Circuit City Begins Transformation Process With Jacksonville Store Opening

Customers Will Say ""Wow""

30-Aug-00

Beginning with the grand opening of the Avenues Superstore in Jacksonville, Florida, Circuit City Stores, Inc. begins a three-year process that will transform its nationwide store base to take full advantage of the opportunity created by the digital consumer electronics age. The Jacksonville store opens Labor Day weekend. It introduces the retailer's vision for the future of consumer electronics retailing. ""This is a dramatically different Circuit City,"" said W. Alan McCollough, the company's President and Chief Executive Officer. ""With new merchandise categories, increased selections in existing categories, exciting new interactive displays, more ways to shop - including more merchandise on the sales floor, shopping carts and cash registers - brighter lights and new color schemes, we believe existing customers and new customers will really say 'WOW.' ""Circuit City has long been the consumer electronics industry leader in the introduction of new technologies, and we intend to build upon that strong foundation,"" said McCollough. ""During the past year, we have established alliances with Sony Electronics to enhance consumer understanding of portable digital memory devices, especially the Sony Memory StickÆ, and America Online, Inc. to offer consumers access to the Internet via AOL through narrowband technology and developing broadband technologies. The new store is a mecca for technology enthusiasts, but it also caters to the novice who needs help understanding how new products can enhance his or her life and selecting from the available choices."" In the video area, the Jacksonville store can display up to 19 big-screen televisions and features a digital television display that demonstrates the vivid picture quality of this technology. A new digital video recording wall showcases DVD-Video players, DIRECTVÆ, video Internet access and personal video recorders, a new technology that allows consumers to record television programming onto a hard drive and pause live programming in progress. In the audio department, a new digital audio recording display explains the variety of available technologies including MP3, CD-R and MiniDisc. Speaker rooms, a Circuit City hallmark that enables customers to hear individual speakers without the distractions of the more energized store environment, have been upgraded to allow for complete customer interactivity. In the center of the store, Circuit City's imaging department focuses on a deep selection of camcorders - both analog and digital - as well as digital and 35mm still cameras. Wireless communications, Internet solutions and personal computers share the center of the store. ""These are the products that are driving growth in the consumer electronics industry,"" said John W. Froman, Executive Vice President of Merchandising. ""They are also the products where consumers can let their imaginations run wild, asking questions and playing with the vast merchandise selection. ""In addition to the new store design, we are enhancing our sales training programs to more quickly move information on new products to our sales counselors and thus to our customers,"" said Froman. ""We have introduced Internet-based training modules that allow sales counselors to learn in ways with which they already are familiar. With three Internet terminals dedicated to our online training, product information remains readily available in the store."" ""We also recognize that many customers are technologically savvy and prefer to learn on their own,"" said McCollough. ""With that in mind, we launched our e-commerce site, www.circuitcity.com, in July 1999. Today, that site includes information on more than 2,100 products, and the number continues to grow. Over the next couple of months, we will alter the look and feel of the site to match the look and feel of the new Superstore design. In addition, the new Jacksonville store includes three Internet kiosks, which will allow customers to research products and place orders on their own in the store. ""Consumers will see the change the minute they walk in the door,"" said McCollough. ""With 70 percent more square footage for consumer electronics, we have been able to put more inventory on the sales floor and expand our selections in key categories. Our criteria are: if it fits in a shopping cart and if it is not too heavy for the customer to carry, it will be on the sales floor."" VCRs, DVD-Video players, portable audio products, boomboxes, telephones and telephone answering machines all are available to the customer on the sales floor. Shopping carts and cash registers at the front of the store create an easy shopping environment for these more familiar products. In addition, the new store features a greatly increased entertainment section with 50 percent more CD titles than the typical Circuit City Superstore and a more than 100 percent increase in the DVD title selection. Video game hardware and software from all the major manufacturers, including Sony's PlayStationÆ and PlayStationÆ2, Nintendo's N64Æ and Game BoyÆ, and Sega Dreamcastô, also take a prominent position in the new store. Circuit City expects to add new platforms from Nintendo and Microsoft when they are introduced next year. Interactive gaming kiosks allow customers to test the hardware and adjacent software before purchasing video games. In the home office area, the enhanced merchandise selection features more choices in computer software, peripherals and accessories. Although the Jacksonville store is the first of its kind, consumers throughout Florida will see more like it in the coming months. The two other Jacksonville area stores have undergone interim remodeling to expand their selection of computer software, peripherals and accessories and add digital imaging stations and products. The majority of Circuit City's 31 stores in Miami, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Fort Myers and Orlando are being fully remodeled to reflect the new store design, with other stores undergoing partial remodeling. These central and south Florida remodels will be complete by the holiday shopping season. To celebrate the grand opening of the Jacksonville store, the InfinityÆ One Mobile Show Truck will be at the store September 3 to demonstrate Infinity car audio products. The truck is a 1997 Ford 150 that has been outfitted with 12 Infinity subwoofers and a component system capable of putting out more than 2,000 watts of power. Infinity will give away t-shirts as well. To continue the celebration, local radio station WSOL 101.5 will host a live remote September 9 from 1-3pm. The station will have a trivia contest and give away tee shirts, key chains and station prize packs. Visitors also may enjoy free food and drink. ""We are excited to share our vision of the future with Jacksonville consumers,"" said McCollough. ""Our new store adapts the high service levels for which we are known to the products and the shopping environment that exists today. We've taken the best parts of our store and made them better, and we have added a new dimension and new level of excitement that we believe will stimulate the imagination of the electronics consumer."" Circuit City (NYSE: CC) operates more locations in more markets than any other consumer electronics specialty retailer. With headquarters in Richmond, Virginia, the company operates 574 Superstores and 43 mall-based Circuit City Express stores. For more information, access Circuit City's Web site at www.circuitcity.com. 

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