circuit city

History

In 1949, Samuel S. Wurtzel opened the first Wards Company retail store in Richmond, Virginia at 705 West Broad Street. By 1959 Wards operated four television and home appliance stores in Richmond. The company continued to grow and acquire more stores in other locations including Albany, New York; Mobile, Alabama; Washington DC; and Costa Mesa, California. In 1977, the company began replacing its existing locations with their new-concept "Circuit City" stores, starting with six locations in Washington DC.

In 1984, the company officially changed its name to Circuit City and became listed on the New York Stock Exchange, while Wurtzel stepped down as Chairman of the Board. The company began replacing retail stores with Circuit City Superstores. The first of these replacements occurred in Knoxville, Tennessee; Charleston, South Carolina; and Hampton, Virginia.

In 1990, Circuit City established the First North American National Bank to operate their private-label credit card[1]. In 2002, Circuit City began offering a co-branded Visa credit card. They sold both these operations in 2004 to Bank One.

In 1993, Circuit City opened up the first CarMax in Richmond as a special project, selling used vehicles. In 2002, Circuit City and CarMax officially separated, CarMax becoming a separately traded public company.

In 2000, the company exited the retail appliance business. Their departure closed 8 distribution centers and 8 service centers. The company now subleases the majority of these leased properties. The space once occupied by appliances in superstores created room for new products, including DVD movies, video games and digital cameras.

In 2003, Circuit City converted to a single hourly pay structure in all stores, eliminating commissioned sales. Many previously commissioned sales associates were offered new positions as hourly "product specialists", while 3900 salespeople were layed off, saving the company about $130 million a year [2].

Circuit City experimented with eBay consignment stores under the Trading Circuit name. Circuit City abandoned the consignment store experiment later that year, but continues to use the Trading Circuit name for product liquidation on eBay and via the Trading Circuit web site.

In late 2004, Circuit City began testing its computer services venture, dubbed "IQ Crew" in its test locations in Florida and Atlanta. However, the store later dropped the IQ Crew brand name, but continues to offer computer services in almost all of its retail locations.

On February 11, 2005, a hedge fund headquartered in Boston, Highfields Capital, offered to takeover Circuit City for $17 a share, arguing that existing management had failed to maximize shareholder value. The offer was rejected by Circuit City's board on March 7, but doubled its own share buy back program. As of February 28, 2005, Circuit City held cash, cash equivalents, and short term investments of $1.00 billion USD [3].

On June 27, 2006, it was announced that Philip J. Schoonover would succeed W. Alan McCollough as Chairman of the Board of Circuit City Stores, Inc. [4].

In July 2006, Circuit City announced that it would begin carrying Denon and Boston Acoustics products, as well as Mitsubishi HDTVs as early as August 2006. Circuit City also participated in the annual Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas.

In August 2006, at a Las Vegas convention, the name for Circuit City's upgraded in-store and in-home services crew was unveiled as "firedog^SM." firedog^SM provides in-home, in-store, and online PC Services, Home Theater Installations, and more.[5] The official launch for firedog^SM is on Saturday October 14, 2006, with the following Sunday's newspaper ad and television ads starting on that Saturday.

Retail Locations

Circuit City offers a broad selection of products and services through its stores, on the Web, and via telephone. The major merchandise product categories are:

Video, including televisions, imaging products, DVD hardware, camcorders, digital cameras, digital video services, furniture and related accessories;

Information Technology, including personal computer hardware, PC services, telecommunications products, PDAs and related product accessories;

Audio, including home audio products, mobile audio products, portable audio products, and related accessories; and

Entertainment Software, including movie software, music software, game software, game hardware, and personal computer software.

Services are another important part of the company's offering to consumers. Examples of the provided services include narrowband, broadband, wireless telephone service through an exclusive partnership with Verizon Wireless (while also offering Virgin Mobile, foneGEAR and Amp'd Mobile), voice-over IP, digital video services, extended warranty programs, satellite radio, computer upgrades and repairs, car audio installation and in-home video installation. [6] The chain of stores also has services such as Express In-Store Pickup (24-24 Pick-up Guarantee), and Price Match Plus Guarantee. Circuit City also maintains an online Home Entertainment Forum where customers can chat with each other and associates about Home Entertainment related products and services.

As of 2005, Circuit City also boasts a computer services department that provides their services in home or in store. Being capable of repairing and upgrading computers and diagnosing miscellaneous software and hardware problems, this department has been known as IQ Crew, "PC Services" and finally firedog^SM.

