It rhymes with "City," anyway...

By now you've probably heard the news that Circuit City is closing 155 more stores as the troubled retailer struggles to stay solvent, or at least not totally unsolvent. This news summons mixed emotions.

Apart from grabbing a few decent deals on DVDs and visiting a few good CD sales, I've never seen visiting a Circuit City as a great experience. I dislike their store layout, I haven't received great service there, and I don't care for some of their policies on the corporate level. Just look at some more of the articles with the "Circuit City" tag on The Consumerist and see some of the sleazy stuff that goes on at this electronics chain. Heck, look at this from that same article linked above:

In classy fashion, Chicago CC employees were told the news at what was billed as a "holiday kickoff" meeting that instead became a "holiday layoff" meeting.

On the other hand, I feel for the employees who are losing their jobs right before their holidays. Plus it's yet another retail outlet going down the tubes. It's already established that we can't buy CDs anymore. I was at Target the other day with a few minutes to browse the music section, and I only needed a few seconds. Best Buy's selection has shrunk as well.

But what about DVDs? Right now, Blu-Ray seems to be a big thing--that's what they want us to think, at least--but what if that doesn't catch on? Even the home video software sections of retail chains are shrinking as the stores try to push high-end items like HDTVs. Oh, I know that when "The Dark Knight" comes out in a few weeks, you'll be able to buy it at anywhere from Rite-Aid to Linens and Things, but this isn't so for lesser known titles, let alone "catalogue" movies.

Are we heading to a point where online outlets like Amazon aren't just the best places to buy most DVDs, but the only ones? And if their competitors keep dropping out, will Amazon still need to offer such good pricing and service?

So, yes, the slow demise of Circuit City troubles me on one level. But mostly I can't help but feel this awful company deserves some bad karma. Most importantly, though, I do hope for the best for the poor employees who are getting pink-slipped.