Spectre Brands

GhostConsumer electronics superstores · Richmond, Virginia

Circuit City

Founded in Richmond in 1949. Filed for Chapter 11 on Nov 10, 2008. Last stores closed by Mar 8, 2009.

It sold itself on expert salespeople. In March 2007 it dismissed about 3,400 of them for earning too much.

Why ghost: Circuit City Stores, Inc. liquidated its last 567 U.S. stores in early 2009 and its estate passed to a liquidating trust in 2010, but the name has been sold twice since and an online shop still trades as Circuit City at circuitcity.com.15182337

Store closing sale signs hanging inside a Circuit City store
Store closing sale, Feb 2009Photo: Ildar Sagdejev (Specious), via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Circuit City home page in August 2000
circuitcity.com, Aug 2000
Circuit City superstore with a red tower entrance
The red tower entrance, Newington, CTPhoto: Mike Kalasnik, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Circuit City built the consumer electronics superstore, grew to more than 600 of them and launched CarMax on the side. Best Buy passed it in sales in the mid-1990s and never looked back. A decade of cost cuts, share buybacks and reversals left the company with no cushion when credit froze in 2008. This is the full post-mortem, built from the company’s SEC filings, its bankruptcy disclosure statement, contemporary press and the archived website.

The company in four numbers

$12.43B
peak net sales, fiscal year ended Feb 28, 20071
3,400
store employees dismissed on Mar 28, 2007 for being paid “well above” the market range10
567
U.S. stores put into liquidation on Jan 16, 200915
$2.0M
what the Circuit City name and trademarks sold for in November 201523

Key findings

  1. Best Buy was bigger by fiscal 1996. Best Buy reported $7.2B in revenue for fiscal 1996 against $6.75B for the Circuit City stores. By fiscal 2008 the gap was $40.0B to $11.7B.2471
  2. It cut the thing it was known for. Commissions ended in February 2003. In March 2007 about 3,400 store employees were dismissed because they were paid above the market range, with new hires brought in at lower pay.310
  3. The side bets cut both ways. CarMax, started in 1993 and separated in 2002, now sells $25.9B a year. Divx cost $219.3M after tax (derived) in three fiscal years.266
  4. The cash went to shareholders. The board authorised up to $1.2B of share repurchases between 2003 and 2006, and all but $233.7M of that had been used by March 2008.1
  5. Vendors ended it. In autumn 2008 suppliers cut credit and in some cases demanded payment before shipment. The company filed for Chapter 11 seven days after disclosing it.1314

Post-mortem No. 004 · Every figure links to a numbered source · Derived figures, estimates and unverified claims are labeled

The story

Sixty years to build, six to take apart

Circuit City did not fail because of one decision. It lost its lead to Best Buy in the 1990s, spent the 2000s cutting costs and buying back stock, and reached the 2008 credit crisis with losses, unhappy suppliers and nobody willing to rescue it.

Chapter 1 of 6

8 → 53

Circuit City superstores, 1983 to 1987, according to the Richmond Fed

A closed Circuit City store with a red entrance tower, seen across a snowy parking lot
A closed Circuit City in Newington, Connecticut, still wearing the red tower entrance of the older superstores. Photo by Mike Kalasnik, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.39

1949 – 1986 · The Wurtzels

From a tire store to the superstore

Sam Wurtzel started selling televisions in 1949 from the front half of a tire store on Broad Street in Richmond, Virginia. He called the shop Wards, an acronym of the family’s names. The company went public in December 1961, expanded too fast and nearly went bankrupt in 1975.29

His son Alan, chief executive from 1972, closed the weak outlets and rebuilt the company around one format: a large showroom attached to a larger warehouse, with no central checkout and commissioned salespeople who walked customers through the purchase.29 The corporate name changed from Wards Company to Circuit City Stores in June 1984.10 When Alan Wurtzel stepped down in 1986, annual sales were about $1 billion.2932

Chapter 2 of 6

$219.3M

after-tax losses on Divx across fiscal 1998 to 2000 (derived)

Commercial · 1999Circuit City Divx commercial According to the uploader, taken from Circuit City’s May 1999 in-store demonstration DVD, one month before Divx was shut down on June 16, 1999.6 Watch on YouTube

1986 – 2000 · The Sharp years

CarMax, Divx and a rival nobody feared

Under Richard Sharp the chain grew from 69 stores to 616, and sales from $1 billion to $12.6 billion including CarMax.296 CarMax, a used-car superstore opened in Richmond in 1993, was the bet that worked.626

Divx was the one that did not. Circuit City committed $130 million to a pay-per-view variant of DVD: a disc that played for 48 hours after the first viewing, then billed the customer’s card through a phone line in the player.76 On June 16, 1999 the venture said it would shut down because it “did not obtain the studio support necessary for long-term success.”6

Meanwhile Best Buy, with central checkouts, no commissions and low-margin goods such as CDs and games to pull shoppers in, had passed the Circuit City stores in revenue by fiscal 1996.29247 “We thought we were smarter than anybody,” Alan Wurtzel said later.29

Chapter 3 of 6

14%

of Circuit City’s fiscal 2000 sales came from major appliances, the category it quit that year

Circuit City home page from August 2000 with a red header and a TiVo promotion
circuitcity.com on Aug 15, 2000, three weeks after the appliance announcement. “Appliances” is still in the menu.38

2000 – 2003 · Retreat

Out of appliances, out of commissions

On July 25, 2000 the company announced it would stop selling major appliances and give the floor space to electronics and home office products. It cited “significant sales weakness and increased competition” in the category. Six distribution centers and seven service centers closed that fiscal year, and the exit cost $30 million.5

Sales of the Circuit City business fell from $10.5 billion in fiscal 2000 to $9.5 billion in fiscal 2002, while Best Buy grew from $12.5 billion to $17.7 billion.224 CarMax was separated on October 1, 2002.12

In early February 2003 the sales force moved from commission plus hourly pay to hourly pay only.3 The Richmond Fed’s history says 3,900 of the highest-paid salespeople were dismissed in a single day.29

Chapter 4 of 6

3,400

store employees dismissed on Mar 28, 2007, about 8% of the workforce

PAID WELL ABOVE THE MARKET-BASED RANGE SALES COUNSELOR one of 3,400
Original illustration. The wording on the slip is quoted from the company’s Form 8-K of March 28, 2007.

