Still want that hideous CD tower?
Circuit City, the defunct electronics chain everyone misses, is making a comeback.
The big-box store filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and closed all of its stores a year later, but thanks to retail veterans Ronny Shmoel and Albert Liniado, the chain is coming back from the dead in the coming months, according to a report from Twice Magazine.
“The name really resonates very well with everybody. It’s been out of the negative press for a while already,” Shmoel told Mashable. “We did some polls and found that the age groups between 25-35 know the brand.”
Shmoel, the new CEO of the company, bought the assets for Circuit City from Systemax last October for somewhere in the ballpark of $17 million.
The plan is for Circuit City to have a massive online presence, like that of a successful electronic chain such as Best Buy, but have drastically different physical stores from its heydays in the 1990s.
Circuit City will get with the times. It will own smaller brick-and-mortar stores, to cut back on the costs of running them, and sell products mostly geared towards millennials.
Apple iPads, Playstation 4s and BLU-rays will replace former Circuit City staples like clunky Compaq computers, Ataris and VHS tapes.
“The retail climate out there has really diminished over the last 5-7 years,” Shmoel said. “There still can be a revival of retail, if infused with the omni-channel of online. It has to be retail for today’s date.”
The first, new-look Circuit City will “most likely” hit the Dallas in June, followed by a re-launch of CircuitCity.com, according to Trade Magazine.
At the company’s peak, there were more than 700 Circuit City stores nationwide.
