Why I won't miss Circuit City

About a month or two ago Circuit City announced the closing of all its stores amid bankruptcy proceedings. In the midst of industry economic woes, along with the aggressive push of Best Buy, I imagine it found itself unable to compete. While unfortunate for the number of retail jobs lost, I personally will shed not a single tear for Circuit City.

For as long as I can remember, I have avoided Circuit City almost as intensely as another store I should honorably mention; Staples. As a customer, Circuit City never felt welcome to enter. In fact, it usually felt strangely uninviting and cold-feeling, and dark, and crowded (at least Staples is better stocked and has wider, checkerboard-designed supermarket-style aisles - even the lighting *seemed* better...). On top of that, never once did I find a Circuit City salesperson who was eager to help, and to me none of them were knowledgeable about much of anything. Circuit City salespeople always seemed to be gathering around each other on the perimeters of their assigned departments being social. When asked if someone could offer help, Circuit City guys always seemed to be bothered. Getting a smile and a slight indication of job satisfaction from one of these guys was as rare as finding a three-dollar bill. OK, I will admit that Best Buy salespeople are not that much higher on the helping scale than Circuit City, and I know Best Buy has its share of customer service horror stories, but I have browsed in Best Buy and I think I might barely remember having been approached by a salesperson who apparently noticed that I was looking for help. I think I even remember a smile. Maybe even more than once. It's rare, but once is always 100 percent more than none.

So you ask, what store would have been a good bizarro-world alternate-dimension mirror for Circuit City? That's easy. Bed Bath and Beyond. Bright, cheery, with well-stocked merchandise, wide-aisles and helpful inquiring salespeople makes it a fun place to visit and do a little browsing. I get a smile almost every time I am there, and they know their stuff, and they track down other salespeople who might know more. They even call other stores for you to locate merchandise if they are out of something you need. I consistenly call Bed Bath and Beyond one of my favorite stores, even if there is little there I ever need to buy, just almost exclusively based on the high level of customer service they provide.

Circuit City, you had it all... once the King of Electronics Supply, occupying the space and volume void that Radio Shack could never fill, and now look what happened... poor customer service is remembered forever, and Best Buy came in with bigger and brighter stores and did it only slightly better than you did, and drove you out of business. Boo hoo... (the wet-free kind)