2003 – 2007 · The cuts

“Paid well above the market-based salary range”

The middle of the decade looked like a recovery. Sales rose every year from fiscal 2004 and reached $12.43 billion in fiscal 2007.1 The company bought the Canadian chain InterTAN for $259.3 million in 2004 and raised its share repurchase authorisation in steps to $1.2 billion.91

The fiscal 2007 result, however, was a $10 million loss from continuing operations.1 On March 28, 2007 the company said it had completed a “wage management initiative.” About 3,400 store employees were told that day they were out. The filing says the analysis “identified employees who were paid well above the market-based salary range for their role.” Severance came to $9.9 million.10

They could reapply for their old jobs after ten weeks, at lower pay.30 The next 10-K listed “the impact of our wage management initiative on Associate morale and our reputation with customers” among its risks.1

Chapter 5 of 6

567

U.S. stores put into going-out-of-business sales from Jan 17, 2009

Commercial · 2009The going-out-of-business commercial The liquidators’ television spot for the closing sales, uploaded on January 23, 2009, a week after the liquidation was announced.15 Watch on YouTube

2008 – Mar 2009 · Collapse

Suppliers wanted cash before shipping

Fiscal 2008 ended with a net loss of $319.9 million.1 In April Blockbuster went public with an offer of at least $6 a share, then withdrew it on July 1 after due diligence.2035 Chief executive Philip Schoonover left on September 22. The loss for the six months to August 31 was $404.0 million.16

On November 3 the company said it would close 155 stores and disclosed that some vendors now required payment before shipment.13 A week later, on November 10, 2008, it filed for Chapter 11 with a $1.1 billion bankruptcy loan, hoping to stock its shelves for the holidays.14

No buyer or lender agreed terms. On January 16, 2009 the company said it would liquidate. Sales at the 567 remaining stores started the next day and were finished by March 8.1517

Chapter 6 of 6

$2.0M

paid for the Circuit City name and trademarks in November 2015

Circuit City website in January 2010 with television and laptop deals
circuitcity.com under Systemax, captured Jan 4, 2010: an online store with no shops behind it.38

2009 – today · The name

A brand worth less each time it sold

Systemax, the owner of TigerDirect, bought the trademarks, the website and the customer list at auction in May 2009 for $14.0 million plus a share of revenue, and ran circuitcity.com as an online store.2117 In 2012 it folded the brand into TigerDirect.2223

In November 2015 Systemax sold the name and trademarks for $2.0 million.23 The new owner’s chief executive, Ronny Shmoel, announced at the January 2018 Consumer Electronics Show that the website would relaunch that February, with kiosks and showrooms to follow.36 We found no evidence that a store chain was built. The website was still listing electronics for sale when we loaded it in October 2026.37

Timeline

Seven decades, 33 moments

From a television counter in a tire store to a web shop with the old logo. Filter by thread.

All 33 events as a list
  1. 1949
    Corporate

    Wards opens in Richmond

    Sam Wurtzel begins selling televisions from the front half of a tire store on Broad Street.29

  2. Dec 1961
    Corporate

    Wards goes public

    The share sale pays for a national expansion through licensed departments in discount stores.29

  3. 1972
    Corporate

    Alan Wurtzel becomes CEO

    After a near-bankruptcy in 1975 he closes weak outlets and builds the superstore format.29

  4. Jun 201984
    Corporate

    Wards Company becomes Circuit City Stores

    The date of the name change recorded on the company’s SEC filings.10

  5. 1986
    Corporate

    Richard Sharp succeeds Wurtzel

    Sales are about $1 billion a year, from 69 stores.29

  6. 1993
    Side bets

    First CarMax opens in Richmond

    A used-car superstore with fixed prices, owned by Circuit City.626

  7. Feb 1994
    Stores & staff

    251 superstores

    Plus 34 mall stores, most of them renamed Circuit City Express that year.8

  8. FY1996
    Rivals

    Best Buy passes Circuit City in revenue

    Best Buy reports $7.2B for its fiscal 1996. The Circuit City stores report $6.75B.247

  9. Sep 1997
    Side bets

    $100 million more for Divx

    With an earlier $30 million, it gives Circuit City about two-thirds of Digital Video Express.7

  10. 1999
    Stores & staff

    circuitcity.com starts selling

    The 10-K dates the launch of the web store to 1999.1

  11. Jun 161999
    Side bets

    Divx is shut down

    The venture cites a lack of studio support. Buyers of Divx players are offered a $100 rebate.633

  12. Feb 2000
    Stores & staff

    Fiscal 2000: the high point for profit

    Circuit City’s continuing operations earn $271 million on $10.5 billion of sales.2

  13. 2000
    Corporate

    Alan McCollough becomes CEO

    He succeeds Sharp as chief executive.29

  14. Jul 252000
    Stores & staff

    Exit from major appliances

    The category was 14% of fiscal 2000 sales. Exit costs are $30 million.5

  15. Oct 12002
    Side bets

    CarMax separated

    Holders of Circuit City stock receive 0.314 of a CarMax share for each share.12

  16. Feb 2003
    Stores & staff

    Commissions end

    The sales force moves to hourly pay only. The Richmond Fed reports 3,900 dismissals in one day.329

