() is the third largest
Electronics retailer in the
United States , behind
Best Buy and
Wal-Mart . Based in
Richmond, Virginia , its over 600 stores located throughout the country have departments like Audio and Video, Camcorders and Photo, Home and Office, Music and Movies, and Toys and Games. The chain of stores also has services such as Express In-Store Pickup (24-24 Pick-up Guarantee), and Price Match Plus Guarantee.
Circuit City has recently developed stores under the codename "Gen-C", stores that are operated differently from traditional stores, with relaxed management and a smaller focus on profitable numbers.
On
February 11 ,
2005 , a
Hedge Fund headquartered in
Boston , Highfields Capital, offered to takeover Circuit City for $17 a share, arguing that existing management had failed to maximize shareholder value.
On
March 7 , Circuit City's board rejected this offer, but doubled its own share buy back program.
Circuit City owns InterTAN Canada Ltd which runs
The Source By Circuit City (formerly
Radio Shack ) chain in
Canada as well as
THS Studio UpClose ,
Rogers Plus ,
Battery Plus and G-Wiz. With all the different retail chains IterTAN runs over 970 stores in Canada
Circuit City started and owned the
CarMax Group as a wholly owned subsidiary until fall 2002, when CarMax, Inc. was spun off as a separate corporation.
Circuit City scored a 29% on the 2004 Corporate Equality Index by the
Human Rights Campaign .
- "Where Service is State of the Art" (?-1995)
- "Price, Selection, and Service"
- "Imagine That" (2001)
- "We're with You" (2001-2004)
- "Just What I Needed" (2004-Present)
- "Circuit City Makes it Simple" (2005 Holiday Season - Present)
Sometime in the late 1970's, when the company that was to become Circuit City was seeking a new name for its stores, a marketing firm was hired to find suitable names. One of the firm's principals mentioned this to his nephew, a Pennsylvania electrical engineer, who quickly thought of the name ''Circuit City''. The engineer signed a release form and was paid $50 for his suggestion.
