RC>RN> month (Circuit City).  I don't know what their particular problem was,
RC>RN> but my first guess would be poor management.
 
RC> That...
 
RC> poor locations, the economy...
 
They had a location on Martin Luther King Blvd.  An area where just about
everyone else is.  It is a central location for restaurants, Wal Mart,
Goodwill, Dollar General, pet stores and you name it.  The only other place
I can think of that went out of business was Office Max.  Joe and I went
there once during one of my visits to Houma from Mandeville and I bought a
CD Stomper, lost in the storm.
 
RC> Circuit City was a well entrenched Electronic Chain, much older than Best
RC> Buy..
 
I wouldn't doubt that.  During my visits there they seemed to be doing
alright, but it is what they did nationaly that counts.
 
RC> Circuit City used to be the choice destination next to or only second to,
RC> Sears, for White goods. That being major appliances such as Washers,
RC> Dryers and Fridges et al.
 
Sears is a far cry from the giant it used to be.
 
RC> IMO:
 
RC> First Mistake:
 
RC> Eliminated White Goods from their stores, to try to better compete with
RC> Best Buy on the consumer electronics category, mainly computers. Whereas
RC> Best Buy does it all.
 
RC> Second Mistake:
 
RC> Took salesforce off of commissions. While a commisioned sales force has
RC> its drawbacks, the paybacks are that with the good and honest
RC> salespeople, you get lots of product knowledge. They put their salesforce
RC> on straight hourly wage.
 
RC> Third Mistake:
 
RC> As company money troubles began to mount, they fired their highest paid
RC> sales people and replaced them with lower paid sales people.
 
RC> They shoved all the product knowledge out the door.
 
RC> The entire chain is now going through liquidation.
 
RC> It sucks, because there isnt much that can contain Best Buy now.
 
Just about all of the big chain stores did that.  I worked electronics at
K-Mart in Mandeville and liked it there, despite all of the graveyard
shifts they made me work.  During the end of my 11 months there, I knew
something was up when the nightly breaks were done away with and we were
lucky to get a morning break.  A year after I left there, they retired all
of the old full time employees and hired part time employees at minimum
wage and no benefits.  I don't know what genius came up with that idea, but
they took a store that was consistently making a profit and almost had to
close it because of that brilliant idea.
 
 
Regards,
 
Roger

... The Second Amendment -- my concealed-weapons "permit"
--- D'Bridge 3.09