  17. May 2004
    Corporate

    InterTAN bought for $259.3 million

    The Canadian chain is later renamed The Source by Circuit City. The store credit card business is sold to Bank One the same month.9

  18. Jun 2006
    Corporate

    Buyback authorisation reaches $1.2 billion

    The fourth increase since January 2003.1

  19. Feb 82007
    Stores & staff

    Seven superstores to close

    Part of a restructuring that also brings a $92 million write-down of the Canadian business.1110

  20. Mar 282007
    Stores & staff

    3,400 store employees dismissed

    The “wage management initiative.” IT infrastructure is outsourced to IBM the same day.1030

  21. Feb 292008
    Stores & staff

    682 superstores, the most ever

    The fiscal year ends with a net loss of $319.9 million.1

  22. Apr 142008
    Rivals

    Blockbuster offers at least $6 a share

    It says it first made the offer in a letter on February 17.20

  23. Jul 12008
    Rivals

    Blockbuster withdraws

    After due diligence, it says a deal is not in its shareholders’ interest.35

  24. Sep 222008
    Corporate

    Schoonover out

    James Marcum, a director nominated by activist investor Mark Wattles, becomes acting CEO.161917

  25. Nov 32008
    Bankruptcy & after

    155 stores to close

    The company says vendors are restricting credit and some want payment before shipment.13

  26. Nov 102008
    Bankruptcy & after

    Chapter 11

    Filed in Richmond with a commitment for $1.1 billion of debtor-in-possession financing.14

  27. Jan 162009
    Bankruptcy & after

    “Circuit City Stores, Inc. To Liquidate”

    No going-concern deal is reached. The court approves closing 567 stores and distribution centers.15

  28. Mar 82009
    Bankruptcy & after

    Going-out-of-business sales end

    The liquidators finish at the last stores.17

  29. May 192009
    Bankruptcy & after

    Systemax buys the name

    $14.0 million in cash plus a revenue share guaranteed at $3.0 million or more.21

  30. Nov 12010
    Bankruptcy & after

    Liquidating trust takes over

    The plan becomes effective and the remaining directors resign.18

  31. Oct 312012
    Bankruptcy & after

    Systemax retires the brand

    U.S. consumer operations are consolidated under TigerDirect.2223

  32. Nov 2015
    Bankruptcy & after

    Name sold again, for $2.0 million

    The buyer is not named in Systemax’s annual report.23

  33. Jan 2018
    Bankruptcy & after

    A relaunch is announced at CES

    Chief executive Ronny Shmoel promises a new website on February 15 and, later, kiosks and showrooms.36

A later-format store with the round logo on a yellow panel.
Undated A later-format store with the round logo on a yellow panel.Photo: Staus at English Wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Part 2 of 6

Business

The numbers · Rivals

The money

Flat for eight years while the rival tripled

Circuit City’s sales in fiscal 2008 were about where they had been in fiscal 2000. Over the same years Best Buy more than tripled. The store count kept rising until the final year.

Superstores open at fiscal year end, 1990 to the end

Circuit City superstores only. Fiscal years end on the last day of February.

0200400600800199019941998200220042007Mar 200912345602505007501990199620022006Mar 2009123456
  1. 1994 · CarMax starts The first CarMax opened in Richmond in 1993, while the electronics chain was adding about 35 superstores a year.86
  2. 2000 · Peak profit, and the appliance exit Fiscal 2000 earnings from continuing operations were $271M. That July the company quit major appliances.25
  3. 2003 · Commissions end The sales force went to hourly pay in February 2003. The store count dipped the next year.31
  4. 2007 · 3,400 dismissed The wage management initiative of March 28, 2007, a month after fiscal 2007 closed.10
  5. 2008 · Most stores ever 682 superstores at February 29, 2008, after 43 openings in a year that lost $319.9M.1
  6. Dec 2008 · 155 closed, 567 left The stores remaining at December 31, 2008, all liquidated by March 8, 2009.1517
Data table
Superstores open at fiscal year end, 1990 to the end
Fiscal year endSuperstores
1990125
1992183
1994251
1996378
1998500
2000571
2002604
2003611
2004599
2006626
2007642
2008682
Dec 2008567
Mar 20090
Store-mix tables in the 10-Ks for fiscal 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2008876431. Fiscal 1996 (378) is the derived sum of the four superstore formats in the fiscal 1998 table. December 2008 is the domestic store count in the liquidation release15. Mall-based Express stores are excluded.

Circuit City vs. Best Buy: annual sales

$ billions by fiscal year. Both companies’ fiscal years end around the last day of February.

Data table
Circuit City vs. Best Buy: annual sales
PeriodBest Buy revenueCircuit City net sales
FY96$7.2B$6.8B
FY97$7.8B$7.2B
FY98$8.3B$8.0B
FY99$10.1B$9.3B
FY00$12.5B$10.5B
FY01$15.3B$10.3B
FY02$17.7B$9.5B
FY03$20.9B$10.0B
FY04$24.5B$9.9B
FY05$27.4B$10.4B
FY06$30.8B$11.5B
FY07$35.9B$12.4B
FY08$40.0B$11.7B
Circuit City: FY96–FY99 are Circuit City Group sales, which exclude CarMax76; FY00–FY03 are continuing operations as restated in the fiscal 2004 10-K2; FY04–FY08 are consolidated net sales, which include the Canadian segment from May 20041. Best Buy: revenue as shown in the highlights tables of its fiscal 2001, 2006 and 2009 10-Ks24. The series are not restated to a common basis.

Net earnings from continuing operations

$ millions by fiscal year.

