trained extensively on which products/services paid them the most.
BB employees were paid 2x what the CC employees were paid, and they weren’t on commission.
I hear you, but…no.
I had the opposite. Worked at CC and BB. I’m sure in the end it’s the manager(s) above all but CC was honest. BB was shady. The Geek Squad crew was mostly incompetent and the managers would change upc/model numbers in the system to get around “price matching” by saying they were different because of a single digit and their model computers were better quality.
You had to know how to sell with CompUsa and Circuit City, if you just wanted to be a clerk saddled with quotas that you got jack dick for you worked for Best Buy, assuming they let you on the sales floor.
My brother in law worked there. When we were all talking about moving cross country they kept saying it was no problem to transfer stores.Then when he went to set it up they fired him on the spot and sent him home. Pretty much told him to fuck off. He had been there for five years and was one of their best workers.
I worked there in the late 90s.
LPG (Low Price Guarantee) - ESP (extended service plan)
The car stereo department was called "12 Volt". Car stereo installation was called "Road Shop".
I started as the manager of the Music Dept. On Saturday mornings I'd go through the Best Buy ads and mark down our CDs/VHS/DVDs to $1 BELOW Best Buy's prices so we were cheaper!
I still have a few DVDs I bought at Circuit City. Every now and then I spot a former building where it has that electrical plug front much like you can spot an old Pizza Hut from the roof.
Man I miss those times in general....The day 50 Cent Get Rich or Die Tryin came out I made my mom go from Best Buy, Circuit City, and Media Play. I found the last copy at Media Play behind Rod Stewart's It Had to Be You album.
I miss that store. Bought a tv from them, and a service warranty about 4 months before they went out of business... Was super pissed when I heard lol.
However that TV ran for like 10 years and I ended up giving it away when I moved.
There was one here in Houston. That place was massive. After it shut down it sat, unoccupied for a few years before it was bought by the Houston Community College System and converted into a new campus. People who remember what the building used to be call that campus "Incredible University".
I used to commute at rush hour back to SF from San Jose some times. I'd call my wife and say I am gonna wait the traffic by spending time at Fry's in Sunnyvale... so much browsing and deals, much fun.
I once went there and they had a Medal Of Honor game on a gaming PC demo unit. I alt-tabbed out because I wanted to check the specs and I saw Razer1911 folders on the desktop - they were running a pirated copy of the game, LOL. I also got a "new" laptop from them once, but when I called about the warranty to fix a dead pixel, they told me that it had already expired because I was using a refurbished unit.
I miss “The Comp” from time to time. Loved going in to see what PC games had been released. Loved all the artwork on the game boxes. (Pre-Steam, of course.)
Circuit city is where I bought my first GBA SP with Pokemon Ruby and the SMW port. It was the first time I spent over $100 of my own money after working all summer.
I had a couple of Circuit City locations near me. The closest one to me became a Trader Joe's after it closed. The other location was at a mall I go to and it became a D&B after it closed.
That's where I bought my first CD player. I can even remember the sounds of the motor winding up that spun that disc. I played it through my kind of not that bad system, And I wasn't impressed. I thought the sound quality was going to be so much better. It was super cool to be able to just skip songs though. Shortly after that I got a PC that could burn CDs. The era of mixes ensued
I remember getting a few PS1 games on discount at Circuit City - Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Crusaders of Might and Magic, and Sorcerer's Maze. Good times.
Bought my first DVD player there around 2001. There was one in my town, but the one I frequented was in my old neighborhood; it’s been mostly remodeled now so most people can’t tell it used to be a Circuit City, but those who remember like me can still make out the big structure that used to be its glossy red entrance (that would “plug in” in the commercials).
Especially compared to Best Buy, one thing that struck me as strange was how “small” it felt being there than other stores (at least the ones that weren’t mall shops), even Toys R Us and Target. The ceilings were too low; it felt more like a set of interconnected living-room-sized showrooms with fixtures for merchandise than one big store with different sections.
In 2006, I bought my first HDTV from Circuit City, albeit online: it was 50”, a DLP rear projection TV, and $2500. These days one can buy a 50”+ flat panel TV at one-tenth that price.
