Circuit City

Circuit City

Circuit City Stores, Inc. (Pink Sheets: CCTYQ) was an American dealer and retailer in brand-name consumer electronics, personal computers, entertainment software, and (until 2000) large appliances. The company opened its first store in 1949 and liquidated its final American stores in 2009 following a bankruptcy filing and subsequent failure to find a buyer. As part of its bankruptcy, the company is selling its Canadian subsidiary, InterTAN (which operates as "The Source by Circuit City"), to Bell Canada.

At the time of liquidation, Circuit City was the second largest U.S. electronics retailer, after Best Buy. There were 567 Circuit City Superstores nationwide, ranging in size from 15,000 to 45,000 square feet (1400 to 4000 m²), when the company announced total liquidation. An additional 155 stores were closed when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2008 with the intent of continuing operations. However, attributing its ultimate demise to the lack of consumer spending and overall economic downturn during the late 2000s recession, Circuit City began liquidation of its remaining stores on January 16, 2009, and they were all closed on or before March 8, 2009. A small staff remains on hand at corporate headquarters to complete the company's business, including the termination of its many leases, and the sale of its company-owned real estate and Canadian subsidiary.

According to Circuit City's website, there are plans to re-establish an online presence under the Circuit City name in the next few weeks. Hilco is looking to purchase the Circuit City name and website.

In 1949, Samuel S. Wurtzel opened the first Wards Company retail store in Richmond, Virginia, at 705 West Broad Street. (Wards Company and Circuit City are completely unrelated to the other former retailer that went out of business in the 2000s, Montgomery Ward.) The name "Wards" was actually an acronym of the founder's last initial and the initials of members of his family (W = Wurtzel; A = Alan; R = Ruth; D = David; S = Sam).

By 1959, Wards Company operated four television and home appliance stores in Richmond. The company continued to grow and acquired stores in other locations including Albany, New York; Mobile, Alabama; Washington, DC; and Costa Mesa, California. During the 1970s and early 1980s it also sold mail-order under the name Dixie Hifi, advertising in the hifi magazines of the day. In Richmond, Wards experimented with several retail formats including smaller mall outlets branded "Sight-n-Sound," "Circuit City," and lastly "Ward's Loading Dock," its first big-box format. The large-format store clicked with consumers, as did the Circuit City name. They were combined into the retail format of the "Circuit City Superstore," which then went national.

Wards Company officially changed its name to Circuit City and became listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1984. One of the company's early slogans was "Circuit City — Where the Streets are Paved with Bargains." The company, which had leased floor space from the Zody's department stores as well as other department stores, began acquiring retail stores and turning them into Circuit City Superstores. The first of these replacements occurred in Knoxville, Tennessee; Charleston, South Carolina; and Hampton, Virginia.

In 1991, Circuit City entered the New York City market by acquiring the remnants of the failed Lafayette Radio chain. They operated stores there under the "Lafayette-Circuit City" name for a few years and then exited the market, returning several years later under the Circuit City banner.

Circuit City established the First North American National Bank to operate its private-label credit card in 1990. In 2002, Circuit City began offering a co-branded Visa credit card. It sold both of these operations in 2004 to Bank One (now Chase Bank). Other companies owned by Circuit City included CarMax, founded as a subsidiary and spun off in 2002, and Patapsco Designs, acquired in 1987.

In 2000, Circuit City exited the large appliance sales market. The previous year, the company had earned nearly US$1.6 billion in sales revenue from large appliances. Every showroom was retrofitted, using the extra store space in its newer superstores for an expanded computer and software selection, and for music and movie sales in its original "plug design" stores. The retrofitting project alone cost the company US$1.5 billion. Investors immediately scoffed at the news, and within two weeks of the decision, the company's stock value plummeted to nearly a third of its 52-week high.

In 2003, Circuit City converted to a single hourly pay structure in all stores, eliminating commissioned sales. Many previously commissioned sales associates were offered new positions as hourly "product specialists," while 3,900 salespeople were laid off, saving the company about $130 million per year.

In 2004, with the expansion of the wireless phone market, Circuit City partnered with Verizon Wireless to include full-service Verizon Wireless sales and service centers in each superstore. These locations were owned and staffed by Verizon Wireless staff. 45 percent of this workforce was laid off due to Circuit City's bankruptcy, with the remainder resigning voluntarily or transferring to other Verizon locations.

On February 11, 2005, a hedge fund headquartered in Boston, Highfields Capital, offered to take over Circuit City for $17 a share, arguing that existing management had failed to maximize shareholder value. Circuit City's board rejected the offer on March 7, but doubled its own share buyback program. As of February 28, 2005, Circuit City held cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments of US$1 billion. Also in February 2005, a private jet owned by Circuit City crashed in Colorado, killing eight passengers, four of whom worked for the company.

Philip J. Schoonover succeeded W. Alan McCollough as Chairman of the Board of Circuit City Stores, Inc. on June 27, 2006. Schoonover had previously been an executive at rival Best Buy, where his last title was Executive Vice President of Customer Segments.