Data table
Net earnings from continuing operations
PeriodNet earnings (loss) from continuing operations
FY00$271M
FY01$83M
FY02$68M
FY03$-5M
FY04$-1M
FY05$61M
FY06$147M
FY07$-10M
FY08$-321M
Selected financial data in the fiscal 2004 10-K (FY00–FY03)2 and the fiscal 2008 10-K (FY04–FY08)1.

What the stores sold in fiscal 2000

Share of Circuit City sales by category, the year before the appliance exit.

  1. 33%Information technology
  2. 32%Video
  3. 16%Audio
  4. 14%AppliancesDropped after July 25, 2000.
  5. 5%Entertainment
Data table
What the stores sold in fiscal 2000
ItemShare
Information technology33%
Video32%
Audio16%
Appliances14%
Entertainment5%
Sales by merchandise category, fiscal 2001 10-K5.

Where the Divx money went

After-tax losses booked on Digital Video Express, by fiscal year.

$219.3M total after-tax loss on Divx, fiscal 1998 to 2000 (derived sum)
$20.6M 9%Operating loss, fiscal 1998$68.5M 31%Operating loss, fiscal 1999$16.2M 7%Operating loss, fiscal 2000$114.0M 52%Loss on disposal$20.6M 9%Operating loss, fiscal 1998$68.5M 31%Operating loss, fiscal 1999$16.2M 7%Operating loss, fiscal 2000$114.0M 52%Loss on disposal
  • Operating loss, fiscal 1998. Development, before the product reached stores.6
  • Operating loss, fiscal 1999. The launch year.6
  • Operating loss, fiscal 2000. March 1999 to the shutdown on June 16, 1999.6
  • Loss on disposal. Studio commitments, write-downs, leases, severance and the two-year phase-out.6
Data table
Where the Divx money went
Where it wentAmountShareNote
Operating loss, fiscal 1998$20.6M9%Development, before the product reached stores.
Operating loss, fiscal 1999$68.5M31%The launch year.
Operating loss, fiscal 2000$16.2M7%March 1999 to the shutdown on June 16, 1999.
Loss on disposal$114.0M52%Studio commitments, write-downs, leases, severance and the two-year phase-out.
Fiscal 2000 10-K6. Each figure is after an income tax benefit. The total is derived: 20.6 + 68.5 + 16.2 + 114.0 = 219.3.

The last twelve months

$319.9M
net loss for the fiscal year ended February 29, 20081
$404.0M
net loss from continuing operations in the following six months, to August 31, 200816
$650M
or more of unsecured trade debt owed to suppliers at the filing, the company’s estimate17
39,600
employees on November 10, 2008. The liquidation release two months later says “more than 30,000”1715

567 stores, all at once

567U.S. stores and distribution centers put into liquidation on January 16, 200915
=
189 ×stores per icon (3; each icon is 3 stores)

Derived 567 ÷ 3 = 189 icons. The 567 follows the 155 stores closed in November and December 2008; the company had about 721 stores when it filed.17

Data table
567 stores, all at once
Value
U.S. stores and distribution centers put into liquidation on January 16, 2009567
stores per icon3
Ratio189 (derived)

Not shown: a share price series. The 10-K gives quarterly ranges only. The stock traded between $23.00 and $31.54 in the first quarter of fiscal 2007 and as low as $5.35 in the third quarter of fiscal 2008.1 Blockbuster’s offer in April 2008 was “at least $6.00” a share.20 The liquidation release said the company did not expect any value to remain for common shareholders.15

The rivals

One winner, several graves

Circuit City was the second-largest electronics chain when it died. Most of the specialist chains it competed with followed it. The one that passed it in the 1990s is still the market leader.

Electronics chains: who is still standing

The headline figure for each, and what became of it.

Circuit City

Ghost
FY96: $6.75B2009
$11.7B Net sales in fiscal 2008, its last full year. Liquidated in 2009; the name survives on a web shop.11537

Best Buy

Survived
FY96: $7.2BFY2026
$41.7B Revenue in fiscal 2026. It was $7.2B in fiscal 1996.2524

CompUSA

Acquired
$30.6M What Systemax paid in January 2008 for its e-commerce business and 16 store leases. The brand was retired with Circuit City’s in 2012.2322

RadioShack

Ghost
Feb 2015 Filed for Chapter 11 on February 5, 2015. The name has changed hands since.27

hhgregg

Dead
132 stores Filed for Chapter 11 on March 6, 2017. The court approved closing all 132 stores a month later.28

CarMax (spun off 2002)

Survived
$25.9B Not a rival but an offspring: the used-car chain Circuit City started in 1993.26
Data table
Electronics chains: who is still standing
CompanyOutcomeScale and fateNotesSeries
Circuit CityGhost$11.7BNet sales in fiscal 2008, its last full year. Liquidated in 2009; the name survives on a web shop.6.753, 7.997, 10.503, 9.518, 9.857, 11.514, 11.744, 0
Best BuySurvived$41.7BRevenue in fiscal 2026. It was $7.2B in fiscal 1996.7.215, 8.338, 12.494, 17.711, 24.548, 30.848, 40.023, 41.691
CompUSAAcquired$30.6MWhat Systemax paid in January 2008 for its e-commerce business and 16 store leases. The brand was retired with Circuit City’s in 2012.
RadioShackGhostFeb 2015Filed for Chapter 11 on February 5, 2015. The name has changed hands since.
hhgreggDead132 storesFiled for Chapter 11 on March 6, 2017. The court approved closing all 132 stores a month later.
CarMax (spun off 2002)Survived$25.9BNot a rival but an offspring: the used-car chain Circuit City started in 1993.
Company filings as cited. Sparkline points are selected fiscal years from the sales chart above, plus Best Buy’s fiscal 2026 revenue25.
Ghost

