On Jan 16, 10:37*pm, hk wrote:
Eisboch wrote:

"Eisboch" wrote in message
m...

"hk" wrote in message
news:tOKdnSJgIZhGpezUnZ2dnUVZ_jOdnZ2d@earthlink. com...

Circuit City to liquidate, shutter stores
Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:08pm EST

By Karen Jacobs and Emily Chasan

ATLANTA/RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - Bankrupt electronics retailer
Circuit City Stores said on Friday it will liquidate its assets and
shutter hundreds of U.S. stores after failing to reach a deal to sell
the company.

Good riddance. *Circuit City was one of the worst retail stores for
consumer electronics (or anything for that matter) *that I can think
of. Sales "associates" walking around with cell phones stuck in their
ear, talking to friends or congregating in groups yuking it up while
customers wait at the register to pay for purchases or need
assistance. *We had two in this area, one was in business for several
years, the other relatively new. *Both stores had the same cavalier
culture when it came to the customers.

BTW, here's another recent bankruptcy that is really too bad, but it was
inevitable.
"Sound Advice" was a decent mid to low high end quality audio retailer
based in Florida until they were purchased by Tweeter in 2001. *Since
then, both companies have been on a downward slide and recently threw in
the towel and went belly up. * Good write up on Sound Advice in the
first link.
The second link is why high end, good quality audio equipment is
becoming a thing of the past.
People are more interested in having "thousands" of files of compressed
crap on their iPods instead of high quality recordings worthy of decent
equipment. * Sad.

http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/sound-advice

http://www.audioholics.com/news/edit...-down-of-audio

Eisboch

I sometimes play my ipod through my stereo...sounds just a hair below a
well-done CD. Nothing beats an ipod for portable entertainment.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Oh, yes, electronically compressed sound is perfect........
We can certainly tell by your above bull**** that you aren't the
audiophile you claim to be!

Why is a $200 Ipod any better than a $30 Sansa if they are playing the
same compressed music?

It's not.

It's called marketing. Where Apple fell short in the hardware business, they
made up for in the marketing department. This goes all the way back to the
original Macintosh in 1984. They're geniuses in that category. More recently
they moved from the PowerPC (Motorola/IBM) processors to Intel, to be able
to compete better with Windows based PCs. Now you can boot to Windows!
Wow... why not save a thousand bucks and just buy a windows based PC? lol

--Mike

wrote in message
...
On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 22:37:17 -0500, hk wrote:

Eisboch wrote:

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

"hk" wrote in message
m...

Circuit City to liquidate, shutter stores
Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:08pm EST

By Karen Jacobs and Emily Chasan

ATLANTA/RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - Bankrupt electronics retailer
Circuit City Stores said on Friday it will liquidate its assets and
shutter hundreds of U.S. stores after failing to reach a deal to sell
the company.


Good riddance. Circuit City was one of the worst retail stores for
consumer electronics (or anything for that matter) that I can think
of. Sales "associates" walking around with cell phones stuck in their
ear, talking to friends or congregating in groups yuking it up while
customers wait at the register to pay for purchases or need
assistance. We had two in this area, one was in business for several
years, the other relatively new. Both stores had the same cavalier
culture when it came to the customers.



BTW, here's another recent bankruptcy that is really too bad, but it was
inevitable.
"Sound Advice" was a decent mid to low high end quality audio retailer
based in Florida until they were purchased by Tweeter in 2001. Since
then, both companies have been on a downward slide and recently threw in
the towel and went belly up. Good write up on Sound Advice in the
first link.
The second link is why high end, good quality audio equipment is
becoming a thing of the past.
People are more interested in having "thousands" of files of compressed
crap on their iPods instead of high quality recordings worthy of decent
equipment. Sad.

http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/sound-advice

http://www.audioholics.com/news/edit...-down-of-audio


Eisboch


I sometimes play my ipod through my stereo...sounds just a hair below a
well-done CD. Nothing beats an ipod for portable entertainment.

Why is a $200 Ipod any better than a $30 Sansa if they are playing the
same compressed music?

I think you really have to blame Al Gore for places like Circuit City
going under. If he hadn't invented the internet people would have to
go to a store to buy things. Now they can order from the comfort of
their Lazy Boy and UPS will drop it at their front door ,.. cheaper.

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

"hk" wrote in message
m...

Circuit City to liquidate, shutter stores
Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:08pm EST

By Karen Jacobs and Emily Chasan

ATLANTA/RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - Bankrupt electronics retailer
Circuit City Stores said on Friday it will liquidate its assets and
shutter hundreds of U.S. stores after failing to reach a deal to sell
the company.


Good riddance. Circuit City was one of the worst retail stores for
consumer electronics (or anything for that matter) that I can think of.
Sales "associates" walking around with cell phones stuck in their ear,
talking to friends or congregating in groups yuking it up while customers
wait at the register to pay for purchases or need assistance. We had two
in this area, one was in business for several years, the other relatively
new. Both stores had the same cavalier culture when it came to the
customers.



BTW, here's another recent bankruptcy that is really too bad, but it was
inevitable.
"Sound Advice" was a decent mid to low high end quality audio retailer
based in Florida until they were purchased by Tweeter in 2001. Since
then, both companies have been on a downward slide and recently threw in
the towel and went belly up. Good write up on Sound Advice in the first
link.
The second link is why high end, good quality audio equipment is becoming
a thing of the past.
People are more interested in having "thousands" of files of compressed
crap on their iPods instead of high quality recordings worthy of decent
equipment. Sad.

http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/sound-advice

http://www.audioholics.com/news/edit...-down-of-audio


Eisboch


iPods are having an effect, but the bigger issue, I think, is lack of
imagination and just plain balls in retailing. That's why this retailer
keeps growing every year:

http://www.rowephoto.com/index.html

Mid to high quality audio, full service, well-trained staff with outrageous
product knowledge. Began as a photo store 110 years ago. Added audio & video
in the mid-1980s. The stores are always busy. In a sense, the owner built
the business by responding to the big discounters with "So what?" Wegmans
(grocery chain) does the same thing.

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...


iPods are having an effect, but the bigger issue, I think, is lack of
imagination and just plain balls in retailing. That's why this retailer
keeps growing every year:

http://www.rowephoto.com/index.html

Mid to high quality audio, full service, well-trained staff with
outrageous product knowledge. Began as a photo store 110 years ago. Added
audio & video in the mid-1980s. The stores are always busy. In a sense,
the owner built the business by responding to the big discounters with "So
what?" Wegmans (grocery chain) does the same thing.


Hopefully they will stay around because they are diversified. There used to
be a couple of decent high-end audio shops around my area but they have all
folded. The demand (or lack of) for quality equipment just doesn't pay the
rent anymore. Even manufacturers of decent speakers are introducing lower
performance, lower priced models of their equipment to be carried by places
like Best Buy. It's too bad because people still spend a considerable
amount of money for Best Buy's versions of Klipsch or Martin Logan thinking
they are getting high end speakers. For a small amount more they could get
the real thing.

Eisboch

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...


iPods are having an effect, but the bigger issue, I think, is lack of
imagination and just plain balls in retailing. That's why this retailer
keeps growing every year:

http://www.rowephoto.com/index.html

Mid to high quality audio, full service, well-trained staff with
outrageous product knowledge. Began as a photo store 110 years ago. Added
audio & video in the mid-1980s. The stores are always busy. In a sense,
the owner built the business by responding to the big discounters with
"So what?" Wegmans (grocery chain) does the same thing.


Hopefully they will stay around because they are diversified. There used
to be a couple of decent high-end audio shops around my area but they have
all folded. The demand (or lack of) for quality equipment just doesn't
pay the rent anymore. Even manufacturers of decent speakers are
introducing lower performance, lower priced models of their equipment to
be carried by places like Best Buy. It's too bad because people still
spend a considerable amount of money for Best Buy's versions of Klipsch or
Martin Logan thinking they are getting high end speakers. For a small
amount more they could get the real thing.

Eisboch



Agree on Circuit City being crap. As to high end stores, some are probably
better than others. We have one in Livermore. When I was going to put in a
decent home theater system, went to them for a bid. They listened to what I
wanted, and then just ignored it. The first bid was $10,000. About $8k
above what I said my budget was. This did not include a TV, just the
speakers and amp/ receiver. Do not know if they are around anymore either.
Just a more expensive Circuit City. No one listening.

On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:40:58 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"hk" wrote in message
om...

Circuit City to liquidate, shutter stores
Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:08pm EST

By Karen Jacobs and Emily Chasan

ATLANTA/RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - Bankrupt electronics retailer
Circuit City Stores said on Friday it will liquidate its assets and
shutter hundreds of U.S. stores after failing to reach a deal to sell the
company.


Good riddance. Circuit City was one of the worst retail stores for consumer
electronics (or anything for that matter) that I can think of. Sales
"associates" walking around with cell phones stuck in their ear, talking to
friends or congregating in groups yuking it up while customers wait at the
register to pay for purchases or need assistance. We had two in this area,
one was in business for several years, the other relatively new. Both
stores had the same cavalier culture when it came to the customers.

