Circuit City Is Returning From The Dead: Yes, Again

Back in 2009, the medium-box consumer electronics chain Circuit City closed. Systemax, the owner of TigerDirect, acquired the brand’s website and customer list, and kept it going until 2012. Late last year, Systemax decided to shut down its technology business, and that included selling the twice-defunct Circuit City brand. Now yet another company has acquired the brand and wants to make a go of it as physical retail stores.

You can’t say that the team taking over the brand lack consumer electronics sales experience: the newly zombified brand’s CEO has worked in e-commerce for years, and the business development VP was president of NYC electronics store DataVision for 21 years.

Their launch plan, as described to TWICE, the publication that broke this story, will begin this summer with a website and one location in Dallas, and as many as 100 stores across the country in major yet affordable metropolitan areas over the next year.

In addition to corporate-owned stores, the brand would also franchise. They also plan to develop kiosks and displays that would have a selection of items under $30, like headphones or cables, and fit right inside an existing store. They have college bookstores in mind, but convenience stores or supermarkets could already have them too.

The regular stores would be 2,000 to 4,000 square feet, and smaller mobile-only locations maybe 1,500 square feet.

Circuit City Set To Return This Spring [TWICE]