New CEO Schoonover immediately slashed employee salaries of management and hourly sales associates which some argue hurt employee morale. The new CEO dropped the starting wage from $8.75 an hour down to $7.40 an hour; ($6.50 being the federal minimum wage at the time). On February 8, 2007, Circuit City announced that it planned to close seven domestic Superstores and a Kentucky distribution center to cut costs and improve its financial performance. News media reports also mention that 62 stores in Canada were to close.

In a press release on March 28, 2007, Circuit City announced that in a "wage management" decision in order to cut costs, it had laid off approximately 3400 better-paid associates and would re-staff the positions at market-based salaries. Laid-off associates were provided severance and offered a chance to be re-hired after ten weeks at prevailing wages. The Washington Post reported interviews with management concerning the firings.

In April 2008, video rental firm Blockbuster announced a bid worth $1 billion to purchase Circuit City. In July 2008, Blockbuster withdrew its offer due to market conditions.

Philip J. Schoonover, CEO, President and Chairman of the Board of Circuit City Stores, Inc. announced his immediate resignation on September 22, 2008. James A. Marcum, former Vice Chairman of the board, was named acting CEO. Allen King was selected Chairman of the Board. This switch was said to be due to a stream of losses stemming from the rapid decline of flat-panel TV prices, and possibly due to the strong call for Schoonover's removal from activist shareholder Mark Wattles.

On November 3, 2008, Circuit City announced that it would close 155 stores and lay off 17% of its workforce by the end of the year as a result of continuing difficulties in remaining profitable. On November 7, 2008, Circuit City laid off between 500 and 800 corporate employees from its Richmond, Virginia headquarters. The approximately 1000 remaining corporate employees were consolidated into one building in an effort to further reduce costs and improve profitability. On November 10, 2008, Circuit City filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.

In bankruptcy court, Circuit City was approved to borrow $1.6 billion to finance operations while restructuring. Court filings revealed that the company had assets of $3.4 billion and debt of $2.32 billion, including a $119 million debt to Hewlett-Packard and a $116 million debt to Samsung Electronics. Chief executive James A. Marcum promised that the stores would stay open and the chain would not be liquidated.

On November 18, 2008, it was announced that Ricardo Salinas Pliego, current owner of Mexican television broadcaster TV Azteca, had purchased 28 percent of Circuit City.

On January 10, 2009, it was announced by a company spokesman that Circuit City needed a buyer by January 16, 2009 to keep from shutting its doors due to an approaching deadline set by the court and creditors. Two unnamed parties had expressed interest in purchasing the company. However, no bidders could be found, and Circuit City was forced to sell off all of its assets and begin store closing/liquidation sales. The Canadian operations, which are run under The Source by Circuit City banner, were not initially affected by the liquidation, but were later sold to Bell Canada.

Circuit City would like to thank the millions of customers who have shopped with us during the past 60 years. Unfortunately, we announced on January 16, 2009, that we are closing our stores. For answers to your questions about the store liquidation process, please view the FAQs available at liquidation.circuitcity.com CircuitCity.com is also temporarily closed, although we anticipate the website will reopen in the coming weeks. Please check back for updates.

Circuit City introduced a new Superstore format in 2001 which was much more in line with the "Big Box Retailer" store design than its prior layouts. The newer stores had a brighter, more open sales floor to allow customers to browse the merchandise easily. The format allowed putting all products on the sales floor, except those that are too large for customers to carry themselves. In 2007, new store formats include a 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) store known as The City and designed to eliminate previously under-utilized space. All new store openings in 2008 used this new store format.

In partnership with IBM, Circuit City also developed its first online virtual-reality store based completely within the 3D virtual world of Second Life. The store was opened in December 2006 and houses 3D representations of actual products carried in stores. Online consumers can shop in the virtual store much like they would in a real store. The Second Life virtual store project was created as part of Circuit City's "Multi-Channel" initiative to branch into other areas of retailing in addition to a standard store environment.

As of 2008, domestic segment retail operations were overseen by the COO, John Harlow. Domestic retail operations were divided into 8 regions supervised by Regional Vice Presidents. The 8 regions comprised 67 districts, which were overseen by District Managers who regularly visited stores to monitor store operations and meet with store management.

Domestic segment superstores were typically staffed with an average of 56 full- and part-time associates including sales support personnel, such as customer service associates, product specialists and stockpersons; in-store technicians and installers; supervisors; an operations manager; an assistant manager; and a store director.

At the time of its fiscal year 2007 Annual report, Circuit City had over 43,000 hourly and salaried associates working in the United States, and 3,071 associates in Canada.

Associates in both the domestic and international segment received frequent training through interactive E-learning courses hosted on the company intranet known as ccity.com. In the beginning, the E-learning courses were developed in conjunction with Circuit City's training department and DigitalThink. As of 2007, all coursework was developed internally and deployed and hosted on an LMS system by Convergys. In addition to online courses, associate training tools included training workbooks and management-driven in-store mentoring.