Circuit City

Origin
Wards, Richmond, 194929
Sales floor
Commissioned salespeople until 20033
Sales, fiscal 1996
$6.75B7
Sales, fiscal 2008
$11.74B1
Net result, fiscal 2008
$319.9M loss1
Appliances
Dropped in 20005
Outcome
Liquidated, 200915
Alive

Best Buy

Origin
Sound of Music, Minnesota, 196629
Sales floor
Central checkout, self-service29
Revenue, fiscal 1996
$7.2B24
Revenue, fiscal 2008
$40.0B24
Net earnings, fiscal 2008
$1,407M24
Appliances
Kept selling them29
Outcome
$41.7B revenue, fiscal 202625

What the founder’s son said

Alan Wurtzel, who ran the company until 1986 and sat on the board until 2001, wrote a book about the collapse. His summary to a Richmond audience in 2012: “After I left, my successors became very focused on the bottom line.” The company refused to sell video games because the margin was low, he said, while “Best Buy was happily catering to that market.”3229

Part 3 of 6

Brand

Commercials & footage · Old website · Brand gallery

Commercials & footage

From “state of the art” to “everything must go”

Two commercials from the years when the pitch was service, an in-store promotion for Divx, the liquidation as local television covered it, and a later look back.

Commercial · 1990“Where Service Is State of the Art,” 60-second spot A full-length version of the jingle commercial. The 1990 date is the uploader’s. The slogan was the chain’s promise for two decades: trained salespeople who would explain the product. Watch on YouTube
Commercial · 1993Circuit City commercial, 1993 A 30-second price-and-selection spot. The uploader says it was recorded off air in 1993, the year the first CarMax opened.6 Watch on YouTube
Commercial · 1999Circuit City Divx commercial According to the uploader, taken from Circuit City’s May 1999 in-store demonstration DVD, one month before Divx was shut down on June 16, 1999.6 Watch on YouTube
Commercial · 2009The going-out-of-business commercial The liquidators’ television spot for the closing sales, uploaded on January 23, 2009, a week after the liquidation was announced.15 Watch on YouTube
News segment · 2009KXLY 4 News: “Circuit City closing all stores” A local report from Spokane, Washington, uploaded by the station on January 21, 2009, after the court approved the liquidation of 567 stores.15 Watch on YouTube
Retrospective · 2022Company Man: “The Decline of Circuit City...What Happened?” A thirteen-minute independent retrospective published in December 2022. Its figures are the uploader’s; ours are in the sections above. Watch on YouTube

Videos are embedded from the services that host them and load only when you press play. YouTube embeds use youtube-nocookie.com. Each video belongs to its uploader or rights holder and is shown here for commentary; we do not host any of the files. Dates marked as the uploader’s could not be confirmed against a broadcast record.

The old website

What customers actually saw

Screenshots of pages saved by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, stored as images. Click one to open the original capture.38

Screenshot of http://www.circuitcity.com/init.jsp as archived Aug 15, 2000

Captured Aug 15, 2000

Price, selection, service

The web store a year after launch. The menu still lists appliances three weeks after the company said it would stop selling them.5 Cropped to the page content.

Open this capture on the Wayback Machine

Text preserved in the archived pages

“Make your next VCR a TiVo!” $99.99 after rebates: $299.99, less a $100 Circuit City mail-in rebate and a $100 manufacturer rebate with service activation.
Home page · Aug 15, 200038
“Free shipping on orders $24 & up or choose 24-minute in-store pickup”
Home page banner · Nov 1, 200838

Captures from 1997 to 1999 exist but most of their images were never archived, and the 2004 captures redirect to an error, so they are not shown.

Part 4 of 6

People

People · Press

The people

Who ran it

Roles and dates are from the filings and the Richmond Fed’s history. Where a date is missing, we did not find a source for it.

People (8)
Name and roleWhat they didAfterwards
Samuel S. WurtzelFounder, 1949

Opened Wards in Richmond after hearing in a barbershop that the South’s first television station had just started there. Took the company public in 1961.29

Alan L. WurtzelCEO, 1972 – 1986; director until 2001

Rescued the company from near-bankruptcy in 1975 and built the superstore format.29

Published “Good to Great to Gone: The 60 Year Rise and Fall of Circuit City” in 2012.31
Richard L. SharpCEO, 1986 – 2000

Took the chain from 69 stores to 616 and backed both CarMax and Divx. He was chief executive of both Circuit City and Divx when the venture closed.2933

W. Alan McColloughCEO from 2000

Left appliances, ended commissions and completed the CarMax separation as chairman, president and chief executive.2912

Philip J. SchoonoverChairman, president and CEO until Sep 22, 2008

Announced the wage management initiative in 2007. Press reports put his fiscal 2006 pay at $8.52 million.103016

James A. MarcumVice chairman and acting CEO, 2008 – 2009

Joined the board in the settlement with Wattles Capital Management and signed the liquidation announcement.1915

Mark J. WattlesActivist shareholder

The Hollywood Video founder ran a proxy contest in 2008 and settled for three board seats.19

Ronny ShmoelCEO of the relaunched brand

Announced the 2018 return of circuitcity.com at the Consumer Electronics Show.36

The clippings

What they said at the time

Press (9)
Firing 3,400 of arguably the most successful salespeople in the company could prove terrible for morale.
Colin McGranahan, Sanford C. Bernstein, in a note quoted by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Mar 29, 200730
We are extremely disappointed by this outcome.
James A. Marcum, acting CEO, Jan 16, 200915

  1. Philip J. Schoonover, press release, Mar 28, 200710

    Unfortunately, a number of Associates are directly impacted by the actions, but we are making Circuit City stronger for the long term.

