Lots of retailers had a rough ride in the waning months of last year, but few had it tougher than Circuit City Stores Inc.
The Richmond, Va.-based consumer electronics chain decided to exit the home appliance business in July 2000, giving up millions in sales and leaving a gaping hole in its stores just before consumer spending collapsed during the holiday season.
The logic was simple: Circuit City wanted more room for high-tech stuff such as digital cameras and video games, items that its gadget-oriented customer base craved. Meanwhile, few consumers thought of Circuit City when the dishwasher went kaput or the fridge was on its last legs.
Still, the massive overhaul hurt revenue and profits at a time when competitor Best Buy Co. was gaining ground with a low-pressure sales approach and a high-energy mix of computers and music CDs.
Now Circuit City hopes to regain some ground–not just with new merchandise but with a new look. The chain has fully remodeled 10 Chicago-area stores and is sprucing up 15 others. The new look is lighter and brighter with wider aisles for shopping carts. Signs are easy to see so customers don’t have to wander the whole store to find what they want.
“The old theory in retail was that you would make it difficult for people to find what they were looking for so they could stumble over something else,” says Alan McCollough, Circuit City’s chief executive. “Today, people are time-constrained. If they can find what they want quickly, they might take extra time and look at other things.”
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In addition to redesigning stores, Circuit City also is trying to take the hassle out of shopping by investing in more training for its salespeople. As part of that effort, “sales counselors” in the remodeled Chicago stores have undergone extensive cross-training in products outside their own departments. That means one clerk should be able to assist a customer buying both a VCR and a 35-millimeter camera.
The remodeled Chicago-area stores, including those in Lincoln Park, Schaumburg, Berwyn and Naperville, will be compared with a group in Washington, D.C., which got a less aggressive overhaul. McCollough will be watching their performance with an eagle eye from now through the holidays to see if Chicago’s more expensive makeover is worth the money.
Whatever the outcome, Chicago is only going to become a bigger market for Circuit City, he adds. The chain will open new superstores in McHenry, Bolingbrook and Kildeer by Thanksgiving.
New sobriquet: Evergreen Plaza, the shopping center in south suburban Evergreen Park, has a new moniker. From now on the mall will simply be known as The Plaza.
The change is a salute to the shopping center’s loyal regional customers, who live outside Evergreen Park and refer to it using that abbreviated name, says the private group that owns and manages the mall.
“The Plaza serves shoppers from so many other communities, we feel that a new name will be a more appropriate representation of our valued customers,” says Bruce Provo, president of the Provo Group. With the center’s 50th anniversary coming up in 2002, the time was right for a change, he adds.
The formal name change will be supported by a new logo for the shopping center’s advertising and signs.
And we always thought The Plaza was in New York.
On the move: Cynthia Nedeau has been promoted to store manager of Marshall Field’s in Water Tower Place. Previously, she was assistant store manager for merchandising at Field’s State Street store.
Wayne Spears has been named vice president and general merchandise manager of men’s apparel at Sears, Roebuck and Co. He replaces Ken Walter, who left the company. Spears joins Sears from Target Corp.’s Mervyn’s division, where he was in charge of menswear.
Richard Schepp has been promoted to executive vice president and general counsel/risk administration at Kohl’s Corp.
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