On May 9, 2007, the executive board of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU, UFCW) issued a statement that they would support a lawsuit against Circuit City by three Oxnard, California Circuit City employees who were part of the group of employees fired for earning higher wages. The three employees are Daniel Weidler, 57, Michael Yezback, 59, and Eloise Garcia, 66. RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum said that even though the three employees were not part of their union, "what happened to them and other Circuit City workers represents a two-fisted assault against all retail employees." According to Appelbaum's statement, the union plans to file an amicus brief in support of the California workers. RWDSU represents about 100,000 workers throughout the U.S. and Canada and felt that if Circuit City is allowed to get away with firing higher-paid employees, other major retailers will follow suit.

Circuit City's in-store transformation program, dubbed ISCE, started in 2007 with the termination of 3400 employees who were earning wages higher than the pay cap for their positions. It was internally announced at a store level within a few months of the terminations. The company also sought to develop a "full floor" selling staff in certain stores. Despite an effort to train associates to sell in any department, many skeptics believe that the changes may have been an early fatal error, as they led to reduced earnings and a loss of market share to competitors.

Multi-Channel In the company's 2007 annual report, Circuit City listed Multi-Channel integration as one of its primary innovation initiatives. The company launched a test program that enables sales associates and shoppers in 10 stores in Boston and 10 in Florida to use wireless tablet PCs to study product specifications and compare products and prices from circuitcity.com as they walk through a store. The test has now resulted in a roll-out in all of the company's new concept stores known as The City.

Supply Chain In Fiscal 2007, Circuit City made improvements within its supply chain organization to help identify and react to consumer demand in a timely manner as well reduce the lag between buying from a vendor and display of the product at the point of sale. Circuit City has set up a subsidiary, Circuit City Global Sourcing, Ltd (with offices in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan), to assist in obtaining inventory to sell. Most products were shipped directly from manufacturers to the 9 Circuit City distribution centers.

Six Sigma Six Sigma was introduced in 2001 as an initiative within Circuit City's annual report. Six Sigma is applied to Circuit City's operational side such as supply chain and distribution centers. In May 2004 the Director of Six Sigma for Circuit City announced that Six Sigma was being applied to important company projects. As of 2006, Six Sigma initiatives ceased to exist.

Heart of the City In early 2006, Circuit City rolled out its "Heart of the City" initiative, a label for the company's encouragement for all associates to volunteer for charitable causes. Volunteering was not compulsory but was encouraged by district and store management. Stores organized events such as softball games, car washes, and bake sales to raise money for charities in their own communities. Included within the "Heart of the City" initiative were corporate donations and partnerships with organizations nationwide. As of June 2006, Heart of the City had developed an "Umbrella," which they consider the people and organizations they support through the program. Four programs fell under this umbrella, including Boys and Girls Clubs of America, United Way of America and as of December 2006, the newly created "Associate Relief Fund," which was originally an idea to help those associates directly affected by Hurricane Katrina. The Associate Relief Fund later went to help any associate in need of assistance who otherwise would not receive any.

Boys & Girls Club of America Beginning in 2001, Circuit City partnered with the BGCA for their annual ImageMakers contest. This $5 million initiative, funded by the Circuit City Foundation, helped BGCA develop a state-of-the-art photography curriculum, host a photography competition, provide photography resources, and involve Club members in the art of photography.

Habitat for Humanity Circuit City was a Build Partner with Habitat for Humanity. As recently as March 2006, Circuit City made charitable contributions to the Richmond, VA Habitat. Circuit City associates volunteered and assisted in the construction of several houses near the Richmond area that same month.

American Red Cross In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Circuit City announced on September 9, 2005 a corporate donation of $1 million to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. In addition, Circuit City associates participated in a "Drive for a Million" fundraising effort, which included a variety of projects (bake sales, car washes, etc.) at Circuit City locations across the country to benefit the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

United Way Circuit City made charitable contributions to various organizations through the United Way and listed this organization in its "Community Involvement" section of its website.

Due to the expansion of Circuit City stores in the 1970s-1990s, the company accumulated a surplus of unused real estate with a presence in nearly every major market in the country. Although a typical retail location is approximately 30,000 square feet (2700 m²), the company had numerous freestanding and in-line locations ranging from 2,000 to 50,000 square feet (180 to 4500 m²), and also surplus office, service and distribution locations scattered across the country. During Circuit City's 2005 fiscal year (March 1, 2004 through February 28, 2005), the company disposed of approximately 1.2 million square feet (108,000 m²) of vacant retail space. In January 2007, Circuit City's vice president for real estate announced plans to open 200–300 stores in the next two years, a large increase from the current trend of 10–12 stores a year. Due to the economic conditions the company faced, they did not reach that goal. Many of these stores, however, did open in 2008 and operated for only a few weeks before closing. Some were built and never opened.

Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson commented that stores left vacant by Circuit City's bankruptcy presented a growth opportunity for his company.

Circuit City developed and launched DIVX in 1997 as a competitor to DVD. DIVX discs cost $5 each but could only be played for 48 hours before a continuation fee was required to continue viewing. Opposition to the format and limited acceptance by the public led Circuit City to discontinue the format in 1999. Circuit City took a $114 million loss to close its DIVX division.

During fiscal year 2006 the domestic segment launched the firedog brand to provide home theater installation and PC services in-store, at home and remotely in competition with other retailers' consumer and business technical services offerings such as Best Buy's Geek Squad and Staples EasyTech.

In 2005, Circuit City agreed to pay $173,220 in settlement and investigation reimbursement costs due to a false advertising claim in a 2004 New Jersey court case. The court found that important information pertaining to sale items was purposely obscured within the advertisement, thus potentially deceiving customers.

The same year, Harris and Kaufman, Attorneys at Law, successfully represented a class action suit of Circuit City employees caught in an unfair arbitration agreement. The court's ruling in Gonlugar v. Circuit City Stores, Inc., found the store's arbitration agreement to be "tainted with illegality." The arbitration agreement was found to be so one-sided that it was unconscionable. Harris and Kaufman maintained the arbitration agreement bound only the employee to arbitration, required the employee to pay fees to Circuit City for initiating the arbitration (Circuit City paid no such fee), imposed a shortened statute of limitations on the employee (not on Circuit City), and prohibited class actions.

During the week of August 31, 2007, the California Supreme Court ruled that the Circuit City arbitration agreement, which all 46,000 employees were required to sign, violated the state's labor laws and that Circuit City employees may sue the store for labor law violations despite having signed it. The document requires employees to waive their right to sue their employer and establishes a cap for damages regarding any wrongdoing on the part of corporate or management, which violates California's well-established law on arbitration agreements.

Circuit City's City Advantage Plan was also challenged in a United States District Court in Massachusetts. The plaintiffs' claim concerned Circuit City's cancellation of its warranty plan without full disclosure of the plan at the time of sale. The plaintiffs cited breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and violation of the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act. Circuit City requested the matter be dismissed. The court, however, upheld the plaintiffs' claim that the monies paid for the protection plan be reimbursed and credit be issued for non-working goods returned.

Liquidators handling the sale of remaining Circuit City inventory have also become the target of consumer complaints, not only for often-uncompetitive pricing of items but also for an "all sales final" policy which allows the sale of defective or damaged merchandise at former Circuit City locations with no recourse afforded to the consumer.

The Centrios and NexxTech brands are imported and distributed by the American company Orbyx Electronics and primarily manufactured in the People's Republic of China.

Circuit City store in Los Angeles, California, modeled after the 1988-1995 store design, with updated 2001 signage.

The Circuit City location in Huntsville, Alabama on the day after closing for the final time. This model is indicative of Circuit City store designs from 1995-1999.

A Circuit City store in Rome, Georgia. Indicative of the 2000 "Horizon" store design, update shortly thereafter with new circle logo.

A Circuit City store (St. Louis Mills - Hazelwood, Missouri, United States). Also indicative of the 2001-2007 store design.

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The Source by Circuit City

The Source by Circuit City (or simply The Source, French: La Source par Circuit City), formerly known as RadioShack, is an electronics retailer with over 800 locations across Canada. It is operated by a company known as InterTAN which was acquired by American electronics retailer Circuit City in May 2004. The company is based in Barrie, Ontario.

The Source also includes some stores previously operated by InterTAN under separate banners such as Battery Plus, THS Studio, UpClose, and G-Wiz (all are now defunct except for a single THS Studio location in Barrie).

The Canadian chain filed for bankruptcy protection along with its American parent, but was not directly affected by Circuit City's liquidation process announced on January 16, 2009. A sale process for the Canadian operations followed, and on March 2, 2009, Bell Canada announced an agreement to purchase The Source for an undisclosed amount. Following the sale, the chain is expected to be known as simply "The Source".

The Source began as the Canadian branch of Radio Shack (later CamelCased as "RadioShack"). The Canadian chain was originally owned by Radio Shack (U.S.)'s parent company Tandy Corporation, but was later spun off, along with the rest of Tandy's international operations, as InterTAN. A licensing agreement with what became RadioShack Corporation allowed InterTAN to continue to use the chain's name and logo.

In May 2004, InterTAN was acquired by Circuit City Stores Inc. One week after the acquisition was completed, RadioShack Corporation filed a lawsuit in the 352nd Judicial District Court in Tarrant County, Texas to end the licensing agreement. RadioShack Corporation claimed that InterTAN had breached the terms of their agreement. On March 24, 2005, the district court judge ruled in favour of RadioShack and cancelled the agreement. The ruling prohibited InterTAN from using the brand name on their stores or in any of their products, packaging, and advertising after June 30, 2005.