Plus, typically they didn't know anything about the products they sold. Most
were high school kids working after school. At least Best Buy has some
trained sales associates that know something about what they sell. For the
market it was supposed to serve, Circuit City was no better than a Target or
Wal-Mart.

I am surprised they stayed in business as long as they did, economic
slowdown or no economic slowdown.

Eisboch

I wish someone could explain the satisfaction Harry finds in the fact that
companies are going out of business.

Is this good for liberals somehow? Circuit City had employees who had jobs,
even if those folks did nothing. Is it in the best interest of liberals
that the unemployed numbers grow larger?

I'm missing something somewhere.

"John H" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:40:58 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"hk" wrote in message
news:tOKdnSJgIZhGpezUnZ2dnUVZ_jOdnZ2d@earthlink. com...

Circuit City to liquidate, shutter stores
Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:08pm EST

By Karen Jacobs and Emily Chasan

ATLANTA/RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - Bankrupt electronics retailer
Circuit City Stores said on Friday it will liquidate its assets and
shutter hundreds of U.S. stores after failing to reach a deal to sell
the
company.


Good riddance. Circuit City was one of the worst retail stores for
consumer
electronics (or anything for that matter) that I can think of. Sales
"associates" walking around with cell phones stuck in their ear, talking
to
friends or congregating in groups yuking it up while customers wait at the
register to pay for purchases or need assistance. We had two in this
area,
one was in business for several years, the other relatively new. Both
stores had the same cavalier culture when it came to the customers.

Plus, typically they didn't know anything about the products they sold.
Most
were high school kids working after school. At least Best Buy has some
trained sales associates that know something about what they sell. For
the
market it was supposed to serve, Circuit City was no better than a Target
or
Wal-Mart.

I am surprised they stayed in business as long as they did, economic
slowdown or no economic slowdown.

Eisboch

I wish someone could explain the satisfaction Harry finds in the fact that
companies are going out of business.

Is this good for liberals somehow? Circuit City had employees who had
jobs,
even if those folks did nothing. Is it in the best interest of liberals
that the unemployed numbers grow larger?

I'm missing something somewhere.

Yes, you are missing something, and so is Harry. Circuit City was in bad
shape way before the economy went down the toilet. There are badly run
businesses and there are well run businesses. Capitalism is based on
competition - the survival of the fittest. Circuit City deserved to die. I
feel bad for their employees, but hopefully, a few of them will learn a
lesson from their experience. Probably not, though, because their managers
expected to make money for doing pretty much nothing special, so they were
lousy role models.

When I was in the audio business, we expected new employees to learn every
piece of equipment in the store. On slow days, we'd send them to the
upstairs office during lunch with a receiver or whatever, and told them to
learn it until they could work it blindfolded. If there were no customers,
we'd stick them in the sound room and tell them to listen hard to all the
speakers until they could describe the differences adequately. We made them
study, in other words. We all took home demo pieces overnight to learning
purposes.

A friend from those days is now an independent sales trainer. He said "no"
to working for CC after one disturbing experience. He played customer &
called our local store, asking if they had a certain Harmon Kardon receiver
in stock. The employee told him they didn't carry Harmon Kardon. My friend
knew, of course, that they carried HK, and several HK items had been
featured in their Sunday newspaper ad that same week. When he told their
regional manager about his experience, the guy pretty much yawned and said
"That's why we want you to do training for us." My friend said no thanks,
figuring that if the employees didn't care enough to walk around their own
store and see what brands they carried, sales training was the least of
their problems. Even worse was that the manager didn't have clue about the
real problem.

The only advantage CC offered me was the ability to order online and pick up
an item at the store. That's pretty expensive real estate for what amounts
to nothing but a warehouse.

Meanwhile, we have the perfect model of capitalism here. Maybe Rochester
customers have high expectations because of this company:

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3795
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/1124/166_print.html
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortu...4048/index.htm

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"John H" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:40:58 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

"hk" wrote in message
m...

Circuit City to liquidate, shutter stores
Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:08pm EST

By Karen Jacobs and Emily Chasan

ATLANTA/RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - Bankrupt electronics retailer
Circuit City Stores said on Friday it will liquidate its assets and
shutter hundreds of U.S. stores after failing to reach a deal to sell
the
company.

Good riddance. Circuit City was one of the worst retail stores for
consumer
electronics (or anything for that matter) that I can think of. Sales
"associates" walking around with cell phones stuck in their ear, talking
to
friends or congregating in groups yuking it up while customers wait at the
register to pay for purchases or need assistance. We had two in this
area,
one was in business for several years, the other relatively new. Both
stores had the same cavalier culture when it came to the customers.

Plus, typically they didn't know anything about the products they sold.
Most
were high school kids working after school. At least Best Buy has some
trained sales associates that know something about what they sell. For
the
market it was supposed to serve, Circuit City was no better than a Target
or
Wal-Mart.

I am surprised they stayed in business as long as they did, economic
slowdown or no economic slowdown.

Eisboch
I wish someone could explain the satisfaction Harry finds in the fact that
companies are going out of business.

Is this good for liberals somehow? Circuit City had employees who had
jobs,
even if those folks did nothing. Is it in the best interest of liberals
that the unemployed numbers grow larger?

I'm missing something somewhere.

Yes, you are missing something, and so is Harry.



I'm not missing a thing in circuit city, nor was my comment in any
way intended to express "glee" over the closing of circuit city and the
loss of its jobs. The few times I shopped at circuit city were
uneventful. My comments simply served to point out yet another large
business failing at least partially as a result of the failed Bush
Administration.

We're going to have more of these as President Obama and his team
attempt to dig us out of the hole blasted to the core by the Bush
administration and its enablers.

As for Best Buy, the only times I have found anyone there who knows
anything is on the days the manufacturers or distributors have "reps"
around for a special event or sale. I don't fault the regular sales
staff for this; there are too many products at the store, the employees
aren't paid well, and the margins are tight.

We internet-shop a lot, although the Annapolis Mall has gotten a lot
more attractive the last year or so with its major league expansion. All
that's missing there now is an L.L. Bean and a Restoration Hardware,
which I frequented at the Tysons Corner Mall in Virginia. The only other
store in Virginia where I shop is the big MicroCenter computer store,
but they now have one in Rockville, MD. We have a nice Apple computer
store at Annapolis, where I bought my laptop and will soon be buying my
new desktop.

We're big fans here of Amazon.

On Sat, 17 Jan 2009 08:31:19 -0500, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

"John H" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:40:58 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"hk" wrote in message
news:tOKdnSJgIZhGpezUnZ2dnUVZ_jOdnZ2d@earthlink .com...

Circuit City to liquidate, shutter stores
Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:08pm EST

By Karen Jacobs and Emily Chasan

ATLANTA/RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - Bankrupt electronics retailer
Circuit City Stores said on Friday it will liquidate its assets and
shutter hundreds of U.S. stores after failing to reach a deal to sell
the
company.


Good riddance. Circuit City was one of the worst retail stores for
consumer
electronics (or anything for that matter) that I can think of. Sales
"associates" walking around with cell phones stuck in their ear, talking
to
friends or congregating in groups yuking it up while customers wait at the
register to pay for purchases or need assistance. We had two in this
area,
one was in business for several years, the other relatively new. Both
stores had the same cavalier culture when it came to the customers.

Plus, typically they didn't know anything about the products they sold.
Most
were high school kids working after school. At least Best Buy has some
trained sales associates that know something about what they sell. For
the
market it was supposed to serve, Circuit City was no better than a Target
or
Wal-Mart.

I am surprised they stayed in business as long as they did, economic
slowdown or no economic slowdown.

Eisboch

I wish someone could explain the satisfaction Harry finds in the fact that
companies are going out of business.

Is this good for liberals somehow? Circuit City had employees who had
jobs,
even if those folks did nothing. Is it in the best interest of liberals
that the unemployed numbers grow larger?

I'm missing something somewhere.

Yes, you are missing something, and so is Harry. Circuit City was in bad
shape way before the economy went down the toilet. There are badly run
businesses and there are well run businesses. Capitalism is based on
competition - the survival of the fittest. Circuit City deserved to die. I
feel bad for their employees, but hopefully, a few of them will learn a
lesson from their experience. Probably not, though, because their managers
expected to make money for doing pretty much nothing special, so they were
lousy role models.

When I was in the audio business, we expected new employees to learn every
piece of equipment in the store. On slow days, we'd send them to the
upstairs office during lunch with a receiver or whatever, and told them to
learn it until they could work it blindfolded. If there were no customers,
we'd stick them in the sound room and tell them to listen hard to all the
speakers until they could describe the differences adequately. We made them
study, in other words. We all took home demo pieces overnight to learning
purposes.

A friend from those days is now an independent sales trainer. He said "no"
to working for CC after one disturbing experience. He played customer &
called our local store, asking if they had a certain Harmon Kardon receiver
in stock. The employee told him they didn't carry Harmon Kardon. My friend
knew, of course, that they carried HK, and several HK items had been
featured in their Sunday newspaper ad that same week. When he told their
regional manager about his experience, the guy pretty much yawned and said
"That's why we want you to do training for us." My friend said no thanks,
figuring that if the employees didn't care enough to walk around their own
store and see what brands they carried, sales training was the least of
their problems. Even worse was that the manager didn't have clue about the
real problem.

