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Circuit City Future: Could CircuitCity.com Live On?


Circuit City’s officially gone, but its Web site may be back before you know it. A company based in Illinois is hoping to buy the Circuit City brand name and Web site — and could give the old URL a new life.

Circuit City Buyout

Circuit City shut down all of its remaining 567 stores on Sunday. Its Web site now features a goodbye message that ends with the line:

“CircuitCity.com is also temporarily closed, although we anticipate the website will reopen in the coming weeks. Please check back for updates.”

CircuitCity.com

The reason: The Hilco Organization, the firm that handled the liquidation of Circuit City’s stores last year, is bidding for the brand. Hilco has publicly said it wants to own the name and take over CircuitCity.com. If that happens, it would have the right to eventually reopen old physical stores or start new ones as well, though Hilco execs haven’t indicated whether that might be a possibility. It could also start its own exclusively online retail business under the Circuit City name. A bankruptcy court judge would have to approve any such transaction.

Hilco has been in the brand-buying business before: The company bought out the assets of Linens ‘N Things just last month. That Web site now appears poised to reopen, with a home page notice proclaiming “an exciting new store filled with top brands and outstanding value is around the corner.”

Linens 'N Things

In Canada, Bell Canada has already bought out 750 The Source stores, which had been operated by Circuit City.











Comments


8 Archived Responses to “ Circuit City Future: Could CircuitCity.com Live On? ”

  1. what does the whole deal mean for circuit city shareholders?

  2. exCCemployee
    Mar 11, 2009

    absolutely nothing. there's nothing left for shareholders after liquidation and when this “new circuit city” comes about, we should all expect an entirely new company.

  3. Crap. That's all we need. A “circuitcity.com Liquidator” owner. Up the $ down the service.

  4. shahen askari
    Mar 17, 2009

    I have not been able to cash out my Circuit City Gift Card There are three different numbers on the back of the card as follows:

    6044-2980-5873-9209

    14079867

    Bar code No. 3731800763.

    Please let me know what should I do? Thank you for your help.

  5. azerbijan
    May 10, 2009

    Seeing as they are bankrupt, I do not see any cashing out in your future. Sorry.

  6. Brittany
    May 23, 2009

    Well you should prob. use some common sense… No Circuit City = No using Circuit City gift cards.