On April 26, 2005, Circuit City announced that the stores would be renamed The Source by Circuit City. The rebranding process was completed in the majority of the chain's Canadian stores by July 1, 2005. Even the Radio Shack brand names on the products in the store were changed to Nexxtech and Centrios.

In February 2007, The Source announced it would close down 62 low volume stores across Canada. On March 30, 2007, Circuit City announced to its shareholders that it was seeking options including selling off the InterTAN/The Source subsidiary to cut losses. On November 10, 2008, InterTAN sought out protection from its creditors, after Circuit City filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11.

Circuit City announced on January 16, 2009, that its namesake U.S. stores would be liquidated. The Source, which is part of a separate ongoing sale process, is not affected by the announcement.

On March 2, 2009, Canadian telecommunications firm Bell Canada announced it would acquire The Source and continue to operate it as an independent division. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the third quarter 2009. Bell will begin selling its full range of communications services through The Source beginning in January 2010, when the chain's exclusivity agreement with Rogers Communications expires. The Source will also continue to sell a full array of consumer electronics products.

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Lafayette Radio

Lafayette Radio was a radio manufacturer and retailer based in Syosset, New York. The company sold radio sets, amateur radio equipment, citizen's band (CB) radios, and other communications equipment, as well as electronic components and tools through retail outlets as well as by mail-order.

Established in the 1920s, Lafayette Radio Electronics (LRE) thriving mail-order catalog business in electronic components was a boon to the amateur radio operators and electronic hobbyist located in areas where such components were not available in local retail outlets. Lafayette's main competitors were Radio Shack, Allied Radio, Heathkit, and "mom and pop" (independent) radio dealers throughout the United States.

Lafayette advertised very heavily in all of the major U.S. consumer electronics magazines of the 1960s and 1970s, particularly Stereo Review, High Fidelity, Audio, Popular Mechanics, and Popular Electronics, among others. The company offered a free 400-page catalog filled with descriptions of vast quantities of electronic gear, including microphones, tape recorders, speakers, and other components which could be obtained for free by mailing in a coupon.

Until the 1960s, many independent retailers in some markets became Lafayette Radio "Associate Stores", which were displaced when the company expanded. These stores were supported from headquarters at 111 Jericho Turnpike in Syosset, NY and a warehouse in Hauppauge, NY. A limited selection of product was stocked, with full access to a catalog with a wide variety of parts, tubes, cameras, musical instruments, kits, gadgets and branded gear that could be ordered and delivered through the local store. The company made major investments in what were called sound rooms to demonstrate hi-fi equipment, using custom switch panels and acoustic treatments in an attempt to duplicate a home listening environment and offer fair comparison with an assortment of branded hi-fi gear.

Managers were rewarded for maximizing gross profit margins and inventory "turns", which led to frequent out-of-stock situations, often remedied by frequent cross-town inter-store transfers. Each store had a repair shop on site with a part-time technician. Stores ranged in size from 2000 to 5,000 square feet (460 m2).

By the late 1970s, Lafayette expanded to major markets across the country, struggling to compete with Radio Shack, which had purchased rival Allied Electronics around 1970. Lafayette ran into major financial difficulty when the FCC authorized a new Citizens Band ("CB") spectrum with 40 channels. Lafayette's buyers had firm commitments to accept delivery of thousands of the older design units, and were not able to liquidate the inventory without taking a serious loss. Eventually, all of the old CB radios were sold for under $40.

With less than 100 stores, far fewer than the aggressively expanding Radio Shack's thousands of local outlets, Lafayette Radio remained more of a dedicated enthusiasts' store than a mass marketer. The company was also hurt by the advent of electronics retailers relying on aggressive marketing techniques and competitive pricing in the late 1970s. Many experienced managers departed. Formerly a national chain, the remaining Lafayette stores in the state of New York closed by the end of 1981.

Some local Lafayette stores remained open until 1981. For example, the Long Branch, New Jersey, store finally closed in the Fall of 1981. Unsold inventory was literally shovelled into dumpsters overnight to vacate the store. One store in the Trenton, NJ area went on independently to become known as "Laraco Electronics". Laraco had one retail location that served the area on Business Route 1 in Lawrenceville, NJ until its closing in late 2002.

Several Lafayette stores were purchased by Circuit City of Richmond, VA. In order to keep the Lafayette name, which was popular in New York, Circuit City changed the store names to "Lafayette-Circuit City". However, these store locations were much smaller than a standard Circuit City, and did not carry major appliances, which Circuit City carried at the time. The stores were eventually closed as Circuit City left the New York Market (only to return later). The Syosset repair center was kept open a year after the last store closing to handle warranty coverage. Lafayette-Circuit City used the phrase "no haggling" in its ad campaign, which featured celebrities such as Don King, in trying to demonstrate that the lowest price was always posted, unlike many competitors in where you would have to bargain with the sales person for a lower price. This approach, however, did not work, and Lafayette-Circuit City fell due to competition from other New York area electronic retailers such as Newmark and Lewis, Trader Horn, The Wiz, Crazy Eddie and PC Richard.

