Unable to find buyer, Circuit City will close

Circuit City stores are located in Niles and Boardman.

WIRE and STAFF REPORT

Bankrupt Circuit City Stores Inc., unable to work out a sale of the company, said Friday it will go out of business — closing its 567 U.S. stores and cutting 30,000 jobs.

There are two Circuit City stores in the area: In the Great East Plaza in Niles at 5100 Youngstown-Warren Road, and in Boardman at 7230 Market St.

Spokesmen for the local stores said they were prohibited by corporate headquarters from commenting on the situation.

The nation’s second-biggest consumer electronics retailer is the latest casualty of an unprecedented pullback in consumer spending that has driven other brands such as KB Toys, Mervyns LLC and Linens ’N Things into bankruptcy. Experts believe there will be more to come.

“This is the only possible path for our company,” Circuit City’s acting Chief Executive James A. Marcum said in a statement. “We are extremely disappointed by this outcome.”

The company had been seeking a buyer or a deal to refinance its debt, but the hobbled credit market and consumer worries proved insurmountable. Negotiations for an acquisition went past midnight Thursday, Circuit City lawyer Gregg Galardi said in court.

Two buyers — Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego, who controls a chain of electronics stores in Latin America, and the Golden Gate Capital private equity firm — had been looking to buy the company in a shrunken form, with either 350 stores or as few as 180 stores. But the company couldn’t secure the necessary financing or support from vendors.

Some employees were notified Friday that they would lose their jobs and certain stores would begin close-out sales as early as today.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Huennekens gave final approval to the liquidation plan.

Shareholders are likely to receive nothing, as is typical in bankruptcy cases. Circuit City said in court papers it has appointed Great American Group LLC, Hudson Capital Partners LLC, SB Capital Group LLC and Tiger Capital Group LLC as liquidators. They will pay a 70.5 percent return on merchandise.

It was unclear what would happen to the company’s 765 retail stores and dealer outlets in Canada. Galardi told a judge there are still bids for the Canadian business.

“Very, very sad,” said Alan L. Wurtzel, the son of company founder Samuel S. Wurtzel, and the chief executive from 1972 to 1986, board chairman from 1986 to 1994 and vice chairman until 2001. “I feel particularly badly for the people who are employed or until recently were employed.”

Wurtzel has previously said Circuit City didn’t take the threat of rival Best Buy Co. seriously enough and, at some points, were too focused on making a profit in the short term instead of building long-term value.

Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter told investors that Circuit City’s demise will help Best Buy cement its position as the market leader.

“Losing Circuit [City] and what had previously been an $11 billion business, in addition to share gains from other smaller outlets, should help to partially offset weaker consumer spending as well as further secure Best Buy’s position as the leader in the space,” he said.

Shares of Best Buy Co. rose $2.44, or nearly 9 percent, to $29.58 in afternoon trading.

The liquidation of Circuit City follows the worst holiday shopping season in four decades. People have slashed their spending since the financial meltdown in September as they worry about their job security and declining retirement funds.

The Circuit City move will also hurt the nation’s malls, which have suffered from the rise in vacancies as other chains have liquidated. But analysts say that the demise of Circuit City, whose stores range in size from 20,000 to 25,000 square feet, will hurt the fortunes of mall operators even more.

“It will bring to market a glut of big box spaces across the country,” said John Bemis, head of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.’s retail leasing team.

Circuit City, which said it had $3.4 billion in assets and $2.32 billion in liabilities as of Aug. 31, said in its initial filings that it planned to emerge from court protection in the first half of this year.

Under court protection, it broke 150 leases at locations where it no longer operates stores and closed 155 stores in the U.S. in November and December.