90's Circuit City Commercial

[sideslide23]

25 inch TV for $277 at 0:24, I bought my Sharp 42 inch High def flat screen TV for that same price and its bigger and better than that old ugly box TV haha.

[cobaltblue1975]

LOL! Packaged Hell computers! Anyone remember those horribly defective monsters?

[Chaniyth]

@cobaltblue1975

I got years of good computing and gaming out of my old Pentium 100Mhz Packard Bell PC back in the day. I maxed out it's RAM and eventually bought a 333Mhz Evergreen "upgrade" chip for it, and it had a Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold, and Voodoo 2 12MB GPU. It played all late 90's - early 2000 games just fine. Then I built my own Pentium III 450Mhz CPU back in the day and wow was that a speed up [used the Awe64 and Voodoo 2 but replaced it with Voodoo 3 3500 eventually]!

[RingSight91]

And if you're from abroad and had to "go home" to [try to] finish college in May 1994, you'd have to be rich to even have a 386 w/ Win3.1, the way some import markets work. I'm still pissed at how I had to write my papers on an effing 286 and WordStar thanks to my tech-clueless dad. Frack!

[jejeroy]

wow 1099$ for a 486 33MHZ MEGA DEAL rolf now today peoples complain that they can not get a laptop all installed with windows for 329.99$ ...

[MrBallmer]

In 1998 I and my cousin bought our first computers when we were little there the were Compaq's and they ran windows 98 on a Pentium iii and a nVidia Graphics card! Aaaa i miss the 90's.

[AkitoJr]

To OP:

this commercial is from the the 90s not the 80s.

the part where they explain 0% finance show the offer ends 5/14/1994

[RichGilly]

@AkitoJr It is just a reeeeaaaalllly long offer =)

[Medevila]

It's like they're advertising the -remote- being 25''. Miss Circuit City though, was kind of depressing to see it go.

[shotblocker81]

Wow 33 MHz! No way! Not only that, but they throw in the monitor too! All for just 1100 dollars!!

[KkF00]

So glad they went out of business. Terribly expensive and terrible customer service.

[slipknot789able]

if i'm not mistaken back in the 80's circuit city commercials had a guy playing an organ that sounded spooky

[AudioJihad]

I've never seen this commercial before and I knew they were going to try to sell me a Packard Bell. What terrible machines.

[nurb101]

Circuit City deserved to die, I worked there just after they fired all of their knowledgable career salesmen that the thought made too much money, and then hired teenagers to replace them for shit pay to run the store at half the number of original staff. It did nothing but piss off customers who had to wait forever for help from one of the 2 employees per department, and then only to find highschoolers weren't paid enough to care about learning the product. Welcome to modern corporate retail.

[Chaniyth]

@nurb101

Wal*Mart is doing the same thing, they are slowly letting go of all their old staff, i'm talking people that have worked there for over 13+ years, and people who have never called in sick, etc... just to replace their hard workers to hire a bunch of lazy, whiny teenagers who don't know the meaning of customer service for minimum wage or slightly (10 - 25 cents) higher. Wal*Mart is following the same mistake as Circuit City, and all I can say when they close is good riddance.

[macintosh3823]

Weird add

[RyanFresh]

This is nostalgic. Now hello Best Buy.

[JRLfrom68k]

LOL, Packard Smell.

[Hunkola]

$1,100 for a 486SX computer ---- FUCKIN' HILARIOUS.....I remember those days

[ihatestupidsignups]

@Hunkola Then you remember when a 386 "with Math co-processor" was $3000?

[retro80stv]

Commercial is from 1994 (according to the financing date). I had a computer close to the PB one from November 1993.

[jkeelsnc]

Silly commercial. They sucked later on though. :)

[MrWw1234ww]

R.I.P Circuit City

[BoogsterSU2]

The Cleveland Show made fun of Circuit City, saying that they "have only one location." [the website]

[poshko41]

Man, and if you adjust for inflation that's around $1500 today for that crap computer. Gotta love supply and demand.

[sellbotvpmaster99]

wow things were cheap back then.......

[heyitismyusername]

Who the hell would want a 25" Remote? (look at the TV ad.)

[ManOfMeans]

Wow. It's official, I am old.

[RyanFresh]

@ManOfMeans Same here if I can remember this vividly too.

[jmass67]

With Moniter!!! OMG!!!

[subfusion01]

Grüße Fräulein, Sturm-Verbot-Führer, you also think, this you who can a computer more fastly for the nowadays 24mal reception that the 486 for 299, but nevertheless not to be everything here the modifications or the examples of the prices, than give five years, he stops to accelerate, that must use the good substance during the following millenium

[kargaroc386]

@subfusion01 In english?

[golby260]

And on an even funnier note: @LOL at Packard Bell.

Carry on. :)

[SpaceDrake]

@golby260 Man I owned a PB for years and I can still say with confidence: lol Packard Bell. Oh man.

[golby260]

On a lighter note, our first Compaq computer was like this from 1993-1999.

Windows 3.1. About 130 MB hard drive capacity. No sound! It had a B:\ drive! The FLOPPY floppy disk! And we had some HP printer (the 550?) to go with it -- couldn't print color, which kinda put the damper on the joy of Paintbrush. And it had a 1440 baud modem.

It was awesome for the longest time. :) But Windows 98, CDs, and mp3s made it really, really obsolete. Best desktop we ever had. XD

[golby260]

God knows what a 16-year-old commercial about a computer with a 33-mhz processor on it has to do with current U.S. politics.

I'm a big, evil liberal, too, but I don't think our government's the greatest in the world -- you'd be surprised how many liberals don't actually think Obama's that great. However, we simply have the system we deserve because we're arguing about Reagan and economics on a 1994 Circuit City commercial video post!

Keep politics out of the goddamn thread. Be NOSTALGIC! :)

[prodos8]

That computer can outperform a little more than half of the current US congress plus the potus combined.

[Overlapse1000]

there are reasons and explanations that make sense, and there are areas of comprehension that no amount of effort by a human being can be made into a simple explanation.

[DisneyBlackJet]

ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS?!?!

[retro80stv]

@DisneyBlackJet Yes, that's how much computers were "back in the day." Mine was an IBM PS/2 and I paid $1299 for it "without" the monitor.

[Daniel2131990]

Man I miss this store . It was my second favorite electronic store behind Fry's Electronics. First Good Guys second Comp U.S.A and Now Circuit City. What's next Best Buy or Fry's Electronics. We need another Regan or better in this hurting economy . Not Obama killing our economy. Regan said government is not the solution to our problem GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM. What amazing president in the 1980's even though I was not born yet . I was born in 1990. GO REGAN .

[Silvertrine]

Playing fast and loose with the facts friend. The economy collapsed under Bush. Bush passed the bank bailout. Theres plenty of blame to go around and this type of thing is never perfect. But trying to pin the blame on Obama is just an insult to most peoples intelligence.

[Daniel2131990]

You must be a liberal . I know you liberals like to always blame a conservative or Repulican person that has morals. The liberals don't want to admit that is their fault . Bush has had allot of critizem in his terms . He is a much better president than we have right now in office. You liberals are two faced you need to look at your own selves . Poor George W. Bush should not have gotten all the negative reviews he deserves much better than that. You liberals believe in dictatorship. Bye.

[Silvertrine]

So what if I am you're a Bush loving, torture loving sack of shit. One gives a crap about other people one does not. You're an asshole go fuck yourself.

[Daniel2131990]

You are blinded just don't say anything to me that has curse and swear words anymore. My believes are just plane solid.

[MattJones1418]

Really dude. You're gonna blame circuit city going bankrupt on Obama. lol.

[JohnChewy]

LOL the computer has 33Mghz!

[noladol]

Dude, it can run Pac-man!

[16mmDJ]

wait, 80s or 90s?

I didn't see the commodore logo on there when they were scrolling through the company names.

That made me sad.

[whattheheck1000]

Spring 1994. The sale literally ended 15 days after Commodore's bankruptcy.

[VloggerGal90]

RIP Circuit City, RIP

[LBPHeretic]

Wow! This really brings me back. I actually remember when Circuit City was running these television advertisements. I always liked the "Service is State of the Art" jingle too.

Thanks for bringing me down memory lane. Five stars!

[BoogsterSU2]

Curse you, Economy >:(

[SpeedyRaven2000]

Unfortunately, Best Buy's service was not "State of the Art". Nor did they ever have a catchy jingle like this.

[BoogsterSU2]

Unfortunately, only the new Best Buy Christmas commercials cheer little of us up. This jingle cheers up 100% :)

[dave86silv83]

Welcome to circuit city where service WAS state-of-the-art? funny seeing this after they went broke. I remember these commercials from when I was a kid

[wizeguy66]

Wow, that was my very first computer. Just about what I paid for it too, in early 1994. A speedy 33 mHz, and IIRC it had a whopping 220 megabyte hard drive. And remember Prodigy??

[kxmode]

0:05 that spinning triangle was epic!

[mushymoonman]

$1000+ was big back then. That price also depending on the features the computer came with. I'm not sure but I think that was the same system my family had.

[acedaface954]

wooooooooooooooow. i remember these commercials. i wonder what ever happened to circuit city? /=-) lololol. i hate big business.

[Maserati7200]

lol 33 MHz

[BamaE92]

That "Where Service is State of the Art" jingle is still stuck in my head, and they killed that marketing campaign 14 years ago! RIP Circuit City, had lots of good memories of going there as a kid. It was almost better than Disney World for me!

[rainbowloverj]

I miss Circuit City. :(

[ente75]

Just so you know, this is from 1994. Look closely at the bottom of 0:10. It says "Offer ends 5/14/94".

[MapleStoryHangOut]

Thats cuz its from the ''90's'' So it means any kind 90's year.

[Joshuaguss]

Wal-Mart had put Circuit City out of business. I think The Home Depot is next.

[SteelCity1981]

More like Best Buy. Once Best Buy became huge in the late 90's Circuit City just culdn't compete with them. Walmart had nothing on circuit city and still has nothing. Their electronic section is lackluster along with their prices. It's safe to safe that's one department where walmart won't dominate.

[ExcelSub]

how expensive

[dagdogg]

RIP Circuit City stores.

[computerpro2000]

not quite systemax bought circuit city check the website

[TasamiOkami]

I got 10 frames per second playing zork with this computer. : D

[ChuckNorrisMMM]

u had 2 pay interest on a computer lol

[acelakid94]

So that's what that red thing was . Who knew..... a plug 0:26 . Guess that also explains the ''circut'' in circut city.

[devontopaz]

packard bells were junk but my first pc was a 486/sx 25mhz packard bell. so meh

[dadoody]

Whoa! Look at the specs on that computer! What kinds of kick ass games can I NOT play on it?!

[sexahchocokitten]

LOL. Don't forget that the games of now weren't out back then.

[JpnFfantasy]

and I bet in 10 years someone will say the exact same thing.

[dadoody]

Give me a hug.

[BrandonGucciGucci9]

i livd CC 2 bad has 2 close did iit close by liquidation?

[whattheheck1000]

Good bye CC ;(

[bananaluvs]

Sad... :(

[1000huzzahs]

I always loved the giant plug part of that commercial where it would plug in and then the electricity it plugged into would zap the store sign into view. catchy jingle too.

[zbax1290]

Exactly. That's why I was searching for these commercials because that image from my childhood just popped into my head when I was reading the news.  The big plug. I always thought that was so cool.

[kevcreative]

Damn, it's sad to see Circuit City go. I remember this era of commercials well. I even bought that exact TV in the ad from Circuit City! Worked great from 1993 or so until I sold it a couple of years ago. I wonder if a new LCD from Best Buy will last as long with heavy use... RIP Circuit City.

[boonya2]

But CC still lives on circuity dot com

[Wavedude21101]

@boonya2 but its not real CC they got bought out. (of course lol). . their basically another company selling stuff now . but at least they kept the name

[dangerboy2001]

What I find funny about this is computers have gone down in price SO much since this...hundreds of dollars...but comprable tube tvs that you find down clearance isles away from the new flatscreen tvs in stores like Circuit City or Best Buy are actually more expensive..wtf!!?!

[randomherov2]

The Circuit City near me still has that giant 'plug' architectural style.

[AllisonTheSNLGuru]

The location of the Circuit City that had the giant plug is now a clothing retailer, but it still screams Circuit City - CC moved to a different shopping center about 5 years ago, maybe even less than that.

Sad thing is Circuit City is closing, and I absolutely love the customer service at my local store - not to mention all of the great things I have gotten from there. Even worse, the store still has that "new store smell" (really, it does).

[breawycker]

that circuit city looks just like the one we have... ;)

ooh but look at that 25" tv to watch everything...while squinting!

[swiftshadow704]

Damn the catch phrase is what stood out the most too bad the company is going bankrupt it had a long run.

[readordiefanatic]

RIP

[neogeon]

DUUUUDE, I could play Tomb Raider at like 5 fps on that! sweet!

[SofaKingWeTodEd420]

WOW $1099.94 for a shitty 486 computer!???

WHAT DEAL!!

sign me up!!!

LOL!!!!!

[leolifa]

Uh, at that time a 486 was top of the line. Someday your kids will be laughing about the piece of crap you are using right now.

[princekuja]

lmao that computer is worth like 100.00 now lol...wonder what WoW looks like on there...lmao rofl..

[golby260]

Heh. :D That computer probably couldn't even run Windows 98, never mind Windows XP or anything out today. The most basic form of WoW would likely require at least 40 to 50 times that computer's processor speed. XD It WILL NOT run. XD

[josh198869]

more like 25 bucks lol

[imdaweiner]

486 powaaaa!

[KB1KOI]

I find it amusing that last line of the jingle

"where service is state-of the art"

Still have a circuit city nearby with the Plug-decor entrance

[Comptekhs]

I miss the smaller circuit city stores I also miss Sun Electronics.

[8218933alt]

Lol, I remember that old entrance building with the big red block that looked like a plug!

[ness2728]

"All single-length CDs $11.83 or less" lol. i remember life before internet piracy made CDs reasonably-priced.

[Incognito1986]

I always hated the idea of dishing $15 for a CD in which I would only listen to a couple of songs. Now thanks to internet piracy, I don't have to go broke to listen to all my favorite music. Thank you, internet piracy!

[Doyubi]

Erh. we didn't have 486SX's with 33mhz in the 80s :) - I say 1993 or 1994.

[SpamNapkin]

this is from the early 90s.

[zwesley24]

This commercial is from '94

[althea7580]

I miss the old commercials & jingle.

[sidekick3iskool]

well we are paying $1000 for our computers and soon there will be computers with 900TB HDD, 700GB video cards, USB 10.0, 180GB ram,

and then we will be watching our current computers on youtube saying "$1000 for 700GB HDD??????"

[manualtransaxle]

Actually in 10 years, we will have 1.2 TB of DDR6, 1Pico Bytes of SSD, ATI 9890 able to play crysis (finally) at 100 FPS, Intel 18nm core i9 @ 6GHZ and Blue Ray PC Games like Cold War: Total War and COD 16.

[ladygirl99]

The prices were Outrageous back then lol, No wonder we didn't have a computer at home back then rofl.

[estroger]

I agree with empcoth... no way a 486SX would've been available in the late 80s... the first computer i remembered using for school was a 486DX and that was back in '94 just before the Pentium I first came out... Weren't 286/386's PCs out on the market in the late 80s?

[Pastorofmuppets84]

1000 dollars for THIRTY THREE MGZ?!?!?!

hahahaha....

[bensonak47]

a 1000$ computer crazy?!?!!?!?!??!

[TechVideos2566]

That TV looked like an HDTV. Weird.

[someguy1000]

I want to see the one with that dumb kid "Yesterday I bought this.. and today I saw this.. just looked in the paper and there it was"

[repeat2x]

Employee: "Here you go!"

Kid: "That's it? Wow!"

Yup, I remember - they had it on and then brought it back years later...

[someguy1000]

I believe he said "cool", not "wow" =)

My brother and I were reminiscing about that ad and cracking up. I wish someone would put that vid up on the internet, I haven't been able to find it anywhere.

[ntropolis]

Definitely 1994... if you look closely in the fine print at :07 it says "Offer ends 5/14/94."

[onefastcavi]

omg 486/33mhz! remember when these were the best of the best? my phone is more powerful than that.

[Rusty0918B]

The 33MHz was state of the art for early 1992. In 1994, that was relatively low-end, with the 486DX2's and most noteably the Pentiums making a noise.

[empcoth]

Given the Clock speed of the Advertised computer, the commerical dates to about 1990

[TheMorMor]

This aint from the 80s!

[gguru1]

I can tell just from the style of the commercial alone that it had to be early 90s and not 80s.

[Thricearoundthecircl]

OMG this commercial is old

[aliensamurai360]

classic jingle.

[jjtheman]

Wow! Did that computer have DSL internet connection, mayhap?!

Lol, God bless! -jjtheman

[ethen24]

I don't think DSL existed back then!

[Anhaedra]

DSL existed but it was in prototype form back then, unless I am mistaken...

[xlogold]

this is from the 90s.

[blinkingblythe]

Hmmm, a 486 33sx puts it somewhere in the early 1990s.

Probaly 1992 or 93

[dmc081]

lol 33mhz wow thats slooooow i've seen wrost than that

[gameshowguy2000]

I believe this is from 1994.

[tubularlyradical]

well, according to wikipedia, "where service is state of the art" was their slogan from 89-95, so I'd say that's right

[Intersonus903]

Actually, this commercial is from the early 1990s.

[cwk12782]

wow packard bell!

[cyberlight22]

i havent seen somthing like this sence i was 6

[ivtec20s]

Priceless!!