As of 2003, the Lafayette brand name was re-launched at the CES show that year. Their products are only offered through special dealers and limited retail stores.

Most of Lafayette's products ranged from stereos to two-way radios for Hams and CBers, and shortwave listeners. Many were dedicated types with special functions, such as VHF receivers for police and fire channels built into a CB radio. A complete model line included many models and brand names to choose from for just about any purpose, as opposed to just a few. The product line also covered other manufacturers' products through seasonal catalogs. The company's best selling products were often shortwave receivers, parts, and portable radios. In the 1960s, most Lafayette brand radios were rebranded Trio-Kenwood sets, which were of moderate performance and build quality. A significant share of 60's and 70's vintage Lafayette hi-fi gear was manufactured by a Japanese subcontractor named "Planet Research". "Criterion" brand speakers were built by several offshore and some domestic assemblers. Science kits were popular. One product of interest from Lafayette Radio Corporation was a small Atom Smasher (van de Graaff generator), Model F-371. The address for this product was listed as 165-08 Liberty Ave., Jamaica 33, N.Y., which is now a Storage Plus location.

While the catalog heavily-promoted their own branded products, Lafayette also carried models from many other hi-fi manufacturers of the era, including Marantz, Fisher, Pioneer, AR, Dynaco, KLH, Wharfedale, Bozak, BIC, Garrard, Dual, TEAC, Akai, Shure, Pickering, Electro-Voice, JVC, Panasonic, Sony and others. The catalogs and advertising helped promote the concept of high-fidelity sound to customers, some of whom lived many miles away from major electronics stores, during a time when only the largest urban areas had dedicated "stereo" stores. Lafayette also offered TV vacuum tube testing, for customers who wanted to service their own televisions.

Lafayette was quick to jump on industry trends, embracing first open reel tape recorders and later 8-track cartridge recorders and compact cassette recorders, along with an amazing array of gimmicks, supplies, and accessories. During the mid-1970s, the company was one of few places one could actually experience four channel ("quadraphonic") sound. However the lack of a single industry standard (Columbia SQ vs. JVC's CD-4 and Sansui's QS) dampened sales, and the experiment ended in 1976.

Lafayette also sold a variety of electronic musical equipment made by different manufacturers. There were solid-body and hollow-body electric guitars, probably made by Teisco or Harmony. Microphones, amplifiers, and various electronic effects such as reverbs were available. One of the most famous effects that Lafayette sold was the Uni-Vibe, used by many musicians, most notably Jimi Hendrix. Robin Trower, Stevie Ray Vaughan and others later used the effect to emulate Hendrix's sounds and achieve new ones of their own.

Lafayette retail store locations according to catalog listing.

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Montgomery Ward

Montgomery Ward (later known as Wards) is an online retailer that is somewhat connected to the former American department store chain, founded as the world's first mail order business in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward. At its height, it was one of the largest retailers in the United States, but declining sales in the late 20th century forced the original Montgomery Ward to close all of its retail stores and catalog operations by early 2001. After a near four year absence, the Montgomery Ward brand was revived as an online and catalog-based retailer headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in late 2004, when Direct Marketing Services Inc. purchased much of the intellectual property assets of the former Wards, reviving the brand as an online retailer with no physical stores.

Ward had conceived of the revolutionary idea of a dry goods mail-order business in Chicago, Illinois, after several years of working as a traveling salesman among rural customers. He observed that rural customers often wanted "city" goods but were often victimized by monopolists who offered no guarantee of quality. Ward also believed that by eliminating intermediaries, he could cut costs and make a wide variety of goods available to rural customers, who could purchase goods by mail and pick them up at the nearest train station.

After several false starts, including the destruction of his first inventory by the Great Chicago Fire, Ward started his business at his first offices at the corner of North Clark and Kedzie streets, with two partners and using $1,600 they had raised in capital. The first catalog in August 1872 consisted of an 8 by 12 in. single-sheet price list, showing 163 articles for sale with ordering instructions. Ward himself wrote the first catalog copy. His two partners left the following year, but he continued the struggling business and was joined by his future brother-in-law Richard Thorne.

In the first few years, the business was not well received by rural retailers, who considered Ward a threat and sometimes publicly burned his catalog. Despite the opposition, however, the business grew at a fast pace over the next several decades, fueled by demand primarily from rural customers who were attracted by the wide selection of items unavailable to them locally. Customers were also attracted by the innovative and unprecedented company policy of "satisfaction guaranteed or your money back", which Ward began using in 1875. Although Ward turned the copy writing over to department heads, he continued poring over every detail in the catalog for accuracy. Ward himself became widely popular among residents of Chicago, championing the causes of the common folk over the wealthy, most notably in his successful fight to establish parkland along Lake Michigan.