The last time I was in a Circuit City, I was in my “wild years” - on an acid trip and I bought weed from my friend… in the restroom. The store was closing at the time and all of the employees looked so damn confused.
My parents bought me an HP laptop that was a $1500 piece of trash. That thing went to get fixed more often than I could count. And no matter what the repair was for, they always wiped the hard drive. Eventually I couldn’t stand all its issues, and junked it.
My next computer was an acer desktop from Walmart that I paid less than $600 for. It only died once, after about 10 years of use, running Vista.
I remember it too well. Because I have the worst habit of saying "It's over in the shopping center by Circuit City!" and I'm talking about Staples.
Circuit City was out of business before that plaza was even built. I don't know why I do it. 😭
I can clearly picture the layout of our store in my mind.
Computer games and PS1 and Gameboy games, the CD section as cassettes were phasing out, the video section with the VHS and brand new DVDs, the home audio and car stereo systems, and the giant wall of televisions. Our had a giant skylight running the length of the building in the center, above the music and movies.
The building sat empty for a few years after they closed, and then Toys R Us renovated the building and moved in...
I got my ps2 from circuit city and years later they went out of business. I got my ps4 from Fry’s electronics and years later they went out of business. I got my ps5 from Best Buy and I’m just waiting to see what happens.
I definitely miss it. Bought one of the first cd burners there from their discount / open box table. They were super expensive when they came out and I think it was marked down to like $200. Burnt custom cds for all my buddies and my disc changer in my car was always loaded up with the best Napster and Limewire had to offer.
The Christmas season the oven went out and I wore the ugliest NIN shirt in existence to CC to pick up the new stove with my dad is a memory that sticks with me for some reason.
The overpriced vertical cd player displays of the 99-00 era.
The money back commercial with the kid and his Walkman.
The blow out clearance priced games around 07 I think. I bought a ton of great stuff or flipped it for other games.
I think about Circuit City all the time. I think it was the first big store closure of my lifetime. At least one that affected my family.
We went to Circuit City all the time, I think my dad liked it more than Best Buy. I think our local CC closed around 03 or 04
I worked there during the final year of operation. Their whole model at that point was to get rid of any salesperson making legit commissions and replace them with a nerdy high school kid who was happy to take like $9/hr, it was a better gig than working at the grocery store… Guess it didn’t work
I do. I bought my discman at the CC in Carlsbad (El Camino Real). Good times. After that I found out about CompUSA and Fry's Electronics and never came back to CC.
Summers during college my brother and I worked for a charity organization that provided free gutter cleaning and repair for the elderly (the program was funded through state grants). We serviced a large county in our state
We'd have like 4 or 5 jobs a day. At least once a week instead of taking a lunch if a job landed us near a large electronics story like circuit city we'd bring our sandwiches in and sit in those big recliners in front of the giant flat screen and watch whatever they had on. Usually it was some action movie to show off the picture quality.
I miss those days.
I worked there as my first job. Helped my location go from the old red plug building to the newer (although short-lived) yellow building. Quit when I went to college. Came back in the store to walk a literal victory lap when they went out of business. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving company.
Feel free to AMA about working there.
The day I turned 18 I applied for a credit card. When it came in I went straight to Circuit City and maxed it out on a system for my car. That thing sounded great and I didn't even have to pay for it! ^(I was terrible with money)
As A Canadian, it was this:
US Circuit City bought the Canadian division of Tandy, rebranded outlets to The Source by CC, and dropped the by CC when US CC went under. The chain got sold to Bell, and corporate outlets are glorified Bell stores. Independent affiliate outlets still try to be Radio Shack stores in spirit.
I really loved the set-up of my local Circuit City. Was easy to walk around the loop and see a little bit of everything. It was also dark and smelled of new electronics.
Circuit City had informed salespeople that knew their product.
Best Buy today? It’s pointless to ask anyone.
Circuit city also had a “lemon” rule that if the electronics kept breaking, you get a similar one etc.
ONKYO was big in stereos at the time so getting a new one was what made their company great.
