Another Misstep in Circuit City's Comeback

Back in January, TWICE reported that an outside investor had acquired struggling electronics retailer Circuit City, causing a lot of excitement in the retail sector. Data Vision, the brand that acquired Circuit City from IT supplier Systemax, promised to breathe new life into the business and open anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 stores by June 2016. Yet we haven't heard anything since. In a statement to TWICE, global sourcing exec Ronny Shmoel explained that all plans are still a go, but the company wanted to wait and "take [our] time to get it right."

Total Retail's Take: It sounds all well and good to wait to do a rebrand correctly, but the longer Circuit City waits, the more skeptical I get. I'm anxious to see the revamped CircutCity.com e-commerce site now powered by Amazon.com, but is the missed storefront deadline a sign of more missteps to come? Bottom line: It's no secret that consumer electronics is a very competitive category, and the longer Circuit City sits on the bench, the harder it will be for it to get back in the game.