Circuit City Future: Could CircuitCity.com Live On?

Circuit City’s officially gone, but its Web site may be back before you know it. A company based in Illinois is hoping to buy the Circuit City brand name and Web site — and could give the old URL a new life.

Circuit City Buyout

Circuit City shut down all of its remaining 567 stores on Sunday. Its Web site now features a goodbye message that ends with the line:

“CircuitCity.com is also temporarily closed, although we anticipate the website will reopen in the coming weeks. Please check back for updates.”

The reason: The Hilco Organization, the firm that handled the liquidation of Circuit City’s stores last year, is bidding for the brand. Hilco has publicly said it wants to own the name and take over CircuitCity.com. If that happens, it would have the right to eventually reopen old physical stores or start new ones as well, though Hilco execs haven’t indicated whether that might be a possibility. It could also start its own exclusively online retail business under the Circuit City name. A bankruptcy court judge would have to approve any such transaction.

Hilco has been in the brand-buying business before: The company bought out the assets of Linens ‘N Things just last month. That Web site now appears poised to reopen, with a home page notice proclaiming “an exciting new store filled with top brands and outstanding value is around the corner.”

In Canada, Bell Canada has already bought out 750 The Source stores, which had been operated by Circuit City.