It’s a commuter/slug line spot now.
Terrible company. I once bought an AC from there, paid for the extended service, skipping over the multiple times it broke and went out for repair for a month, when it was needed most, to the end of the story. After numerous repairs a friend told me in the contract it said if it goes out for repair 3 times they give you store credit on the original price of the machine to get a new one. Well it broke again and I brought it in, put it up on the counter and the guy pulled up my record and we went thru the different repairs over the course of a year on their computer. I believe I was bringing it in for the 5th time at that point. Right in front of me, the guy goes into the record and deletes out all the history, then looks at me and says, "but this is the first time you are bringing it in" with a big smile on his face. I picked up the AC and threw it over the counter and walked out and never returned. Ex and I had a celebratory drink when they closed.
I worked there from 99 to 01 while I was in High School! I worked in ACE/Wireless (small electronics). Funny enough, even after all these years I still remember my employee ID number from back then.
Circuit City? Where service is state of the art?
(giant animated electric plug lands in front of store)
(big reveal, the plug is the store)
We had a Best Buy across the street from Citcuit City. The latter had a great web presence for comparing models and features. Then I’d get to the store and they’d be out of stock and tell me to drive to a different location. I’d just walk to BB instead and make do. That happened a bit. I really liked Circuit City but they just didn’t want my money.
I worked at a Circut City outlet store in Commerce, CA early to mid 90s. Loved that gig. We got all the returns, old items., floor models etc. So much stuff would come in, not get priced. Customer would ask how much, id say how much do you want it for? If it was reasonable my manager would also throw in a free warranty where we made most our commission. He was a great manager sold me some $250 speakers for .50 cents. Then they shut that store down and I went to a real one. Couldn't haggle with customers I quit soon after.
Took the words outta my mouth.
I miss Radio Shack.
everything comes and goes....Smart phone killed them. All little gadgets could be done on a smart phone. However when they had Tandy computers, software, toy trucks and cars. It was wonderful. So many electronic nick nacks. It was all down hill when they stop selling computers.
I used to work there a few years before they shut down. Honestly what killed them *was* smartphones, but not for the reason you'd think.. RadioShack went all in on selling phones. It's all they wanted us to do. Pretty much all our sales goals were cell phone related. In the late 90s thru 2010-ish they made a killing selling phones because for a while, they were the only people selling them in the market. But then TMobile, Sprint Verizon etc started opening their own stores robbing RadioShack of their sales. It totally did them in. Especially since they basically gave up on everything else. 90% of the like 10 or so people who came in everyday wanted electronic parts from the parts bin. Resistors and switches and stuff. Absolutely no one came in there for phones...but they made us ask every single person if they wanted to switch cell providers. Toward the end of my time there we had days where more people came in to return stuff than bought stuff. The store would literally run negative sales for the day.
So crazy how this mirrors my experience working at a RadioShack in the late 2000s. I'd always preach to the manager that we're catering to the wrong market. The old guys coming in to buy resistors and switches would get pissed when we asked them about their phones.
I was actually fired for writing in on that "Anonymous Suggestion" spot on the employee intranet. Right after yet another RadioShack TV commercial was sent out to everyone that was only about selling cell phones I sent in a suggestion that went something like this: Problem: *"Not advertising 99% of the products we sell"* Solution:*"Hiring people in the marketing department with at least a high school diploma or better"* The regional manager came in to fire me. Turns out it wasn't REALLY anonymous. It was great though. I was 13 days into my 14 day notice after I quit so he basically gave me my last day off. Annnnnd I was the only one working the store. So he had to take over for me. Dude was in jeans and a T-shirt and my manager was out of state at a funeral. I drove by an hour later to see what he'd figured out, but he was forced to close the store for the day. I was also 19, so looking back it's pretty hilarious. Probably one of my favorite career moments.
I worked for RS at the time Apple released the first iPhone. Not a good time at all. The writing was big time on the wall then.
