Shoppers Pack Short Pump Circuit City Stores For Liquidation Deals

Shoppers packed into both Short Pump area Circuit City stores this past weekend, in search of closeout deals following Circuit City’s announcement Friday that it would liquidate all assets and close stores by the end of March.

During our first visit to the Short Pump Town Center location at around 2:00 p.m. Saturday, the deals had barely begun, but huge crowds packed the building and the checkout line wrapped half way around the store. Employees of the liquidation company, such as the one pictured, were out front holding up “Going Out of Business” signs to lure even more people off West Broad Street. At most, deals of up to 10% could  be found in this particular store on Saturday. Not much had yet been marked, though.

On Sunday, during our second visit to the store, all items were clearly marked with signs denoting  respective percentage off discounts. Store-wide, everything appeared to be around 10% off for major consumer electronics categories such as computers, televisions, and digital cameras, along with CDs and DVDs. Accessories for all of the big ticket items mentioned above were, on average, going for 30% off.

Those at the store seemed to be scouting out the store’s inventory in hopes of coming back later for deeper discounts, but many other people were making purchases. Shopper Bill Kearney reflected on the store as he browsed through racks of discounted DVDs. “[Circuit City] has always been a good place to come. I’ve really enjoyed shopping here, myself,” Kearney said. “They’re gonna be missed.”

By unofficial estimates, we would say the store was almost a third more crowded than when we visited on the morning of Black Friday, typically the biggest shopping day of the year. Circuit City has to be asking themselves, “Where were all these shoppers before?”