  2. Bernard Baumohl, Economic Outlook Group, Mar 200730

    This strategy strikes me as being quite cold.

  3. Richard L. Sharp, on closing Divx, June 199933

    Despite the significant consumer enthusiasm, we cannot create a viable business without support in these essential areas.

  4. Jim Keyes, Blockbuster chairman and CEO, Jul 1, 200835

    Based on market conditions and the completion of our initial due diligence process, we have determined that it is not in the best interest of Blockbuster’s shareholders to proceed with an acquisition of Circuit City.

  5. Alan Wurtzel, at the University of Richmond, Oct 201232

    They were too focused on Wall Street. That was the beginning of the end.

  6. Tom Wulf, former Circuit City manager, on the appliance exit, 201329

    We were basically pushing our customers out the door, saying we don’t want to sell to you anymore.

  7. Alan Wurtzel, to the Richmond Fed’s Econ Focus, 201329

    We thought we were smarter than anybody.
A “Going out of business” banner on a later-format store during the liquidation.
2009 A “Going out of business” banner on a later-format store during the liquidation.Photo: hattiesburgmemory, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Part 5 of 6

Verdict

Cause of death · What if · Afterlife

Cause of death

The autopsy

Tap a cause to see the evidence. The percentages are our editorial weighting. The evidence under each one is sourced.

Cause of death, by editorial weight

One square is one percentage point. The weights are our judgment, not a measurement.

  1. 30%It lost the format war to Best Buy
  2. 20%It dismantled its own sales floor
  3. 20%Suppliers and lenders pulled back in 2008
  4. 15%The cash had been handed back
  5. 15%Distractions and reversals
Data table
Cause of death, by editorial weight
CauseWeight
It lost the format war to Best Buy30%
It dismantled its own sales floor20%
Suppliers and lenders pulled back in 200820%
The cash had been handed back15%
Distractions and reversals15%

Best Buy’s self-service stores with central checkouts and low-margin traffic builders passed the Circuit City stores in revenue by fiscal 1996 and reached $40.0B by fiscal 2008, against $11.7B.2471 Alan Wurtzel said the company “systematically positioned ourselves for the older market and excluded the younger generation.”32

Commissions ended in February 2003, with 3,900 dismissals according to the Richmond Fed. In March 2007 another 3,400 employees were let go for being paid above the market range.32910 The company itself listed the effect on morale and reputation as a risk.1

Vendors cut credit lines and some demanded payment before shipment. A new inventory appraisal reduced what the company could borrow. The disclosure statement names three causes of the filing: “erosion of vendor confidence,” “decreased liquidity” and “a global economic crisis.”1317

Buyback authorisations rose from $200M in 2003 to $1.2B in 2006, and $966.3M of that had been used by March 2008 (derived).1 The Richmond Fed puts the average price near $20 a share. Wurtzel: when the recession came, “the cupboard was bare.”2931

Divx cost $219.3M after tax (derived).6 The 2000 exit from appliances removed 14% of sales just before a housing boom.529 InterTAN, bought for $259.3M in 2004, brought a $92M goodwill write-down within three years.910

Editorial judgment: the weights are an interpretive model by the Spectre Brands editors, not a measured quantity. The filings document the symptoms. How much each one contributed is a matter of opinion.

The fork in the road

What if…

Four decisions where the story could have gone differently. The “What if” panels are speculation, labeled as such.

What happened

On March 28, 2007 about 3,400 store employees were dismissed because they were “paid well above the market-based salary range for their role.” Severance cost $9.9M.10 An analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein wrote that day that firing “arguably the most successful salespeople in the company could prove terrible for morale.”30 Sales fell from $12.43B to $11.74B in the following fiscal year and the gross margin from 23.6% to 20.7%.1

What if speculative

Keeping experienced staff on the floor during the flat-panel television boom might have protected the margin on the one category where advice still mattered. It would not have closed a $28B revenue gap with Best Buy, and nothing in the filings measures how much of the fiscal 2008 decline the dismissals caused.

What happened

The board authorised up to $1.2B of share repurchases between January 2003 and June 2006. By March 2008 only $233.7M of the authorisation was unused.1 Eight months later the company could not pay suppliers on the terms they demanded.13

What if speculative

Roughly $1B of retained cash would have covered the fiscal 2008 loss three times over and might have kept vendors shipping on normal terms through the 2008 holiday season. It would have bought time, not a strategy.

What happened

The company left major appliances in July 2000, when they were 14% of sales, citing weak sales and rising competition.5 The Richmond Fed’s history notes that the exit came before the residential real estate boom, when appliance sales soared, and that Best Buy kept selling them.29

What if speculative

Appliances were costly to deliver and the company’s own analysis found below-average profits.5 Staying in might have kept a reason for homebuyers to visit, at the price of lower margins and the distribution centers it closed.

What happened

Blockbuster offered at least $6 a share in February 2008 and went public in April, complaining that Circuit City had not opened its books. It withdrew on July 1 after due diligence.2035

What if speculative

A sale would have paid shareholders something instead of nothing. Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy itself in 2010 (see our general knowledge note), so a combined company would more likely have changed the date of the failure than prevented it.

