RIP Circuit City


I have had a lot of jobs in my life. I will actually take this time to see if I can name them in the order that I have worked them. I started when I was 14 years old at The Blue Bonnet Restaurant in Brazil, Indiana. I was a dish washer. This was a big deal back then because it was my first job and I loved having income. I am luck enough to say that I learned the value of a dollar at a very young age. I still hear songs on the radio sometimes that bring back memories of the days when I stood over the industrial sized dish washer while cleaning plates and bowls until the early hours of the morning.

I did not wash dishes forever, however. I moved quickly to the kitchen. I was a cook for quite some time. I also, at the same time as cooking, was a server when I was needed. And while the restaurant went through numerous management changes I stuck around because I was happy with the income that I was receiving. I even remember creating a burger while I was on the kitchen staff that was a BBQ lover’s dream. Covered in sauce, onion rings, and pure heaven of artery clogging goodness.

Then I moved to the Terre Haute area to work at Western Ribeye as a cook. I had zero ambition to serve and since I had a car I figured why not change it up a little. I worked there for a winter and enjoyed it but it was not what I wanted from a career. (Of course, I was only 16 years old at the time.)

Shortly after there I moved to the lights of the Kroger super market. I worked in nearly every department there. I worked in produce, dairy, non foods, customer service, as a cashier, and even in the role of a part time manager. (This was the student kind of part time manager. I was on a work study program at school so I could get out half day my senior year and work.)

From there I moved to Indianapolis to begin my college career. (Stop laughing to those of you that know this is not over yet.) I played golf at Marian College and I got a part time job at the place where I spent the most time; the golf academy. I worked there for the two years I was at Marian because I was always there anyway. I met a lot of great people there and I miss that job more than any that I have ever had. But when I moved to the north side of Indianapolis it was too far to drive for less than $10 an hour.

That is when I got a job at Galyan’s Sporting Goods. It was located at the Castleton mall and I loved it. I worked in, you guessed it, the golf department. I worked as many hours as I could because it was a commission based sales job. I fit right in with the motivation of money.

Not too long after that I moved to the corporate headquarters an an intern in their design department. I kept the sales job for good measure. And that was a good thing because after only one day at the corporate office the company was bought out by Dick’s Sporting Goods. So, still wanting to sell golf products I kept that job for a few months.

I moved from there to the T.G.I. Friday’s at Keystone at the Crossing. I worked there for a little over a year and I actually was there when they went from the old location to their new location in front of the mall. I made some life long friends there and I loved every minute of working at that job. But I was there for a little over a year before I wanted a change. (Do you see a pattern here?)

I went downtown to the sports grill Champions. I, again, made some life long friends there and made a good amount of money. But it was a long drive and I was sick of working nights. (Also, along with all of these jobs I was doing freelance graphic design work and band management. I have managed 6 artists in my time in the music industry.)

From there I wanted back into the retail game. So I went to Best Buy. All I wanted to sell was video games. But I decided shortly after that I really enjoyed the video and audio side of things. So I began to sell televisions. I got hooked into this and received hours upon hours of training and still to this day continue to train myself just for further knowledge on my own. I moved from Best Buy to Magnolia Home Theater. Of course it was in the same store so I did not have to move very far. And after a few months of that I moved over to media to sell those video games that I had once begged to sell.

After that I went back to the service industry by getting a job bar tending in the college hot spot, Broad Ripple. I worked there for a little while as a dueling piano bar when I decided I wanted to bring live music to the venue. So that is what I did. I brought live music to the venue and continued to work with bands and created a name for myself in the music industry. I booked all the bands there for almost a year.

From there, once the venue closed, I went back to the television sales market to the point of this story. I went to Circuit City to sell and train as I was hired in as a sales leader and a team manager. I had the responsibility of hiring, training, and teaching others the importance of home entertainment. I really enjoyed this position because it gave me a lot of responsibility. I made some life long friends there as well. (If nothing else in all these career choices I have managed to make a friend or two along the way.)

Once the store went through a restructure about a year into the job I was laid off. They stated that I made too much money. So from there I went to Logan’s Roadhouse to serve. I served there for about a year and then moved to another restaurant because of a previous manager. He left to open this new steak house (which is no longer in business) so I went to help him. It was a great move and I made a lot of income while I was there. Now, in the process of being at Logan’s I decided that I wanted one of those careers everyone talked about. So, I went out and began that search.

In October of last year I found that. Now, after leaving the service industry, I am working as a full time web designer. I am also running my own business called Open Book Design. And, on top of that I am the special events coordinator and a staff writer for Indyconcerts.com. So, needless to say I have a pretty full plate.

But, this entire story was written with one topic in mind. Circuit City is closing. They filed, in November, for bankruptcy, but planned on keeping their stores in tact. Today, however, they have stated they are going to be liquidating all of their United States stores. So what does this mean?

This means that you are going to get some awesome deals at your local Circuit City. But, what else does this mean? It also means that 30,000 people are now going to enter that already staggering 7% unemployment rate that we currently have. I have a feeling this is going to effect some families somewhere.

This just comes as shocking news to me that they are throwing in the towel so soon after filing for bankruptcy. But this is not the most staggering detail. The one thing that bothers me more than anything is that any and all share holders (those of you have have stock or investments in Circuit City) will be getting absolutely nothing in return. The company has gone from what I thought was a competitive market leader to a waste of space and energy.

But who is to blame? Best Buy? Sears? Fry’s Electronics? Wal-Mart? Or is it the economy that we find ourselves in? I truly believe that we are not as bad off as they think. What I do think is that when I can go to Wal-Mart (I will hold back on my tangent of how incredible that store is) and buy the same TV for h
undreds less why in the world would I ever go to these big box stores? I am going to go where I spend less money and can save for the time that this economy actually does effect me. I don’t know about you but I am going where I can save the least amount of money. What a concept, huh?