by Bob Duden

Created on: May 29, 2009   Last Updated: January 15, 2011

When a business fails, especially a large scale nation-wide retailer, another business usually steps in to fill the void.  Consumers have to consume, and to do so means they go shopping.  When it's a nation-wide electronics retailer like Circuit City that goes under, that void is huge and all too often impossible to fill.  Trying to build a nation-wide electronics only retail chain from scratch to replace the bankrupt and shuttered Circuit City stores will only result in failure. The current economy is awash with large numbers of other retailers going over the edge and the situation will not change for the next few years. At it's peak, Circuit City had almost seven hundred stores and close to forty thousand employees. Duplicating that right now would be insane. And that brings to light the solution to replace the failed giant, regional merchants more attuned to the local needs of it's customers, and ones that are willing to grow slowly.

Years ago there was an electronics chain in the greater New York metropolitan area named Crazy Eddies. Over a fifteen year span from 1971, the chain grew to forty three stores and is best remembered for it's television advertising. Using a radio disc jockey, Jim Carroll as spokesman, the ads screamed, "Crazy Eddie, his prices are INSANE". What was insane was the business practices that the retail chain was employing. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission investigated the owner, Eddie Antar, on violations of federal securitiy laws. Arrested and brought to court on fraud charges, this forced the business into eventual bankruptcy. What was insane was the idea that a local electronics business could grow so quickly and prosper. It took Circuit City sixty years to go coast to coast so, the void that is left by their failure will most likely be filled by local businesses in each major market. It takes time to grow, and you have to look hard at why Circuit City failed before an attempt is made to duplicate such large scale growth.

The big box stores put the biggest bite into Circuit City's revenues, and the club stores finished them off. Target and Wal-Mart, Costco and Sam's Club, offer much of the same merchandise as Circuit City and you can walk in one door to do all your shopping. In one you can buy a pair of jeans and a dvd player, in the other some chop meat and a television. Variety is the spice that poisoned Circuit City but, there is a niche for an electronics only store in every American market

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