Where are they now

The afterlife

Circuit City

  1. The name

    Resold

    Bought by Systemax for $14.0M in 2009, retired in 2012, sold for $2.0M in 2015 and relaunched as a website in 2018.21222336 An online shop was still trading under the logo in October 2026.37

  2. CarMax

    Thriving

    The used-car chain separated in 2002 had 256 stores and $25.88B in sales in fiscal 2026, about twice Circuit City’s best year.12261

  3. The Canadian stores

    Sold

    The Source by Circuit City was sold to Bell Canada. The sale closed on July 1, 2009 and the U.S. estate received $15M for trademarks and a sourcing subsidiary.17

  4. The company

    Buried

    The estate moved into a liquidating trust on November 1, 2010 and the last directors resigned.18 Shareholders were told to expect nothing; general unsecured creditors, an estimated 0% to 13.5%.1517

  5. The employees

    Dispersed

    About 39,600 at the filing. On January 16, 2009 the board approved a plan to end the employment of all of them.1715

  6. Best Buy

    Winner

    The rival reported $41.7B in revenue for fiscal 2026.25

Who has owned the Circuit City name

Three owners in the seventeen years since the stores closed.

  1. 1984

    Circuit City Stores, Inc.

    Wards Company takes the name of its superstore format.10

  2. Nov 2008

    Chapter 11

    Filed in Richmond. Liquidation follows in January 2009.1415

  3. May 2009

    Systemax (TigerDirect)

    Wins the auction for the trademarks, domain and customer list, and runs circuitcity.com as a web store.2117

    $14.0M + revenue share
  4. Oct 2012

    Brand retired

    Systemax consolidates under TigerDirect and writes down the CompUSA and Circuit City intangibles.22

  5. Nov 2015

    New owner (Ronny Shmoel, CEO)

    Buys the name and trademarks. Announces a relaunch at CES in January 2018.2336

    $2.0M
  6. Today

    Circuit City Corporation, Inc.

    The name in the footer of circuitcity.com, an online electronics shop.37

Data table
Who has owned the Circuit City name
WhenOwnerWhat happenedPrice
1984Circuit City Stores, Inc.Wards Company takes the name of its superstore format.
Nov 2008Chapter 11Filed in Richmond. Liquidation follows in January 2009.
May 2009Systemax (TigerDirect)Wins the auction for the trademarks, domain and customer list, and runs circuitcity.com as a web store.$14.0M + revenue share
Oct 2012Brand retiredSystemax consolidates under TigerDirect and writes down the CompUSA and Circuit City intangibles.
Nov 2015New owner (Ronny Shmoel, CEO)Buys the name and trademarks. Announces a relaunch at CES in January 2018.$2.0M
TodayCircuit City Corporation, Inc.The name in the footer of circuitcity.com, an online electronics shop.

What the pieces fetched

Sale prices for parts of the estate in 2009, with the 2015 resale of the name for comparison. $ millions.

Canadian trademarks and sourcing arm (to Bell Canada)
$15.00M
The U.S. estate’s share of the sale.17
Name, website and customer list (to Systemax)
$14.00M
Plus a revenue share guaranteed at $3M.17
San Jose, California property
$11.15M
Baltimore property
$4.65M
Moreno Valley, California property
$2.25M
The Circuit City name, resold in 2015
$2.00M
Systemax’s price six years later.23
firedog services brand
$0.25M
800.com domain
$0.25M
Data table
What the pieces fetched
AssetPriceNote
Canadian trademarks and sourcing arm (to Bell Canada)$15.00MThe U.S. estate’s share of the sale.
Name, website and customer list (to Systemax)$14.00MPlus a revenue share guaranteed at $3M.
San Jose, California property$11.15M
Baltimore property$4.65M
Moreno Valley, California property$2.25M
The Circuit City name, resold in 2015$2.00MSystemax’s price six years later.
firedog services brand$0.25M
800.com domain$0.25M
Disclosure statement of August 24, 200917; some of the property and small IP sales were awaiting court approval on that date. 2015 resale from Systemax’s 10-K23.

Sources & data notes

Show your work

Primary sources first. SEC filings link to the original text on EDGAR (Circuit City Stores, Inc. is CIK 104599).

