Unbelievable! Their warehouse on Sherman just closed and Circuit City announced on Friday, January 16th, 2009 that they will be closing all the remaining Circuit City stores nationwide. The store relocated from Sherman Blvd in Muskegon to Harvey St. in Norton Shores by the Lakes Mall only 4 years ago. Their building was build brand new.

The very computer that I am using now was bought from that very store 1 year ago. I like the computer but admit that I only bought it from Circuit City and not from Best Buy only 1 block away, because it was the computer I wanted to buy the week before at Best Buy for $100.00 less, but Best Buy’s sale was over on the day I went to make my purchase and Circuit City had a very close HP model on sale for less.

Circuit City will begin to have close-out sales beginning next week and expect to shut the doors permanently within 90 days.

There are a few reasons I personally think that Circuit City in Muskegon failed. First off, they were a booming business at their Sherman location and had gambled moving next to Best buy over by the Lakes Mall. When they shut down the Sherman location, they were indeed closed for some time and rented the building to Halloween USA around Halloween a few times. This surely confirmed in the consumer’s minds that indeed they shut that location down. Only a few months ago, they announced that they were closing the store at the Sherman location. I had no clue that they reopened that location until then. I guess they reopened it as a warehouse-wholesale store that was indeed open to the public. But the problem it was already established in people’s minds that they shut that down, and Circuit City’s marketing efforts to inform the public that they reopened had failed. Perhaps they should have never closed that store in the first place and ran both locations. Or never moved in the first place.

Secondly, the new location on Harvey St., was more like 1/4 mile off of Harvey St, closer to US 31 with no immediate or easy access off the highway. And if indeed someone tried to find Circuit City after getting off the highway, they were tempted by Best Buy right on the corner before you could even see Circuit City. Location is important, but hiding in a good spot, and placing themselves in the direct line of fire with Best Buy was also a mark against them. Placement of a building is no different than placement of a bag of potato chips in a store. That bag of chips only looks tempting, if it it is seen at eye level and first position as soon as you walk in the chip aisle. If the bag is at the end of the aisle and near the bottom shelf, it does not matter that it is in Walmart, it will still be avoided because of a little marketing thing called “consumer habits”.

And Finally, when you walked into Circuit City at the Harvey St. location, it was dark in there at all times. This is not a welcoming feeling to the consumer if the place is not well lit, and the feeling was also confirmed by some unhappy employees that radiated their stress onto the customers. Furthermore, if the lights are out, it causes people to think that you can’t afford your bills, and thus, consumer confidence drops for that business.

I’m sad to see yet another business close their doors here in Muskegon, Michigan. It only adds to the already, existing, ever-fast growing list of other businesses that have recently closed. This is my second article in the last couple hours about 2 major chains going out of business here in town and Nationally. We are sad for the employees that will be without a job and hope their burden will be light and the transition to find a new job be easy.

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