Quote Originally Posted by sallysue
If that's quote is accurate, I wonder what he was smokin'?
It was tongue in cheek. Thumb through some of the plasma threads if you want to see where it came from.

Quote Originally Posted by sallysue
On another point, I have to admit getting a little chuckle at Sony's financial down turn. They ran a wild west approach to product distribution and so no exclusivity rights were given to retailers. Brick and mortars can't compete with those that have vitually no overhead such as e-tailers. The customer is the winner by getting a better price but how is the brick and mortar to survive when customers can buy the sets online for damn near cost. It's a miracle some companies like CC have lasted this long. Soon your only choice for CE (medium grade )may be BB . I'm picking on Sony but Panasonic and Samsung did the same thing. Pioneer Elite held the line though, but that's not enough to a make a business.
CE retailing used to be dominated by regional chains that sold a wide range of product lines, from mass market entry level lines up to higher end specialty lines. Once Circuit City began their national expansion, that changed the entire landscape. Best Buy wound up beating CC at their own game. In the meantime, most regional CE chains disappeared altogether, forcing the mass market CE manufacturers to distribute to anyone and everyone. The independent stores are largely propped up by territorial exclusivity and the higher end manufacturers imposing much stricter controls over online and unauthorized vendors.

Quote Originally Posted by mbbuchanan
What a shame about C.C. Before they cut off their Commissioned employees and tried to restructure their way out of trouble a thousand times, they were a classy company.
I don't know if I would call them a classy company, given that their employee benefits and training programs were a joke compared to what regional specialty chains gave their employees. Unfortunately, most of those companies have also gone by the wayside. Circuit City's commissioned sales setup was similar to other CE stores, and they were one of the last ones standing.