Circuit City Stores Inc., the nation’s second-biggest consumer electronics retailer, reached an agreement with liquidators on Friday to sell the merchandise in its 567 U.S. stores after failing to find a buyer or a refinancing deal.
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The company, which employs more than 30,000 employees, 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.
Circuit City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November as vendors started to restrict the flow of merchandise ahead of the busy holiday shopping season.
It had been exploring strategic alternatives since May, when it opened its books to Blockbuster Inc. The Dallas-based movie-rental chain made a takeover bid of more than $1 billion with plans to create a 9,300-store chain to sell electronic gadgets and rent movies and games. Blockbuster withdrew the bid in July because of market conditions.
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, Circuit City has broken 150 leases at locations where it no longer operates stores. The company already closed 155 stores in the U.S. in November and December.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Huennekens had given the company permission to liquidate if a buyout was not achieved.
Now the amazing part. Every smart aleck will run and buy stuff at higher prices than CC ever would have charged, liquidating is a good bargain for the liquidators-NOT THE CUSTOMER!
Maybe there’ll be a few bargains for savvy shoppers.
How sad our economy is going to shreds.
This means that Office depod and office-max and for sure best buy will charge more.
back to the mom and pop shops all bigshots are going out of business
I’m afraid this is only the beginning. As the consumers tighten their belts, we might be seeing a lot of big retailers failing this year. This may be good for the mom and pop shops, but unfortunately we need these big companies to employ people. Otherwise the mom and pop shops will have no one to sell to.
Could someone explain to what liquidating means. I see the above posts describing it, but I don’t really understand what the process is. Thank you.