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takyon writes:

Circuit City, an electronics retailer that filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and subsequently closed all of its stores, may be getting back into the brick-and-mortar retail business:

Once the No. 1 big-box tech chain, Circuit City succumbed to a rapidly changing marketplace in 2008, and misfired in its second incarnation as an online-only sister site to Systemax's TigerDirect. This time, what Shmoel and his top lieutenant Liniado have in store for Circuit is an ambitious, multi-tiered game plan that calls for retail outlets, web sales, branded and private-label products, licensed kiosks, mobile shops and franchise opportunities, all under the iconic red-and-white banner. The fun is expected to begin in June when the company opens its first store, most likely in the Dallas market, and relaunches CircuitCity.com.

"We want to bring profitability back into retail," said Liniado, business development VP, who previously co-ran DataVision, Manhattan's landmark IT reseller, as president. He left the company after more than two decades in 2014. To that end, the new Circuit City will embrace MAP and UPP pricing, build margins into its private-label assortment, and will stick to a small-box retail format in affordable yet densely-populated real estate markets, he said.

The stores themselves will range from 2,000 to 4,000 square feet, and will feature product zones that present the assortment by category and brand. Targeted directly at millennials, the mix will include pre- and postpaid smartphones, as well as tablets, notebooks, wearables, networking equipment, gaming products, headphones, drones, 3D printers, health appliances, and DIY devices, all supplemented by a service desk, electronic price tags and touchscreen terminals that link customers with what is envisioned as a million-SKU selection online.

[...] Shmoel, CEO of the enterprise, expects to have 50 to 100 corporate-owned stores up and running by next year and, eventually, an additional 100 to 200 franchised locations.

Here are some 2009-era musings on why Circuit City failed in the first place.

Original Submission