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At the peril of go steady myself , I ’m old enough to remember the day when Best Buy had a formidable rival in superstore chains : Circuit City . A crossbreed between an appliance stock ( at least until it stopped selling appliances ) and all - around electronics retailers , Circuit City was the billet to be for nerdy , technical school - obsess kids like myself content with replay video secret plan demo for hours while their parents shopped for a fresh dishwasher .
Also , P. Diddy oncehostedan album release party at Circuit City ’s NYC flagship . The more you know !
It ’s been most two decades since Circuit City rival Sears in size of it and ~15 years since the chain filed for bankruptcy and closed all its physical computer memory . But after go as an online - only retailer for a spell , Circuit City is set up a comeback — or at least hoping to enhance the money to do so .
This calendar week , the Delaware - incorporate withstand troupe for Circuit City filedpaperworkwith the SEC indicating that it intend to erect $ 25 million . Circuit City — which since 2016 has been have by self - described “ retail veteran ” Ronny Shmoel , also Circuit City ’s chief operating officer — did n’t answer to a postulation for comment . But the fundraising is presumably the Series A that Circuit City foretell in a pressure firing in November .
So what does Circuit City plan to do with the cash if it ’s successful in fasten it ? Not give brick - and - mortar stores , unfortunately . alternatively , Shmoel plans to make “ strategical alliances ” with unnamed internal company ( includingpossiblyJCPenny ) to launch a “ power by Circuit City ” co - branding program that “ [ empowers ] customer … to research and buy a range of electronics , curated by Circuit City . ”
The musical theme , fundamentally , is that Circuit Citythe brandwill offer physical and e - commerce retailers approach to its secret label product , online retail political program ( or what ’s go away of it ) and client service organization . Shmoel monger this as a way for retailers to “ recognize the potential drop of [ their ] lucrative space[s ] ” without sustain to ramp up in - home expertise and infrastructure .
“ The partnerships are a collaboration of iconic brand , reflecting Circuit City ’s dedication to foundation and commitment to delivering strategic AI - driven solutions to an even wider customer fundament , ” he say in a displace statement .
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We ’ve seen this scheme play out before . age and years ago , chasing after Apple ’s coattails , Samsung and Microsoftlaunchedhundredsof “ mini - stores ” in Best Buy locations . While they did n’t in a flash go , the mini stores were n’t a smash strike exactly — at least not in Samsung’scase .
And , well , I ’m not convinced that Circuit City has the same … cachetas Samsung . It seems like an acclivitous struggle from where I ’m standing ; Similarweb , the World Wide Web data analytics site , ranked Circuit City’swebsite842nd by traffic in the consumer electronics family as of publishing time .
But hey , retail comeback are n’t unheard of . Perhaps Circuit City will go the style of another beloved mark from this reporter ’s childhood , Toys “ R ” Us , and reemerge a force play to be cypher with . Or mayhap it wo n’t put up the modest majuscule it ’s seeking and continue its slow stock into cultural irrelevance .
It wo n’t be long before we find out . Circuit City ’s planning to kick off its co - branding program online and in “ prize locations ” this year , with plans for a more expansive rollout in 2024 .
