Circuit City sees sales slowdown in December

Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE: CC) has been under the gun for several quarters now as it lost market share to larger competitor Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY). Even the holiday shopping month of December was not kind to Circuit City, which stated that its same-store sales fell 11% [subscription required] during last month across its entire company, with a 12% drop in U.S. same-store sales. That is one huge ouch.

I am amazed that Circuit City has not done anything in at least the last two quarters beyond the "transformational work" CEO Phil Schoonover keeps mumbling about every time the microphone appears in front of him.

Somehow, he has been able to keep his job as things has gone from bad to worse to abysmal in the company he leads. 2008, if sanity returns, will see him jettisoned from Circuit City in favor of someone who knows what he or she is doing.

Circuit City's December sales decreased 8.9% to $1.92 billion. At the same time, international same-store sales went up to the tune of 6.5%. Circuit City has affirmed that it will have a "modest" loss in the Q4 period based on losses from its U.S. operations. Those U.S. operations just can't jump from the funk they are in, and in 2008 I don't see anything changing except the name on the corner office.

Circuit City shares are down to $3.95, or 6.18% in early trading.