More Than $1 Billion in Circuit City Inventory Sold

Liquidators managing the going-out-of-business sales at Circuit City stores nationwide announced today that more than $1 billion of Circuit City’s total $1.7 billion in inventory has been sold since liquidation sales started at the electronics firm’s 567 store locations on Jan. 17. The sales are expected to continue through the next three to four weeks until all items have been sold from store shelves.

“Due to the record shopper turnout we’ve had over the past month, we’re ahead of schedule in closing many of the store locations,” noted Scott Carpenter, executive vice president, director of operations, for Great American Group, which has been overseeing all the sales activity as part of a joint venture group. The other three companies partnering with Great American Group to handle the liquidation are SB Capital Group, LLC, Tiger Capital Group, LLC, and Hudson Capital Partners.

“Deeper discounts will be offered on selected items beginning Thursday and will continue until all inventory has been depleted,” Carpenter added.

Thousands of consumers have taken advantage of the discounts to purchase everything from flat screen TVs and home theater systems to camcorders, digital cameras, computers and printers, Carpenter noted. “With the current recession, people are staying at home more these days and looking for relatively inexpensive ways to entertain themselves,” he said. “They’re finding they can do that by upgrading their home entertainment systems, watching the latest movies in high definition on widescreen TVs and playing video games.”

As an example, Carpenter said that more than 272,700 flat screen TVs in all brands and sizes have been sold over the past month, as well as more than 53,800 home theater systems. Other categories of products that have sold well, he said, include: digital cameras (266,600 sold to date), notebook computers (79,100), desktop computers (38,700), computer printers (143,900), camcorders (62,300), GPS devices (92,700) and car audio speakers (88,100). He also noted that more than 6 million DVDs and CDs have been sold since the sales started.

“We are very pleased that these sales have attracted such large numbers of shoppers, and urge those who may still be considering a purchase to come into the stores early for the best selection,” Carpenter said. “Circuit City’s nine distribution centers have been emptied out, so the merchandise that’s in the stores now is all that remains.”

The Circuit City liquidation is one of the largest U.S. retail liquidations ever, and the largest yet of any major national consumer electronics firm, according to the liquidators. Other major retailers that have closed in recent months include Mervyns, Steve & Barry’s, KB Toys, Shoe Pavilion, and Linens ‘N Things.