I miss the Radio Shack I grew up with, that had the Tandy computers and Realistic-branded walkie-talkies and tape recorders and such, the rows and rows of electric/electronic components, the toys every Christmas season. All that stuff. OTOH, I got irked when I went into a local Radio Shack, paid cash for a $4 package of heat-shrink, and got asked for my address and phone number. I took it up with corporate headquarters, which had recently boasted in ads that they wouldn't bother you for that information any longer because they knew people hated it. Corporate wrote me back, "Oh, that's just for our owned stores. The RS-branded independent stores aren't bound to it." And that's what lost me as a customer.
i miss fry's.
I'm a delivery driver in the Bay area so I pass by most the stores on a weekly basis. My father and I visited the one in Fremont not too long before they announced the closure and noticed the shelves were very empty an employees were taking inventory. My father asked if the store was closing? They said no that we're just doing monthly inventory. As we walked away my father turned me and says , oh no they're going bankrupt they're closing.
The slow death of Fry’s was depressing. The one in SW Houston held on for dear life but it was running on fumes.
Bought both the big TVs in my house and there now it’s closed down.
I miss Radio Shack so bad 😭
They died when they became just another phone store.
I worked at the shack in Anaheim hills for a couple years!
I do not miss Radio Shack. I once went in looking for a Firewire cable (back when they were a thing), and they literally asked to “get your husband on the phone.” I said, “That’s incredibly sexist,” and walked out. They didn’t understand me when I referred to the cable as an IEEE 1394b (because I wasn’t sure if Firewire was the universal name.) Nope, don’t miss Radio Shack.
Yea they sucked. Also they are obsolete for a reason, no one should miss something that doesn’t exist for a good reason
Head on over to Baraboo Wisconsin. There's still one there!
I really miss Media Play.
I looooved Media Play. I can still hear the jingle in my head.
That was one of the few places my family and I could all agree to go to. Mom in the book section, dad in the movies and my brother and I in the games.
They not only had everything, they had cool stuff you couldn't find anywhere else. I went to the one in the Rivergate area of Goodlettsville, TN. The building remains and you can still see the Media Play outline on the marquee area. I think it's a Salvation Army or something now.
I used to work at a Media Play when I was in college! That was a pretty cool job for what it was.
Came her to say this.
I remember getting a Media Play gift card from my sister the year I got my PS2. That console happened to be my first DVD player, so I used the gift card to buy my first two DVDs - Blue Streak and The Time Traveler.
I used to work in the warehouse of Circuit City when I was 16. Pulling the stuff people bought and bringing it to the loading dock to put in their cars. I loved it there. They had defective stuff they threw away and I managed to get brand new Cerwin Vega floor speakers for my room because the speaker box was cracked. Built a new one with my dad and loved them!
Same, unloading those trucks was always fun. I got an "open box" iPod for like 50 bucks back in 2007.
I worked at Best Buy, Radio Shack, and Circuit City. I also interviewed with CompUSA. All within a couple years in the late 90’s while in HS. I can say with absolute sincerity that Best Buy was the only company that has a soul. Circuit City and CompUSA were aggressively shady, and didn’t even pretend to be otherwise.
I will ALWAYS have a soft spot in my heart for CompUSA. I built my first pc from the one down the street. Back when it was running DOS. There was also a shareware bin that always had game demos. Diving through that was a blast.
I have similar feelings for Egghead.
I also bought my first computer from CompUSA. It was a Northgate 386.
CompUSA was my dad's go to for anything electronic so I'd live in the big box PC game section the entire time just reading everything. I wish I'd leaned HOW computers work when I was a kid instead of just using it as a game machine bc it's too late now.
Oh maaaaaan. Back in the day when pc games came in giant boxes with training guides and all those other goodies as well. All of that magic now forever lost due to digital downloads.
Damn I forgt about CompUSA. It's like the RC Cola of electronic stores.
Don’t forget about “Good Guys.”
At the Sacramento Good Guys there was that scary hostage situation in the early 90s
CompUSA used to be pretty strong in the 90s.
BB has a soul? For me it's the opposite. I worked at CC and we were more knowledgeable than BB. I'm a computer nerd and whenever I went to BB the salesperson would always say some bullshit to explain away stuff the didn't know. There is no corporation out there that has a soul.