The only advantage CC offered me was the ability to order online and pick up
an item at the store. That's pretty expensive real estate for what amounts
to nothing but a warehouse.

Meanwhile, we have the perfect model of capitalism here. Maybe Rochester
customers have high expectations because of this company:

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3795
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/1124/166_print.html
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortu...4048/index.htm


Doug, it's not the focus on CC that prompted my question. It's the posting
of any article which discusses the problems companies are having, and the
gloating that occurs therewith.

*That's* what I don't understand. Why take pleasure in the fact that
companies (any company) is going out of business?

"John H" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 17 Jan 2009 08:31:19 -0500, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

"John H" wrote in message
. ..
On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:40:58 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"hk" wrote in message
news:tOKdnSJgIZhGpezUnZ2dnUVZ_jOdnZ2d@earthlin k.com...

Circuit City to liquidate, shutter stores
Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:08pm EST

By Karen Jacobs and Emily Chasan

ATLANTA/RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - Bankrupt electronics retailer
Circuit City Stores said on Friday it will liquidate its assets and
shutter hundreds of U.S. stores after failing to reach a deal to sell
the
company.


Good riddance. Circuit City was one of the worst retail stores for
consumer
electronics (or anything for that matter) that I can think of. Sales
"associates" walking around with cell phones stuck in their ear, talking
to
friends or congregating in groups yuking it up while customers wait at
the
register to pay for purchases or need assistance. We had two in this
area,
one was in business for several years, the other relatively new. Both
stores had the same cavalier culture when it came to the customers.

Plus, typically they didn't know anything about the products they sold.
Most
were high school kids working after school. At least Best Buy has some
trained sales associates that know something about what they sell. For
the
market it was supposed to serve, Circuit City was no better than a
Target
or
Wal-Mart.

I am surprised they stayed in business as long as they did, economic
slowdown or no economic slowdown.

Eisboch

I wish someone could explain the satisfaction Harry finds in the fact
that
companies are going out of business.

Is this good for liberals somehow? Circuit City had employees who had
jobs,
even if those folks did nothing. Is it in the best interest of liberals
that the unemployed numbers grow larger?

I'm missing something somewhere.

Yes, you are missing something, and so is Harry. Circuit City was in bad
shape way before the economy went down the toilet. There are badly run
businesses and there are well run businesses. Capitalism is based on
competition - the survival of the fittest. Circuit City deserved to die. I
feel bad for their employees, but hopefully, a few of them will learn a
lesson from their experience. Probably not, though, because their managers
expected to make money for doing pretty much nothing special, so they were
lousy role models.

When I was in the audio business, we expected new employees to learn every
piece of equipment in the store. On slow days, we'd send them to the
upstairs office during lunch with a receiver or whatever, and told them to
learn it until they could work it blindfolded. If there were no customers,
we'd stick them in the sound room and tell them to listen hard to all the
speakers until they could describe the differences adequately. We made
them
study, in other words. We all took home demo pieces overnight to learning
purposes.

A friend from those days is now an independent sales trainer. He said "no"
to working for CC after one disturbing experience. He played customer &
called our local store, asking if they had a certain Harmon Kardon
receiver
in stock. The employee told him they didn't carry Harmon Kardon. My friend
knew, of course, that they carried HK, and several HK items had been
featured in their Sunday newspaper ad that same week. When he told their
regional manager about his experience, the guy pretty much yawned and said
"That's why we want you to do training for us." My friend said no thanks,
figuring that if the employees didn't care enough to walk around their own
store and see what brands they carried, sales training was the least of
their problems. Even worse was that the manager didn't have clue about the
real problem.

The only advantage CC offered me was the ability to order online and pick
up
an item at the store. That's pretty expensive real estate for what amounts
to nothing but a warehouse.

Meanwhile, we have the perfect model of capitalism here. Maybe Rochester
customers have high expectations because of this company:

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3795
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/1124/166_print.html
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortu...4048/index.htm


Doug, it's not the focus on CC that prompted my question. It's the posting
of any article which discusses the problems companies are having, and the
gloating that occurs therewith.

*That's* what I don't understand. Why take pleasure in the fact that
companies (any company) is going out of business?


Because it represents the potential for an improvement in the industry. But,
I realize that's idealistic at best. We get what we deserve, so as long as
there are customers who think a $3.99 bottle of detergent is cheaper at one
store than the exact same $3.99 bottle at another store, because the first
store yells "We're cheaper!" all the time, then we will always have bad
retailers around.