They were two of the most well known electronics retailers in the US just a few years ago. We are talking about CompUSA and Circuit City, both of which at one point had hundreds of large retail store locations across the country.
However, issues at both companies, ranging from mismanagement to the changing retail climate for electronics stores, caused them to collapse. The first was CompUSA, which closed its remaining stores in late 2007 and early 2008. Circuit City managed to last a little longer but in the end it shut down its remaining stores in March 2009.
Both CompUSA and Circuit City"s remaining assets, including their brands and logos, were acquired by Systemax, which operates the Tiger Direct website and retail store chain. Systemax kept the CompUSA and Circuit City websites online, but they were basically just showing off what Tiger Direct was selling.
Now it looks like Systemax has decided that these well known brand names have officially run its course. In posts on both the CompUSA.com and CircuitCity.com websites, the company announced they ".. will be consolidating with TigerDirect.com" by December 30th. In a previous press release, Systemax stated:
We harvested significant value from the CompUSA and Circuit City acquisitions and are now moving forward with a single and unified consumer platform in the United States that will drive efficiencies in advertising and customer acquisition.
While this move is to be expected, it will still be a shame to see CompUSA and Circuit City take that final journey to retail brand oblivion.
Source: CompUSA.com and CircuitCity.com | Images via Systemax