Hundreds of people waited in mid-teens temperatures yesterday for doors to open on the first day of Circuit City's liquidation sale.
At the Huguenot Road store in Chesterfield County, about 250 stood in a line that snaked from the front door to the side of the building.
Many more waited in their warm, running cars.
Doors opened at 10 a.m., and the crowed flooded in, with several linebreakers jumping ahead of those who waited. In polite Southern fashion, no one complained.
At 10:02 a.m., a man holding a boxed flat-screen TV went to check out and clearly didn't like the price.
"I can get that across the street" at Best Buy, he told the clerk. He returned the TV.
Circuit City offered 10 percent discounts on big items such as TVs, 20 percent on DVDs and CDs and 30 percent on furniture such as TV stands.
Some customers said they expected cuts of 30 to 50 percent.
"I'm a little disappointed," said Brian Brown, 36, of Midlothian. He held off on buying a TV.
Mike Murphy of Chesterfield left Circuit City after waiting nearly an hour to get in and then drove to a nearby Best Buy.
There, he bought a Samsung 46-inch flat-screen TV for $1,049 -- several hundred dollars cheaper, he said, than at Circuit City.
"It's the exact same TV," Murphy said. "It's not a deal" at Circuit City.
A store employee, who would not give his name, defended the prices. "Where are you going to go to get 20 percent off DVDs?"
He said prices will decline over the weeks of the sale, but shoppers who wait will run the risk of finding that the item they wanted is gone.
The liquidation sales will continue until March 31 at the latest. After that, all Circuit City stores will be closed.
To be sure, plenty of people were buying.
Linda Palmer of Chesterfield bought a Canon digital camera for $140.
"I haven't bought a camera in 20 years," Palmer said. "Since I'm going to the inauguration, I figured, well, I need a good camera."
The store near Virginia Center Commons mall in Henrico County was packed and the line of shoppers at the single active cash register stretched halfway to the back of the store. But most shoppers appeared to be walking out without making a purchase.
At the Circuit City on Southpark Boulevard in Colonial Heights, Jerry Koren said he got a 32-inch Sony flat-screen TV for $899 -- about $200 below the store's regular price.
"There are reasonable deals here," said Koren, while carting his purchase across the parking lot.
Several people hated to see the Henrico County-based chain shutting down.
"We are really sad," said Parul Little of Richmond. "We have loved Circuit City over the years."
Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or rspringston@timesdispatch.com.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement