Surviving in 2009…A lesson from Circuit City

Hard Work – Integrity – and Superior Service..We all know that in 2009 many people are cutting back or tightly watching how they spend their money. In these rough times electronics retailer Circuit City has gone into bankruptcy and been unable to emerge from a bankruptcy and is now liquidating their inventory. So I decided to browse through the store in Brandon to look for a new charger for my sub Mac standard HP laptop. (less than a year and the charger quit..it retails for $75 @ Best Buy) Don’t buy an HP, save yourself the headache from Vista & HP and get a Mac. Once in the store I realized that things were only marked down 10%. I can go on Tigerdirect.com and save 20% dammit! Since I was already in the store I decided to look around anyway. I didn’t see any laptop chargers anywhere nor employees to help me find one. Then I saw an employee about to walk out of a door. There was another customer standing near this employee only door waiting to ask a question also. Surprisingly there were 3 employees behind this locked door laughing and looking out at us. WOW! No wonder your going out of business was the only thought that came to my mind. I immediately left the store only to have my thoughts about Circuit City reconfirmed. Lazy employees/shoddy customer service, small selection, and high pricing. A great recipe for failure in any industry. So bye Circuit City and hello Best Buy! Not that I shop a lot at Best Buy either. Why? When I can get better deals online. But the customer service is always better at Best Buy by far. In this environment you cannot survive by offering sub standard service, a poor selection, or high prices. Common sense business knowledge that isn’t so common. Best of luck in 09′.