The rise and fall of Circuit City

Dave Berkson and  Terry Blue recollect about the fall of this short lives big box corporation


DB: the moment in time that I knew this company was over was on a Monday night way back in 1998. I could not find a worker and all the young male employees were watching Monday night Raw on the numerous television screens commenting on whether Debra's breasts were real or not.

TB  Circuit City was a big box store located primarily in the suburbs and were dwealt the cheap labor tech-loving teenagers who were willing to take those jobs. A company that counts predominately on a teenage storefront floor team for a middle age electronic consuming customer base was doom.

DB: I was not middle aged but a huge fan of WWF wrestling. However what company in the world at the time woulfd be willing to pay me to watch television. Circuit City was a joke where these teenage employees fucked around instead of actual working.



TB: Circuit City was never really in cities. It grew along with Best Buy in the nations pathetic suburban areas where government provided a lot of cheap land to these corporations to expand sprawl and keep the construction firms busy employing people. Best Buy will fall soon along with Circuit City. Cities and the nations downtown had knowledge not to lease sites to this pathetic corporation. The downfall of Circuit City was a celebration to new urbanists as anytime a big box company falls it is a good thing.

DB: You can never have a good work force when you mix thirty televisions with a teenage workforce. These kids wanted to be home watching Hulk Hogan and the NWO or to see Steve Austin deliver a stunner. The expansion of cable television during this time really jeopardize the youth work force that places like Circuit City were dependent. They wanted to be at home at night watching television and wrestling at night instead of selling printers. I remember calling in many times just to catch Thursday night smackdown because I could never get highlights from the weekend wrestling shows.

TB: I don't think you will ever see big electronic stores these days because of these two things we bring up. Big store structures that specialize in electronics or the availability of reliable workers will be a problem. I don't know how grocery's are able to do it but I guess because everyone needs food.


DB : yea the end came for me at Circuit City after many unexcused absences. I just didn't want to miss these ladder matches that were being thrown out every week. I just that was wild and evertime I had to retrieve a ladder for some moron at Circuit City it drove me nuts wondering if I was missing a ladder match on Mondays or Thursdays. I couldn't handle being away from the television screen and not being able to watch it like I seen at other Circuit cities. Our lame ass manager left the channel on CNN

TB: Well I am sure you were not the only one to get fired from Circuit City. Cities had some smaller express versions of this big box behemoth stores but few people really appreciated these in urban areas. How many times would people in a walkable community actually go to Circuit city in a hip city neighborhood that offeres so much more. You can't survive with a base that would go maybe once a month if you are lucky. The reason big box stores are so successful in suburbia is because there is such little culture and other things to actually do in the burbs.

DB : You got that right and then add teenagers with nothing to do after school and having mom and dads car available. Walking through these stores provided entertainment. The suburbs suck and maybe that is why watching wrestling was so popular on television.

TB Not many sophisticated people would watch wrestling on TV not shop through Circuit City.

DB You got that right. Wrestling is a hillbilly and Eastern trash thing and always has been. Luckily with the fall of this corporation they will have less opportunities to shop for televisions after they break theirs mimicking the wrestling moves on the screen,

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