Circuit City liquidation sales

I went to Circuit City today(11/5/08) to see if there were any real deals out there and there weren't any. TV's are marked down 10%, computers 5%, Ipods 5%, stereo equipment 10%. This sounds decent but their prices are higher to start with compared to other places online or around town.
I was looking at a big screen LCD TV and offered 20% off their price and they wouldn't budge even with cash in hand. They said everyone is paying with cash so not a bargaining chip and that they can't negotiate prices. I guess I will wait for future markdowns b/c the TV's were not moving from what I could tell.
I ask a guy working there when they plan to have the next wave of markdowns and he didn't know if or when there would be one. He also said that based on merchandise leaving the store today they may not have to mark down any further. I disagree with his assesment b/c of my sample of 10 people leaving the store only 2 of them purchased anything. The others like me left empty handed and wished I had that time wasted back.

Was the trip a waste of time? I'm not so sure. You gained a lot of valuable information that you can take elsewhere to find a better price - or that you can bring back to Circuit City to drive a hard bargain. If merchandise is not moving, it is likely that prices will keep going south. If a salesperson says they cannot negotiate, as for a manager. Good luck!
~Julia

I too visited Circuit City today - the Thousand Oaks branch at 10am when they opened. Many people left right away when they saw the 10% off pricing and the staff's unwillingness to negotiate. Seems like they marked up the prices before taking the 10% off. Best Buy had some better deals with no interest financing. Big Screen TV's were what I was looking at, and the staff were unable to go down to 15% off. I decided to purchase the TV online, no tax AND free shipping!

I heard a rumor that Circuit City will reduce their prices by 30% once December arrives.
Julia - everyone working there including managers can't accept lower offers b/c the liquidation company is runnning the show and they are not willing to negotiate.

I have heard so many people talking about this that I am sure it comes as no surprise to say that the best way to find jobs in a recession is to investigate jobs on employer websites:

-employers do not use recruiters in recessions because they cost money
-job boards are flooded with applicants

People just do not look for jobs on employer websites. There are thousands of employer websites in most cities and many of the job sit on there for months without applications.

This is where most of the jobs are and I found this far more effective than other means.

I started using a research jobs site called Hound that I do not think anyone knows about because it is run by a small company that does not advertise.

All Hound.com does is show you unadvertised job openings that are not publicly advertised and are located on employer websites.

Very few people realize that most employers post their job on their own sites and not on job boards like Monster, CareerBuilder, etc. because these sites charge employers up to $500 to post a single job. In my experience (I am getting more interviews that I ever have), your chances of getting interviews and hired are much better when you are applying to jobs that are not advertised that no one knows about.

I have gotten a ton of interviews through the Hound site. If you are looking for a job I would highly recommend using Hound. What most people do not realize is that most jobs are found on employer websites and not job boards. Hound puts all of the jobs it finds from employer websiste (every Fortune 500, Inc. 500 and other company it can locate) on its site.

When you start seeing sites advertise themselves a lot that should be a warning sign of sorts because that means that lots of people will start going and applying to the jobs. I really trust Hound because it does not advertise. You can find the site at http://www.hound.com.

I started using a research jobs site called InformationTechnologyCrossing that I do not think anyone knows about because it is run by a small company that does not advertise. All InformationTechnologyCrossing does is show you jobs from other job boards and employer websites-basically every IT job out there. In my opinion, this is something worth checking out. Some of the listings had already been filled that I applied to but I still think it is a valuable resource. I like the fact that not a lot of people in IT are not using this.

for the first comment..

you must not have very much sales experience.

but 2 of 10 is good numbers

my husband and i went to the houston circuit city to try and get a deal. i hope we got one. for 10 years we had a 55" mitsubichi rear projection. man were we the talk of the neighborhood when we got that home.
we purchased a 73" mitsubichi rear projection, and all we can is we love it. we also only paid $1999.00 drive-out on that. and it is the 1080p dlp hdtv. best buy has the same tv for 3400.00 and change. so i think we got a pretty good deal.

People are dumb nobody wants to buy because its too expensiveevery one thinks hta just because its going out of business then every thing is going to be super cheap. I bought a 46" LCD in november at CC and i got it for $650 when i went recently for the close out sale i saw someone buying the same TV for 10% off the retail price which was $999. If every one would just look around when the strores are still in business then you can find a good deal and maybe the store won't go out of business. But instead every onew is glad that the store is closing because maybe they can get a "good deal."

LIQUIDATORS CREATE PRICES STOP BASHING CIRCUIT CITY YOU FOOLS!!!!

I just wanted to say I feel bad for the employees depending on employment with Circuit City but at the same time I want to wish Circuit City a farewell and say I have been shopping there for years an they had the nicest employees I ever encountered. I have never had any problems with the products or services. I hope and have faith in its employees that they will find gainful employment elsewhere. They were a GREAT bunch of people. Good luck and God Bless keep your heads up.

Actually, Best Buy has the exact same TV for sale for $1899. You fell for the liquidators scam...jack up the price on the tv to MSRP (way above what everyone else sells it for) and then attach the 10 or 20% discount. You overpaid...just like everyone else who bought something there before the discounts get legit.

Circuit City always had their prices marked near 10%+. I was looking for a laptop that could actually run somewhat of a business performance, and i found one. It ran me up about 1700, and the "quick and cheap" firedog said that they have to activate it, or else any laptop from anywhere wouldn't work, they wanted 180 buckaroos for it. I screwed them and went and bought a $1500+:warranty,router,mouse,carrying case. I went back in looking for a decent desktop, and the prices were not sale worthy, the commercials promote 70% OFF! *name of useless thing no one buys* I thought to myself, hey they must have big sales on other stuff also, I was wrong, the overpriced items were not just retail priced. Circuit, get out of the business.