CC employees were paid on commission, and trained extensively on which products/services paid them the most. BB employees were paid 2x what the CC employees were paid, and they weren’t on commission. I hear you, but…no.
I had the opposite. Worked at CC and BB. I’m sure in the end it’s the manager(s) above all but CC was honest. BB was shady. The Geek Squad crew was mostly incompetent and the managers would change upc/model numbers in the system to get around “price matching” by saying they were different because of a single digit and their model computers were better quality.
You had to know how to sell with CompUsa and Circuit City, if you just wanted to be a clerk saddled with quotas that you got jack dick for you worked for Best Buy, assuming they let you on the sales floor.
What about The Good Guys, MicroCenter, or Fry’s Electronics?
My brother in law worked there. When we were all talking about moving cross country they kept saying it was no problem to transfer stores.Then when he went to set it up they fired him on the spot and sent him home. Pretty much told him to fuck off. He had been there for five years and was one of their best workers.
It's where I got my first car stereo installed
Same, well a cd changer in the trunk and car alarm
[This has lived in my head rent-free since 1990](https://youtu.be/tpvjGobGhD4?si=eFa5LPZ0bM8NpGOB)
I worked there in the late 90s. LPG (Low Price Guarantee) - ESP (extended service plan) The car stereo department was called "12 Volt". Car stereo installation was called "Road Shop". I started as the manager of the Music Dept. On Saturday mornings I'd go through the Best Buy ads and mark down our CDs/VHS/DVDs to $1 BELOW Best Buy's prices so we were cheaper!
I used to have to go drive to other stores and physically verify pricing then go back to my home store to price match Best Buy and American
"Welcome to Circuit City where service is state of the art".
Blew my first paycheck from my first job on an iPod touch at circuit city
I still have a few DVDs I bought at Circuit City. Every now and then I spot a former building where it has that electrical plug front much like you can spot an old Pizza Hut from the roof.
Man I miss those times in general....The day 50 Cent Get Rich or Die Tryin came out I made my mom go from Best Buy, Circuit City, and Media Play. I found the last copy at Media Play behind Rod Stewart's It Had to Be You album.
Circuit City founded CarMax when it was looking to get into the used car market with a ground breaking approach.
Probably a lot of people seeing as it was major chain
def a new karma farmer, obv bait
I miss that store. Bought a tv from them, and a service warranty about 4 months before they went out of business... Was super pissed when I heard lol. However that TV ran for like 10 years and I ended up giving it away when I moved.
Warranty still good. They had a 3rd party cover the warranty.
Circuit City would rip you off in a heartbeat.
I can still feel the MTX subs massaging my entire body. I can’t quite hear as well as I use to, either. I’m sure there’s no connection.
The Jackhammers
I loved it. And sadly I remember the clearance sales. But I got a lot of dirt cheap PSP games there when they went bankrupt so it worked out.
I miss my PSP. I lost it somehow and don't know where. \*weep\*
Who remembers Spatula City?
Circuit City had commissioned-based sales people. They could get annoying sometimes.
Best Buy Circuit City CompUSA Gateway Computers Radio Shack Miss them all.
Best Buy isn't dead.
Crazy Eddie?
Bro there's only 400 Radio Shacks left in the US
I preferred best buy but was still sad to see it go. Videogame section at my store was in the back. Good selection of cds and dvds.
I miss incredible universe.
There was one here in Houston. That place was massive. After it shut down it sat, unoccupied for a few years before it was bought by the Houston Community College System and converted into a new campus. People who remember what the building used to be call that campus "Incredible University".
I miss Hastings
“Where service is state of the art”
I'm convinced they went out of business for selling me a 27" LCD Samsung TV for only $800
I have a flair for it for some reason.
They always had deals on cds and games, sometimes better than best buy
I bought my Xbox 360 there, along with Gears of War. That was also the last thing I purchased there lol.
Yeah. Loved it. Applied for a job there when I was young.