In 1883, the company's catalog, which became popularly known as the "Wish Book", had grown to 240 pages and 10,000 items. In 1896, Wards acquired its first serious competition in the mail order business, when Richard Warren Sears introduced his first general catalog. In 1900, Wards had total sales of $8.7 million, compared to $10 million for Sears, Roebuck and Co., and the two companies were to struggle for dominance for much of the 20th century. By 1904, the company had grown such that three million catalogs, weighing 4 pounds each, were mailed to customers.

In 1908, the company opened a 1.25 million ft² (116,000 m²) building stretching along nearly 1/4 mile of the Chicago River, north of downtown Chicago. The building, known as the Montgomery Ward & Co. Catalog House, served as the company headquarters until 1974, when the offices moved across the street to a new tower designed by Minoru Yamasaki. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978 and a Chicago historic landmark in May 2000. In the decades before 1930, Montgomery Ward built a network of large distributions centers across the country in Baltimore, Fort Worth, Kansas City, St. Paul, Portland, Oregon, and Oakland, California. In most cases, these reinforced concrete structures were the largest industrial structures in their respective locations. The Baltimore Montgomery Ward Warehouse and Retail Store was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

Ward died in 1913, after 41 years running the catalog business. The company president, William C. Thorne (eldest son of the co-founder) died in 1917, and was succeeded by Robert J. Thorne. Robert Thorne retired in 1920 due to ill health.

In 1926, the company broke with its mail-order-only tradition when it opened its first retail outlet store in Plymouth, Indiana. It continued to operate its catalog business while pursuing an aggressive campaign to build retail outlets in the late-1920s. In 1928, two years after opening its first outlet, it had opened 244 stores. By 1929, it had more than doubled its number of outlets to 531. Its flagship retail store in Chicago was located on Michigan Avenue between Madison and Washington streets.

In 1930, the company turned down a merger offer from rival Sears. In 1939, as part of a Christmas promotional campaign, staff copywriter Robert L. May created the character and illustrated poem of Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Six million copies of the storybook were distributed in 1946. The song was popularized by Gene Autry.

After World War II, Montgomery Ward had become the third-largest department store chain. In 1946, the Grolier Club, a society of bibliophiles in New York City, exhibited the Wards catalog alongside Webster's dictionary as one of 100 American books chosen for their influence on life and culture of the people. The brand name of the store became embedded in the popular American consciousness and was often called by the nickname "Monkey Wards," both affectionately and derisively.

In the 1950s, the company was slow to respond to general movement of the American middle class to suburbia. While its old rivals Sears, J.C. Penney, Macy's, McRae's, and Dillard's established new anchor outlets in the growing number of suburban shopping malls, the top executives thought such moves as too expensive, sticking to their downtown and main street stores until the company had lost too much market share to compete with its rivals. Its catalog business had begun to slip by the 1960s. In 1968, it merged with Container Corporation of America to become Marcor Inc.

During the 1970s, the company continued to flounder. In 1976, it was acquired by Mobil Oil, which was flush with cash from the recent rise in oil prices. In 1985, the company closed its catalog business after 113 years and began an aggressive policy of renovation of the remaining stores. The renovations centered on restructuring many of the store layouts into boutique-like speciality stores. In 1988, the company management undertook a successful $3.8 billion leveraged buyout, making Montgomery Ward a privately held company.

In 1987, it began a push into consumer electronics using the "Electric Avenue" name. Montgomery Ward greatly expanded their electronics presence by shifting from a predominantly private label mix to an assortment dominated by Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi, Panasonic, JVC, and other national brands. This strategy was led by V.P. Vic Sholis, who later became President of the Tandy Name Brand Retail Group. (McDuff, VideoConcepts, and Incredible Universe) Seemingly on the right track for a rebound in marketshare, in the late 1980s and early 1990s Montgomery Ward was one of the hottest retail chains in the country. 1994 brought a 94% increase in revenues, largely due to Ward's tremendously successful direct-marketing arms. For a short while Wards was also back in the mail-order business, through "Montgomery Ward Direct", a mail order business licensed to the catalog giant "Fingerhut". But by the mid 1990s sales margins were eroded even further in the competitive electronics and appliance hardlines, which traditionally were Ward's strongest lines.

The company also spun off Jefferson Ward (known as "Jeffersons"), a short-lived discount department store version of Montgomery Ward which had the same concepts as most discount department stores. The chain was discontinued in 1988, and most locations were converted into Bradlees stores.

In 1994, it acquired the now-defunct New England retail chain Lechmere.

By the 1990s, however, even its old rivals had begun to lose ground to low-price competition from Kmart, Target, and especially Wal-Mart, which stripped away even more of Montgomery Ward's old customer base. In 1997, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, emerging from bankruptcy court protection in August 1999 as a wholly owned subsidiary of GE Capital, by then its largest shareholder. As part of a last-ditch effort to remain competitive, the company closed 250 retail locations in 30 U.S. states, closed all the Lechmere stores, abandoned the speciality store strategy, renamed and rebranded the chain as simply Wards (which was the original name for the now-defunct Circuit City), and spent millions of dollars to renovate its remaining outlets to be flashier and more consumer-friendly. But GE reneged on promises of further financial support of Wards' restructuring plans.