  1. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Form 10-K, fiscal 2008 (year ended Feb 29, 2008), filed Apr 28, 2008.
  2. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Form 10-K, fiscal 2004, filed May 10, 2004.
  3. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Form 10-K, fiscal 2003, filed May 27, 2003.
  4. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Annual report to stockholders, fiscal 2002 (Exhibit 13 to the Form 10-K filed May 28, 2002).
  5. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Form 10-K, fiscal 2001, filed May 23, 2001.
  6. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Form 10-K, fiscal 2000, filed May 2000.
  7. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Form 10-K, fiscal 1998, filed May 1998.
  8. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Form 10-K, fiscal 1994, filed 1994.
  9. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Form 10-K, fiscal 2005, filed May 13, 2005.
  10. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Form 8-K and press release, “Additional Changes to Improve Financial Performance”, Mar 28, 2007.
  11. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Form 8-K and press release, Feb 8, 2007.
  12. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Press release, “Completes Separation of CarMax” (Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K), Oct 1, 2002.
  13. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Form 8-K and press release on liquidity and 155 store closings, Nov 3, 2008.
  14. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Form 8-K and press release, “to Reorganize Under Chapter 11”, Nov 10, 2008.
  15. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Form 8-K with press release “Circuit City Stores, Inc. To Liquidate” and the liquidation agency agreement, Jan 16–23, 2009.
  16. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Form 10-Q, quarter ended Aug 31, 2008, filed Sep 30, 2008.
  17. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Disclosure statement for the joint plan of liquidation (Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K), Aug 24, 2009. U.S. Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Va., case 08-35653.
  18. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Form 8-K, plan effective date and liquidating trust, Nov 5, 2010.
  19. Circuit City Stores, Inc. — Form 8-K, settlement with Wattles Capital Management and confidentiality agreement with Blockbuster, May 9, 2008.
  20. Blockbuster Inc. — Form 8-K and press release, “Blockbuster Proposes Combination with Circuit City”, Apr 14, 2008.
  21. Systemax Inc. — Form 8-K, purchase of Circuit City intellectual property, May 20, 2009.
  22. Systemax Inc. — Form 8-K and press release, consolidation under TigerDirect, Nov 1, 2012.
  23. Systemax Inc. — Form 10-K, fiscal 2015, filed Mar 17, 2016; and Form 10-K, fiscal 2008 for the CompUSA purchase.
  24. Best Buy Co., Inc. — Forms 10-K for fiscal 2001 (10-year highlights), fiscal 2006 and fiscal 2009 (five-year highlights).
  25. Best Buy Co., Inc. — Form 10-K, fiscal 2026, filed Mar 18, 2026.
  26. CarMax, Inc. — Form 10-K, fiscal 2026, filed Apr 15, 2026.
  27. RadioShack Corporation — Form 8-K, Chapter 11 filing, Feb 11, 2015.
  28. hhgregg, Inc. — Forms 8-K of Mar 7, 2017 (Chapter 11 petition) and Apr 12, 2017 (liquidation approved).
  29. Jessie Romero, “The Rise and Fall of Circuit City”, Econ Focus, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, third quarter 2013.
  30. “Circuit City plans to replace 3,400 with low-cost hires”, The Philadelphia Inquirer (wire report), Mar 29, 2007.
  31. Jeremy Hobson, “Alan Wurtzel on why Circuit City went bust”, Marketplace, Oct 23, 2012.
  32. Lena Price, “Former Circuit City chief tells all”, Richmond BizSense, Oct 18, 2012.
  33. “Circuit City Pulls Divx Plug; It Gets Two Years to Fade Out”, Supermarket News, June 1999.
  34. “Circuit City to Liquidate Remaining Stores”, PC World via ABC News, Jan 16, 2009.
  35. “Blockbuster backs out of Circuit City buy”, TechCrunch, Jul 3, 2008, quoting Blockbuster’s release; and “Blockbuster Withdraws Offer for Circuit City”, PC World via ABC News.
  36. Tom Huddleston Jr., “Circuit City Wants to Make a Comeback Online”, Fortune, Jan 9, 2018.
  37. circuitcity.com, as loaded on Oct 3, 2026: an online electronics shop with product listings, a cart and the footer “© 2025 Circuit City Corporation, Inc.”
  38. Internet Archive Wayback Machine captures of circuitcity.com: Aug 15, 2000, Nov 1, 2008 and Jan 4, 2010.
  39. Wikimedia Commons photographs: Ildar Sagdejev, store closing, Feb 26, 2009 (CC BY-SA 4.0); hattiesburgmemory (CC BY 2.0); Mike Kalasnik, Newington, CT (CC BY-SA 2.0); Staus (public domain).
Data notes (11)

Data notes

Tier: we class Circuit City as a ghost, not dead, because a web shop was trading under the name and logo at circuitcity.com when we loaded it on October 3, 2026. We did not place an order, so we cannot say whether it fulfils them, and we found no evidence of physical stores. The identity of the 2015 buyer of the name is from press reports of the 2018 relaunch, not from Systemax’s filing.

Derived values: Divx total loss ($219.3M = 20.6 + 68.5 + 16.2 + 114.0, each after tax); buybacks used ($966.3M = $1.2B authorised less $233.7M unused at March 31, 2008); superstores at fiscal 1996 (378 = 61 + 259 + 46 + 12); the revenue gap with Best Buy; CarMax at about twice Circuit City’s peak sales ($25.88B ÷ $12.43B); about 721 stores at the filing (712 superstores plus 9 outlets).

Not on a common basis: Circuit City sales before fiscal 2000 are Circuit City Group figures, later years are continuing operations as restated in later 10-Ks, and fiscal 2004 onward include Canada. The fiscal 1996 comparison with Best Buy uses each company’s own fiscal year.

Secondary figures: the 3,900 dismissals of 2003, the 69 stores of 1986, the early history before 1994, the roughly $20 average buyback price and Alan Wurtzel’s remarks are from the Richmond Fed article, Marketplace and Richmond BizSense, not from filings. The 8% share of the workforce, the ten-week reapplication rule and Schoonover’s pay are from the wire report in the Inquirer. Blockbuster’s withdrawal is from press quoting its release.

Reported, not confirmed: press at the time put the jobs lost in the liquidation at about 34,000.34 The company’s own release says “more than 30,000,” and its disclosure statement gives about 39,600 employees at the November filing. We use the company’s figures.

Estimate: creditor recoveries (0% to 13.5% for general unsecured claims) are the plan proponents’ estimates in the August 2009 disclosure statement. We did not trace the trust’s final distributions.

Unknown: the price of the 2018 relaunch, the sales of the current website and who owns Circuit City Corporation, Inc. today are not in any source we found.

Videos: the 1990, 1993 and 1999 dates of the commercials are the uploaders’. Upload dates of the 2009 clips were read from the YouTube pages.

Archive: the November 2008 capture is missing its Flash banner. Captures were cropped to the page content. Photo dates marked undated are not given on Wikimedia Commons in a form we could verify.

General knowledge: the slogan “Where service is state of the art”; Blockbuster’s own Chapter 11 filing in 2010; TigerDirect as Systemax’s consumer brand; the later resale of the RadioShack name.

How the filings were read: filings from 1994 to 2000 were read from Internet Archive copies of the EDGAR text and the links were then checked against sec.gov.

More post-mortems

RadioShack

1921 – 2015

Ghost
Technology shift
5,289 company stores at the 2001 peak

Pets.com

1998 – 2000

Dead
Unit economics
270 days from IPO to wind-down

Webvan

1996 – 2001

Dead
Overexpansion
$827M cumulative net loss, 1998 to Mar 2001

Browse all 17