1997: Circuit City plugs into Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS — For years, electronics and equipment retailer H.H. Gregg was the place to buy in central Indiana.

Whereas opponents like Fretter, Highland Superstores and Unimaginable Universe tried to make inroads, every in the end did not outcompete Indiana’s beloved field retailer.

However these failures didn’t deter the nation’s largest electronics chain from giving Indiana a go 25 years in the past this month.

In 1997, Circuit Metropolis deliberate to open three shops within the Hoosier state and rent 325 workers.

Circuit Metropolis’s enterprise mannequin centered closely on customer support.

“The secret’s that the shopper doesn’t should pay extra for it,” Brian Greene, a Circuit Metropolis worker, advised WRTV’s Gerry Dick. “We’ll give them the identical value they will get anyplace else, however we’ll simply give them the next stage of service.”

And clients trying to find moveable CD gamers, clock radios, and even the coveted Compaq Presario private pc appeared to agree.

“I’m taking a look at comparable issues that I purchased up the street and the pricing appears to be just a bit bit higher, Terry Lengthy mentioned. “I don’t know if that’s as a result of it’s simply opening or whether or not it’s one thing that’s constant.”

One other shopper approached Circuit Metropolis’s entry into the market with just a little extra skepticism.

“Loads of shops have come and gone, so I suppose we’ll simply have to attend and see,” Invoice Reeser mentioned.

Reeser’s evaluation would ultimately show true. Circuit Metropolis closed all of its shops and went out of enterprise in March 2009.