Circuit City has developed stores under the codename "Generation C" or "Gen-C", stores that are operated differently from traditional stores, with relaxed management and a smaller focus on profitable numbers. These stores are run by associates, and have the funding to try new ideas before they are implemented on a chain wide basis.

Domestic segment retail operations are overseen by the President of Retail Stores. Domestic retail operations are divided into 10 regions which are under the supervision of Regional Vice Presidents. The 10 regions are comprised of 63 districts, which are overseen by District Managers who regularly visit stores to monitor store operations and meet with Store Management. The Source by Circuit City is currently overseen by Chief Financial Officer, Michael Foss.

Superstores are typically staffed with 40 to 80 full-time and part-time associates including: sales support personnel such as Customer Service Associates, Product Specialists, PC Technicians and Warehouse Associates; two or more Sales Managers; an Operations Manager and a Store Director. Few high volume stores are sometimes staffed with two Operations Managers and an Assistant Store Director. [7]

Superstore associates at Circuit City locations are all paid on a non-commissioned basis.

Associates

At the time of its Fiscal Year 2005 Annual report, Circuit City had 42,425 hourly and salaried associates working in the United States, and 3,521 associates in Canada. Comparatively, in its 2001 report, Circuit City operated the domestic segment with 53,302 associates.

Associates in both the domestic and international segment receive frequent training through interactive E-learning courses hosted on the company intranet known as ccity.com. The E-learning courses are developed by Peoplesoft, Inc. In addition to online courses, associate training tools include training workbooks, and management-driven in-store mentoring. Training includes developing selling skills, product knowledge with an emphasis on new technology, customer service, and store operations.[8]

Each associate is assigned an 8-digit Employee ID Number usually beginning with the number 10. Associates can use their employee ID to log into company systems such as E-learning, Business Reports, Human Resources systems, online benefits like mycircuitcityhr.com[9] as well as the Circuit City Associate Forum.

Hourly associates receive performance evaluations bi-annually, given in March and September. Salaried associates receive a single annual review, which is given at the same time as the March evaluation for hourly associates. Evaluations for hourly employees are divided into two categories: selling (such as Product Specialists), and non-selling (such as warehouse stockpeople). The evaluation ranks the associate on a number of fields such as maintaining product knowledge, greeting every customer, and providing proper solutions to every customer they assist. Circuit City's stance is that evaluations are based on the associate demonstrating the proper behaviors (assisting customers and offering solutions), instead of the end result (numbers and percentages).

Initiatives

Strength-Based In 2005, Circuit City began the wide-scale adoption of a strength-based training and management style. The basis for this company management style is that the most effective method for motivating people is to build on their strengths rather than correcting their weaknesses. Circuit City has given Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton's Now, Discover Your Strengths to every associate at the Store Support Center corporate offices, as well as every member of salaried management throughout the company. The book includes an online segment where, after learning about each of the 34 positive personality traits in the book, associates find out what their top 5 strengths are and how each affects their personality. The idea of strength-based training and management throughout the company is that it will be easier to manage a person, when the manager knows what type of personality they have and how best to motivate that associate. Future plans include taking the strength-based training to every full-time and part-time hourly associate throughout the company.

2B1 To Be One (2B1) encompasses the whole idea of turning a group of people (associates) into one team. Annual company-wide '2B1' meetings are held for all district and regional personnel as well as Store Directors. In the summer of 2005 and 2006, the annual '2B1' meeting was held in Las Vegas. These annual meetings have become a time for Circuit City to introduce new initiatives throughout the company, therefore bringing every management team into focus on a singular goal. As well as this, 2B1 also includes the idea of "One Face Management" whereas every manager within a store acts as one in their initiatives, focuses, disciplinary actions, etc. 2B1 has been about team building and creating a more effective, singularly-focused company.

Head, Heart, Hands This initiative was introduced at the 2005 Las Vegas company-wide Store Director meeting. Since then it has been reinforced through regional and district management training series meetings. "Head, Heart Hands" can be simplified to 'Know it, feel it, do it'. It is applicable to management styles in that, in order for a manager to lead a team of associates to accomplish any task or initiative, the manager must first know the task, believe in the task, and take a part in completing said task.

Heart of the City In early 2006, Circuit City rolled out their "Heart of the City" initiative which is a label for the company's ongoing encouragement for all associates to volunteer for charitable causes. Volunteering is not compulsory, but is encouraged through district and store management. Each store has a monthly donation budget that it can use for donations to charity. In addition, stores organize events such as softball games, car washes, and bake sales to raise money for charities in their own communities. Included within the "Heart of the City" initiative are corporate donations and partnerships with organizations nationwide. As of June 2006, Heart of the City has developed an "Umbrella", which they consider the people and organizations they support through the program. There are four programs that fall under this umbrella which include Boys and Girls Clubs of America, The United Way and as of December of 2006, the newly created "Associate Relief Fund" which was originally an idea to help those associates directly affected by Hurricane Katrina. The Associate Relief Fund will now go to help any associate in need of assistance who otherwise wouldn't receive any.

Six Sigma In 2001 Six Sigma was introduced as an initiative within Circuit City's annual report.[10] Six Sigma is applied to Circuit City's operational side such as supply chain and distribution centers. Circuit City applies Six Sigma methodology to its critical operational processes to measurably increase customer satisfaction while driving down cost. In May, 2004 the Director of Six Sigma for Circuit City announced that Six Sigma was being applied to very important company projects and had been used to streamline the hiring process from as much as 18 days down to 8 days. Six Sigma has since been applied to open box sales, pricing markdown reduction and testing processes such as determining the sales impact of bundling products with accessories. [11]

Community Involvement

Circuit City prides itself on its charitable contributions and partnerships. In news releases, Circuit City often announces donations to nationwide organizations, as well as new charitable partnerships. Since 1962 over $30 million has been invested to support the work of the charitable community.[12] Some notable contributions and partnerships include:

Boys & Girls Club of America Starting in 2001, Circuit City has partnered with the BGCA for their annual ImageMakers contest. This $5 million initiative, funded by the Circuit City Foundation, helps BGCA develop a state-of-the-art photography curriculum, host a photography competition, provide photography resources and involve Club members in this important visual arts medium.[13][14]

Habitat for Humanity Circuit City is a Build Partner with Habitat for Humanity. As recently as March, 2006 Circuit City made charitable contributions to the Richmond, VA. Habitat. Circuit City associates volunteered, and assisted in the construction of several houses near the Richmond area that same month.[15][16]

American Red Cross In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Circuit City announced on September 09, 2005 the donation of $1 million to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. In addition to the corporate donation, Circuit City associates participated in a "Drive for a Million" fundraising effort, which included a variety of projects (bake sales, car washes, etc.) at Circuit City locations across the country. "Drive for a Million" allowed all associates, from stores, service and distribution centers and the company's Store Support Center, to pool their energies and contributions to benefit the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.[17]

United Way Circuit City makes charitable contributions to various organizations through the United Way and lists this organization in its "Community Involvement" section of its website.[18][19]

Real Estate

Due to the expansion of Circuit City stores in the 1970s-1990s, the company has accumulated a surplus of unused real estate with a presence in nearly every major market in the country. Although a typical retail location is approximately 30,000 square feet (2700 m²), they have numerous freestanding and in-line locations ranging from 2,000 to 50,000 square feet (180 to 4500 m²). They also have office, service and distribution surplus locations scattered across the country. Circuit City's Surplus Disposition Team is dedicated to exploring creative disposition strategies. During Circuit City's 2005 fiscal year (March 1, 2004 through February 28, 2005), the team successfully disposed of approximately 1.2 million square feet (108,000 m²) of vacant retail space. The Surplus Team utilizes facilitating assignments, third party sales, direct leases between landlords and prospective users and bringing together smaller users interested in demising big box vacancies in an effort to profit from unused real estate.[20]

Circuit City-Owned Brand Names

• Anika
• Centrios
• ESA
• Firedog
• i-next
• Liquid Video
• NexxTech
• Sector 7
• StarLogic
• Verge
• Wasaki

Slogans

• "Where Service is State of the Art" (late 1980s-1995)
• "Price, Selection, and Service"
• "Imagine That" (2000-2001)
• "We're with You" (2001-2004)
• "Just What I Needed" (2004-2005)
• "Circuit City Makes it Simple" (2005 Christmas Season - Present
• "Just What I Needed" (Late 2005-Present)

Trivia

Sometime in the late 1970s, when the company that was to become Circuit City was seeking a new name for its stores, a marketing firm was hired to find suitable names. One of the firm's principals mentioned this to his nephew, a Pennsylvania electrical engineer, who quickly thought of the name Circuit City. The engineer signed a release form and was paid $50 for his suggestion.

External links

• Circuit City official website
• Firedog Official Website
• Circuit City Partsearch
• Circuit City Rewards
• Circuit City Advantage
• The Source by Circuit City
• IQ Crew computer repairs
• Reseller Ratings Customer Feedback
• Trading Circuit, a Circuit City business
• CarMax Used Car Superstore