Thought you heard the last of Circuit City? Think again.
Systemax completed the acquisition of the rights to the name on May 19, and relaunched circuitcity.com over the holiday weekend. Old customers will begin receive e-mails from the new owners beginning June 9, although they are being given until that time to choose to opt out.
All assets were sold to Systemax for $14 million USD, plus “a share of future revenue generated utilizing those assets over a 30-month period,” a minimum of $3 million USD according to the press release announcing the new site launch.
CircuitCity.com had a message on it for quite awhile promising some new version of the site, although it wasn’t very clear how it would return. The new version seems not much different from the old — it retains the old color scheme and general layout, although it does seem to have a TigerDirect like feel.
It’s new overlords will not honor warranties or service products from the old Circuit City, it should be noted. Regardless, it is moving on with a new mantra for the brand: “Lower Prices, Wider Selection, Faster Shipping, World Class Service!”
(No solace to the 30,000 employees left go, eh?)
Systemax is certainly on a roll — it now owns the two biggest retail names in electronics next to Best Buy: Circuit City as well as CompUSA. The company bought the latter brand last year for about $30 million USD and began reopening select retail locations two months ago.
It appears we won’t see any reopenings of Circuit Citys in the near future, however Systemax is making a smart move in using a very familiar brand name to lure customers in. Yes, it essentially is a reskinned Tiger Direct/CompUSA, but who cares if you’re their shareholders right? Money is money.