Comments on: Circuit City: Roseville, MN

By: Tony B

Tony B — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:37:46 +0000

I actually got some good deals at this circuit city right before they closed. bought a 400 dollar camera lens for half price (and sold it on ebay) and a Sony digital picture frame for 60 dollars (retail price is 130 even at walmart)

I always kind of feel bad for these stores when they go under, if only just for the employees who are getting fired because the company couldn’t keep itself above water… usually it’s not the big stores though… not that circuit city surprised me

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:08:16 +0000

Does anybody else remember the store that used to be in the Best Buy location before Best Buy existed? None other than LaBelle’s! LaBelle’s was kind of a JCPenney’s type department store, they even put out a Xmas catalog. i remember buying an air rifle there and my parents had to give permission since I was only 14 or so. This was as recently as about 1987, they must have closed shortly afterward and Best Buy took over that location.

Also who can forget the absolute paradise that was Children’s Palace toy store! This is what was located in the Brooklyn Center Curcuit City location back in the 80′s. Possibly the greatest toy store ever! they had everything! The natural “high” I used to get as a child in this store is better than any drugs I have taken as an adult.

By: AM

AM — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:42:30 +0000

You’re very dead-on correct about Circuit City’s internal problems, as someone who likes observing retailers and trends with retail. Not to mention, it always seemed like corporate never focused on updating their older stores(and gosh, I agree with you about disliking their layout of having cash registers in various places inside the store, instead of at front), versus spending unnecessary money on new store concepts(i.e. their small ‘The City’ stores inside places like malls, that were usually the size of a Radio Shack, and/or not much bigger) that could’ve been better done by improving their older stores. Never exactly made it to a The City store before the old CC(not the online only company that a certain entrepreneur(or -s?) started by buying the domain name after CC’s liquidation ended.

I’m really loving your blog, as someone who grew up in the Chicago area, and seeing your posts about similar chains that are also common in my area too! Eventually I will start a WordPress blog on local retail topics(like this, Georgia Retail Memories/Sky City), but the only thing I’m hung up on is the name I will call my new blog, since my goal is to focus on other areas besides Chicago. (Milwaukee and Indianapolis will be areas I plan to cover, too)

-AM(Allan/Allan M on Labelscar)

By: Wayzata Dave

Wayzata Dave — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:22:46 +0000

I spent most of the 80′s in Fargo _ insert joke here – We considered ourselves lucky to have Team Electronics and Total Electronics – Wow. CC came much later. BB came to Moorhead in the Holiday Mall – basically a dead mall at the time – then boom build a new addition for a Best Buy – they would have been better off razing the thing and just building a BB.

Anyway – I bought a lot over the past few years at CC – I liked it because I could tell the polo people to bug off and they pretty much would – since they were getting paid hourly and not on commission.

Closing buys for me – Some CF memory cards – found them at 50% off; A tripod; A Wii – First weekend of the sale – they had like 200 per store… that’s about it.

By: Brooks Rownd

Brooks Rownd — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:07:38 +0000

This is the Circuit City where I bought my first digital camera in 2006. Keep up the nostalgia trip (ok not so much with Circuit City) about all these places I used to go…there have to be more malls and strip malls dying every month these days. I love the caption under your computer photo.

By: How can I start a business that rivals Best Buy and Circuit City? | Business

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:36:20 +0000

[...] Circuit City: Roseville, MN « Dumpy Strip Malls [...]

By: Johnme

Johnme — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:23:11 +0000

We had a The City location at our local Deerbrook Mall. This store opened up less than a year before the company went bankrupt in a closed down Mervyn’s on the second level. Steve and Barry’s opened on the first floor of the same anchor. Since the mall was two stories with entrances on the second level theoretically this setup should have worked. I found some deals at the Circuit City closing sale. Guitar Hero half off, Free Nintendo strategy guides, and DVD’s for next to nothing (in the last 10 days on the DVD’s). For some pictures of this Circuit City location and other Houston locations click on my name to visit my blog. Keep up the great work and humor on this site; you rock!

By: Jake

Jake — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:50:01 +0000

I guess Circuit City was trying a “Spinoff” concept store called “The City” shortly before the whole CC franchise went under:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/storeadventures/3434020096/in/pool-75745254@N00

By: DeKay

DeKay — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:35:28 +0000

Somehow, all this talk of old business’ reminded be of Shopper’s City. The old joke was to say it five time real fast. I believe the same can be said of Circuit City, after a few drinks at the Ground Round.

This site is so depressingly refreshing that I cannot get enough of it.

By: JT

JT — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:06:34 +0000

Well remember that with Circuit City, they used to be the deity of electronic stores. Best Buy here in Georgia was Johnny come lately in the early 1990′s, but I was absolutely astounded at the time how far superior they were to dark and dingy circuit city. Before Best Buy, their principal competition was Service Merchandise. Service Merchandise pretty much was killed by Best Buy, so Circuit City had a tough act to follow after that. They were not up to the challenge.

It’s too bad with Circuit City on service…they once advertised as “Service is State of the Art”, but obviously tht was not true from 2000 on. I, too, wondered how they stayed in business. If nobody shops there and they are not a front, they WILL die. Note the deserted parking lots today at places like Kmart and Burger King…you can bet those will one day go the way of Zayre and Burger Chef.

Ironically, Sears still has commissioned sales people but they are cutting back on staff and service. They remain along with Wal-Mart and Target the only competition remaining to Best Buy…the first moreso on appliances and the second on electronics.