Creditors’ list is nearly all that remains of Circuit City

One year after filing for bankruptcy protection, Circuit City Stores Inc. is nearly extinct.

The consumer-electronics retailer, a former Fortune 500 company that once was one of the Richmond area's largest companies, filed for bankruptcy a year ago today.

At the time, the chain had about 600 U.S. stores and 39,000 employees, including about 2,000 in the area.

Two months after the filing -- in January -- Circuit City was forced to liquidate all its stores. The last locations closed in early March.

Its legal entanglements are laid out in more than 5,000 court documents.

Creditors have until today to cast votes on whether to support a plan of reorganization that lays out how remaining funds will be divvied up among creditors.

A hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond to approve the plan is scheduled for Nov. 23.

The remaining employees of Circuit City, according to court papers, are working out of offices in the Innsbrook Corporate Center in western Henrico County, a couple of miles from the chain's former headquarters complex on Mayland Drive.

A listing of companies at that Innsbrook building doesn't show Circuit City as a tenant. A phone number listed in court papers for Circuit City was disconnected for at least a couple of weeks. A call to the building's leasing agent was not returned.

It is unknown how many employees still work for Circuit City.

Only two executives remain -- James A. Marcum, vice chairman, acting president and CEO, and Michelle Mosier, the chain's vice president and controller, court papers show. Three board members remain.

Once the plan is approved, whoever is left at the company will be dismissed and be replaced by a court-appointed trustee, who will liquidate any remaining assets. The money will go to pay off fees and creditors.

Unsecured creditors are expected to get as much as 13.5 cents on each dollar owed. There are between $1.8 billion to $2 billion in unsecured claims, according to court documents.

Secured creditors, who are owed between $5 million and $20 million, are expected to recover 100 percent of what they are owed.

Priority claim holders, who are owed as much as $95 million, also are expected to get the full amount owed to them.

Shareholders would receive nothing.

David Urban, a professor of marketing and interim business school dean at Virginia Commonwealth University, said it's unlikely that the Richmond area will produce a homegrown company such as Circuit City again.

Circuit City started in a small downtown Richmond storefront in 1949 and once was the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer.

"The success stories of the future will be tied more to entrepreneurial ventures in the services, including health care and technology, and will have a heavy online component from the start," Urban said.

. . .

While Circuit City is gone, its influence remains.

A core group of 14 former managers are a part of hhgregg, a rapidly growing appliance and electronics chain that is expanding into the Richmond market. Its two area stores are to open in two weeks -- in former Circuit City locations near Short Pump Town Center and Chesterfield Towne Center.

"They brought a lot of transferable skills, and Circuit City gave them a passion for this business," said Andrew Eaton, regional manager for the Indianapolis-based chain. He worked at Circuit City for 13 years, most recently as a district manager.

He said those management-level employees will likely be the ones leading hhgregg as it expands in Virginia.

In the days after the filing, "we were trying to keep it business as usual, while keeping our fingers crossed," he said.

Eaton lost his job Jan. 16, the day Circuit City announced that it was liquidating its stores. He found out that the company was going out of business when he walked into the Fredericksburg store that morning.

"The initial shock wore off in about 90 days," he said.

He joined hhgregg in the spring.

. . .

For many employees, the bankruptcy filing provided some clarity after more than a year of uncertainty.

It also provided some opportunities.

"Several of us keep in touch on Facebook and LinkedIn, and people generally seem so much happier post-Circuit City," said Nicole Thompson, who worked in the purchasing department for five years.

Since losing her job, she started Ripe LLC, a consulting firm that helps businesses streamline the supply process and work with vendors.

"It's been a crazy year, but I can honestly say that running my own business is less stressful than sitting in a cube wondering if my co-workers and I would be there the next week," she said.

Some former employees, though, thought the company would survive.

"As I sat in my office at Circuit City I never thought, believed, it could happen," said Darick Lane, a former installation manager at Circuit City's corporate headquarters who was let go three days before the company filed for bankruptcy.

Lane, who worked for the company for four years, was out of work for several months before starting his own company, nTraffic Advertising.

"During the bankruptcy, I was furious with Circuit City for wasting so much money and making so many poor decisions as a management team. I was also upset with myself for not having a backup plan. I never thought that a company so large could crumple in such a way."

Contact Louis Llovio at (804) 649-6348 or .