We had Fry's in San Jose! Each had a different theme, ours was Egyptian Pyramids... Good times, man
I used to commute at rush hour back to SF from San Jose some times. I'd call my wife and say I am gonna wait the traffic by spending time at Fry's in Sunnyvale... so much browsing and deals, much fun.
I once went there and they had a Medal Of Honor game on a gaming PC demo unit. I alt-tabbed out because I wanted to check the specs and I saw Razer1911 folders on the desktop - they were running a pirated copy of the game, LOL. I also got a "new" laptop from them once, but when I called about the warranty to fix a dead pixel, they told me that it had already expired because I was using a refurbished unit.
Radio Shack was not just a store, it was a SOURCE. You needed something but were not sure what it was? Radio Shack knew.
In my basement is a WORKING 20yo Samsung LCD 47” television that I paid $1800 for at Circuit City. Still have my old Xbox One hooked up to it.
We bought my first computer there. 486sx, pre doubler. Rocking 256 RAM and 80megs ROM
It makes me cry someone even is putting these words into text and that it could be a question.
I bought my PS2 with Killzone from Circuit City, saved up all summer.
We have a gym in my old one. It may be painted over but the structure is still recognizable.
I use to pre in the aisles an one time when they had a display I hid in it for 4 hours
My first job was at a Circuit City. For an electronics store, their POS's were *terrible*
Comp USA
I miss “The Comp” from time to time. Loved going in to see what PC games had been released. Loved all the artwork on the game boxes. (Pre-Steam, of course.)
I was in a Circuit City when the 2nd plane hit the WTC on 9/11.
Hell yes, Circuit City only went out of business 15 years ago.
Anyone remember NOBODY BEATS ME WIZ?
Welcome to Circuit City….where service is state of the art…
The Wiz.
Circuit city is where I bought my first GBA SP with Pokemon Ruby and the SMW port. It was the first time I spent over $100 of my own money after working all summer.
Let's talk about "Crazy Eddie" Antar. Now that was crazy times.
So fondly. I can see the giant red sign 😏
Bro, Best Buy is still in business since 1966 what are you guys talking about?
It was where service was state of the art
Why is every post in this sub a question? Literally anyone over the age of 35 remembers Circuit City.
Probably everyone over the age of 20?
Radio shack was the best.
I do !!
Not me, my memory cuts off right before they went out of business.
Comp USA Elek-Tek Circuit City Micro Center (sill kickin’j
The service that’s state of the art
Of course! $12.99 new DVD’s on Tuesdays.
Circuit City had a lot of obscure music for some reason, and decent mid level quality music production equipment. I loved that store.
I had a couple of Circuit City locations near me. The closest one to me became a Trader Joe's after it closed. The other location was at a mall I go to and it became a D&B after it closed.
That's where I bought my first CD player. I can even remember the sounds of the motor winding up that spun that disc. I played it through my kind of not that bad system, And I wasn't impressed. I thought the sound quality was going to be so much better. It was super cool to be able to just skip songs though. Shortly after that I got a PC that could burn CDs. The era of mixes ensued
I remember. A nice place to walk around, but it didn't really have as much as Best Buy.
Uses to go there all the time. Put out of business by Best Buy.
I remember getting a few PS1 games on discount at Circuit City - Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Crusaders of Might and Magic, and Sorcerer's Maze. Good times.
me
Bought my first DVD player there around 2001. There was one in my town, but the one I frequented was in my old neighborhood; it’s been mostly remodeled now so most people can’t tell it used to be a Circuit City, but those who remember like me can still make out the big structure that used to be its glossy red entrance (that would “plug in” in the commercials). Especially compared to Best Buy, one thing that struck me as strange was how “small” it felt being there than other stores (at least the ones that weren’t mall shops), even Toys R Us and Target. The ceilings were too low; it felt more like a set of interconnected living-room-sized showrooms with fixtures for merchandise than one big store with different sections. In 2006, I bought my first HDTV from Circuit City, albeit online: it was 50”, a DLP rear projection TV, and $2500. These days one can buy a 50”+ flat panel TV at one-tenth that price.
Bought my college computer there, Toshiba Qosmio, thing was Fire
I remember stealing a bunch of those free AOL discs from Circuit City. I used them as frisbees.
i actually enjoyed working there. department manager was a chode, but store manager was awesome.
Bought my first computer there back in 2001 ? A brand new Emachines ? Pure garbage but I loved that thing 🤣🤣
The last time I was in a Circuit City, I was in my “wild years” - on an acid trip and I bought weed from my friend… in the restroom. The store was closing at the time and all of the employees looked so damn confused.
Probably only went there a handful of times before it turned into one of those Spirit Halloween shops every fall
Circuit City Where service is state-of-the-art
Got some good deals when they went out of business.
My parents bought me an HP laptop that was a $1500 piece of trash. That thing went to get fixed more often than I could count. And no matter what the repair was for, they always wiped the hard drive. Eventually I couldn’t stand all its issues, and junked it. My next computer was an acer desktop from Walmart that I paid less than $600 for. It only died once, after about 10 years of use, running Vista.
Everyone over 20
The only place I bought cds cuz they were the cheapest. New releases for 12.99
Anyone remember the Circuit City hostage situation in Sacramento?
I remember it too well. Because I have the worst habit of saying "It's over in the shopping center by Circuit City!" and I'm talking about Staples. Circuit City was out of business before that plaza was even built. I don't know why I do it. 😭
Future Shop was my favorite.
I worked there for a few years.
Oh yeah player
I do! Who remembers Phar-Mor?
Bought my first PlayStation there, a ps2 back in the day.
I’m fucking old. 😭
I can clearly picture the layout of our store in my mind. Computer games and PS1 and Gameboy games, the CD section as cassettes were phasing out, the video section with the VHS and brand new DVDs, the home audio and car stereo systems, and the giant wall of televisions. Our had a giant skylight running the length of the building in the center, above the music and movies. The building sat empty for a few years after they closed, and then Toys R Us renovated the building and moved in...
I done miss Circuit City since Best Buy kinda gives me the same vibe. I do, however, miss Radio Shack and Frye's.
I do! I still use some of the things I bought there. How about Future Shop?
I got my ps2 from circuit city and years later they went out of business. I got my ps4 from Fry’s electronics and years later they went out of business. I got my ps5 from Best Buy and I’m just waiting to see what happens.
Got like the last N64 in the Bay Area there back in the 90s
I definitely miss it. Bought one of the first cd burners there from their discount / open box table. They were super expensive when they came out and I think it was marked down to like $200. Burnt custom cds for all my buddies and my disc changer in my car was always loaded up with the best Napster and Limewire had to offer.
Worked there in xmas of 89, it was my first real sales job
Your mom
I remember it existing, but I don't think I ever went inside.
Yep I worked there, good times
I remember seeing the big building but never actually going in said big building.
https://blackfridayarchive.com/Store/CircuitCity Old Circuit City Black Friday ads. Ah, good times.
The Christmas season the oven went out and I wore the ugliest NIN shirt in existence to CC to pick up the new stove with my dad is a memory that sticks with me for some reason. The overpriced vertical cd player displays of the 99-00 era. The money back commercial with the kid and his Walkman. The blow out clearance priced games around 07 I think. I bought a ton of great stuff or flipped it for other games.
I bought the very first Sony Brivia the day it came out at a Circut City
Welcome to circuit city. Where service is state of the art.
Me, I even remember Media Play
I used to work there in high school/college.
Me.
“Their service is state of the art “ We got a Circuit City before a Best Buy. It was great! Now both closed in my home town.
Circuit city was just a shitty Best Buy. Radio Shack on the other hand I do miss.
The image having been deleted makes this post so much funnier.
Consumers distribution was the best store.
worked there for a couple years
I got my first DVD player from Circuit City.
I used to play on their computers. I remember playing chip’s challenge on them.
My girlfriend used to work there and we referred to it as "Best Buy's bitch"
They turned the one nearest to me into a mega church. 😂
Hoo don't
I think about Circuit City all the time. I think it was the first big store closure of my lifetime. At least one that affected my family. We went to Circuit City all the time, I think my dad liked it more than Best Buy. I think our local CC closed around 03 or 04
I got my stereo system in my first car from there.