On December 28, 2000, the company, after lower-than-expected sales during the Christmas season, announced it was going out of business and would close its remaining 250 retail outlets and lay off its 37,000 employees. All the stores closed within weeks of the announcement. The subsequent liquidation was at the time the largest retail bankruptcy liquidation in U.S. history. Roger Goddu, Wards' CEO, was offered the CEO position of J.C. Penney. Goddu declined on pressure from GE. One of the last stores to close was the Salem, Oregon location in which the head of the Human Resources Division was located. By May 2001 Montgomery Ward was gone.

In June, 2004, an online retailer was created which sells the same products as the former brand. The company does not currently operate any retail stores. Key "Montgomery Ward" and "Wards" trademarks were purchased by Iowa-based direct marketing company Direct Marketing Services Inc. (DMSI), a catalog marketer, for an undisclosed amount of money. DMSI then began operating under the same branding as the original company and managed to get it up and running in three months and started a new, smaller catalog. It is not the same company as the original, however. As such, the new company does not honor obligations of the previous company, such as gift-cards and items sold with a lifetime guarantee.

In July 2008, it was announced that DMSI was on the auction block, with an auction scheduled for August 2008. Catalog retailer Swiss Colony purchased DMSI on August 5, 2008. Swiss Colony has announced that it will keep the Montgomery Ward catalog division open. The Web site launched on September 10, 2008, with new catalogs mailing in February 2009. A month before the catalogs' launch, Swiss Colony President John Baumann told United Press International the retailer might also resurrect Wards' Signature and Powr-Kraft store brands.

Four of the six massive catalog distribution centers built by Montgomery Ward from 1921 to 1929 remain and three of these have been the focus of projects of adaptive reuse that have become perhaps the most tangible legacy of Montgomery Ward. Two others have been demolished for various types of redevelopment.

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InterTAN

InterTAN Canada Ltd. is a Canadian consumer electronics retailer that operates stores under the banners "The Source by Circuit City" and a single "THS Studio" location. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Circuit City Stores Inc, as of May 19, 2004. InterTAN is based in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. The Rogers Plus chain was previously operated by InterTAN on behalf of Rogers Communications; the chain is now managed directly by Rogers. As well, conversion or closure of all UpClose and G-Wiz stores, as well as all but one THS Studio, was completed in 2006.

InterTAN filed for bankruptcy protection (under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act) at the same time as its U.S. parent in late 2008. However, the Canadian division was not directly affected by Circuit City's liquidation process announced on January 16, 2009. Bell Canada subsequently announced an agreement to purchase The Source.

InterTAN began as a subsidiary of Tandy Corporation, its name being a shortened version of International Tandy. Originally, InterTAN consisted of operations in Canada and Australia. The company became a separate entity from Tandy Corporation in 1986, and has since been reduced to being the parent company for the Canadian consumer electronics business only, divesting itself of the other properties during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Until June 30, 2005, InterTAN ran stores under the banner RadioShack in Canada, as it had a licensing agreement with RadioShack Corporation until 2010 to use the American company's trademarks. However, after a purchase of InterTAN by Circuit City Stores Inc in 2004, RadioShack Corporation sued to have that agreement terminated. While that lawsuit was approved in the State of Texas, it was not legally binding in Canada. InterTan filed a lawsuit in Canada stating that since the purchase by Circuit City Stores Inc was for only 80% of InterTAN, the latter was still a viable company and thus entitled to keep using the name RadioShack. Both InterTAN and Radioshack came to a temporary deal by which InterTAN is banned from using the former moniker since July 1, 2005, and as such, all corporate retail consumer electronics stores, and most dealer stores, formerly known as RadioShack are known as The Source by Circuit City. The matter was settled in late 2006, however the details of the settlement were not made public.

InterTAN had entered into arrangements with Rogers Communications to run a chain of stores under the Rogers Plus banner, using InterTAN's knowledge of retail operations for the day-to-day management of the stores. This partnership was renewed as part of the Circuit City acquisition, and was set to expire in January 2007.

In April, 2002, InterTAN, already one of Canada's largest battery retailers with its RadioShack stores, acquired certain assets and locations of Battery Plus and merged it into its retail operations.

In the first two months of 2007, InterTAN underwent drastic changes. By closing all but one THS Studio location, as well as all but one Battery Plus location, InterTAN began to focus on its core operation: The Source By Circuit City. InterTAN continued closing underperforming locations through the end of February 2007, resulting in the loss of employment for almost 100 Canadians. The positions varied from sales associates, store managers, store assistant managers, district managers, service centre managers, even regional vice presidents.

Circuit City announced that they had retained Goldman Sachs to explore options (which may include the sale) of InterTAN in Q1, 2007.

InterTAN Canada announced via private internal memo on March 2, 2009 that it is to be purchased by Bell Canada.

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