Circuit City is closing 20 percent of its stores. Tweeter is closing all of its stores. That leaves up to $2 billion in consumer electronics purchases up for grabs according to an analyst with Piper Jaffray.
Mitchell Kaiser Sr. said earlier this week that Best Buy is in position to pick up to 30 percent of that figure.
Another analyst, Gary Balter of Credit Suisse, believes that Best Buy will be able to grab more than its 21 percent market share from the 155 stores being shuttered by Circuit City.
Jay Vandenbree, Sony SEL sales president, told TWICE (This Week in Consumer Electronics) that if consumers don't find what they want at one retailer they naturally go to another.
"I don't know any consumers who go to one retail store and postpone their plans to purchase a product if they can't find it there," he said. "The question becomes do they shop at Sears? Do they go online? Or do they go to a smaller independent retailer for their shopping experience? It will be interesting to see which value equation they do choose. But they are going to choose to buy nevertheless. I have that much faith in consumers that they will continue to do that."
Discussion Questions: What does the closing of over 200 Circuit City and Tweeter stores mean for other consumer electronics retailers? What will be the key for those who continue to operate stores when it comes to picking up business from the closed locations?