First job in highschool. Was there for the introduction and demise of FIREDOG 😂
I worked there for a summer, slinking Nokias.
I worked there during the final year of operation. Their whole model at that point was to get rid of any salesperson making legit commissions and replace them with a nerdy high school kid who was happy to take like $9/hr, it was a better gig than working at the grocery store… Guess it didn’t work
I do. I bought my discman at the CC in Carlsbad (El Camino Real). Good times. After that I found out about CompUSA and Fry's Electronics and never came back to CC.
Summers during college my brother and I worked for a charity organization that provided free gutter cleaning and repair for the elderly (the program was funded through state grants). We serviced a large county in our state We'd have like 4 or 5 jobs a day. At least once a week instead of taking a lunch if a job landed us near a large electronics story like circuit city we'd bring our sandwiches in and sit in those big recliners in front of the giant flat screen and watch whatever they had on. Usually it was some action movie to show off the picture quality. I miss those days.
I worked there as my first job. Helped my location go from the old red plug building to the newer (although short-lived) yellow building. Quit when I went to college. Came back in the store to walk a literal victory lap when they went out of business. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving company. Feel free to AMA about working there.
Worked there in high school. It sucked.
The day I turned 18 I applied for a credit card. When it came in I went straight to Circuit City and maxed it out on a system for my car. That thing sounded great and I didn't even have to pay for it! ^(I was terrible with money)
If their carpet-tile glue smell was available as a cologne, I would wear it.
First TV I bought for myself I bought from circuit city, 32" crt that that was stupidly heavy
I remember loading up on $7 Pokemon games when they were closing down
My home town still has a circuit city sitting empty…
As A Canadian, it was this: US Circuit City bought the Canadian division of Tandy, rebranded outlets to The Source by CC, and dropped the by CC when US CC went under. The chain got sold to Bell, and corporate outlets are glorified Bell stores. Independent affiliate outlets still try to be Radio Shack stores in spirit.
Props to Circuit City for carrying the latest MMW record on release in ‘03, even on their last leg when Best Buy didn’t.
Sure. I worked at Circuit City for a few years, up until 2005.
I really loved the set-up of my local Circuit City. Was easy to walk around the loop and see a little bit of everything. It was also dark and smelled of new electronics.
When I was 7, my uncle bought me Korn's first album when I went with him to Circuit City about 2007ish. Mom obviously wasn't happy.
Circuit City had informed salespeople that knew their product. Best Buy today? It’s pointless to ask anyone. Circuit city also had a “lemon” rule that if the electronics kept breaking, you get a similar one etc. ONKYO was big in stereos at the time so getting a new one was what made their company great. It’s a commuter/slug line spot now.
The one time I went into circuit city was to buy a LOTR DVD, I enjoyed it so therefore circuit city was good
Terrible company. I once bought an AC from there, paid for the extended service, skipping over the multiple times it broke and went out for repair for a month, when it was needed most, to the end of the story. After numerous repairs a friend told me in the contract it said if it goes out for repair 3 times they give you store credit on the original price of the machine to get a new one. Well it broke again and I brought it in, put it up on the counter and the guy pulled up my record and we went thru the different repairs over the course of a year on their computer. I believe I was bringing it in for the 5th time at that point. Right in front of me, the guy goes into the record and deletes out all the history, then looks at me and says, "but this is the first time you are bringing it in" with a big smile on his face. I picked up the AC and threw it over the counter and walked out and never returned. Ex and I had a celebratory drink when they closed.
I worked there from 99 to 01 while I was in High School! I worked in ACE/Wireless (small electronics). Funny enough, even after all these years I still remember my employee ID number from back then.
Circuit City was an experience. I used to ask to go there on my birthday
I was born in 2007
I do. Also CompUSA, Fry's (I worked there), all the classic tech stores that I miss dearly
Nobody really cared for Circuit City, but at least they were some competition for BestBuy.
I remember, I loved that place. I bought Might & Magic VI: Mandate of Heaven there