In a stunning (well, not really) report from NPD, retailers Best Buy (BBY) and Walmart (WMT) were the big winners in picking up market share for consumer electronics when former retailer Circuit City shut its doors over a year ago. Although internet retailer Systemax bought the Circuit City intellectual property, the name Circuit City is mostly seen in promotional, closeout-type emails and that is it.

Best Buy Inc. (NYSE: BBY) has been the subject of media speculation since the first quarter implosion of now-defunct retailer Circuit City. Billions of consumer electronics revenue dollars needed to go somewhere, after all. Based on Best Buy's most recent quarterly results, revenue dollars aren't just spilling into its coffers, even as the default market share gain from Circuit City went nuts last quarter. Will it continue?

All indications point to yes. Best Buy is the lone nationwide big-box consumer electronics retailer that is making all kinds of cutting-edge moves to remain relevant as its products and customers change. The theory around Best Buy's revenue drop in the last two quarters centers on more consumer electronics business going to mass retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), where customers have been taking refuge from the economic storm in the U.S. since last fall. Can Wal-Mart really compete head-to-head for dedicated consumer electronics customers once the money fog lifts as it is starting to do?

Now that Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is the last surviving member of the national specialty consumer electronics retail club, where can it go? Up and up. Sure, mass chains like Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and others have stepped up to the plate and are greatly enhancing their consumer electronics sections, but then again Best Buy has a new CEO who is thinking differently and isn't going to give an inch if he can help it.

This is not an abstraction: buildings large and small are showing gaping vacancies. Storefronts are empty. Entire buildings sit waiting to be occupied. In Manhattan, retail vacancies have reached their highest rates since 2001. For the second quarter of this year, vacancies hit the absurd height of 12.4%, thanks to unemployment trends that won't quit and consumers reluctant to pry open their wallets.

Retailers are being hit just like the residential market.

Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) is widely assumed to be the biggest beneficiary of the downfall of Circuit City, but Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is looking to crash that party. "Circuit City's business is up for grabs right now and we expect to get our share," Gary Severson, Wal-Mart's senior vice president of home entertainment, told (subscription required) the Wall Street Journal.

Companies like Nintendo and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) will get their own in-store displays, and Wal-Mart will also be revamping its electronics departments to create a more open and interactive Best Buy-like shopping experience. Wal-Mart has been trying to move upmarket in the consumer electronics business for years, and offering Palm's soon to be released Pre smart phone is another part of that strategy.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Accenture Ltd. (NYSE: ACN) said revenues and bookings both declined in the most recent quarter.
• Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) reported strong Q4 results in the wake of Circuit City's demise.
• Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) sailed past analysts' Q1 projections, sending shares higher.
• ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) Q3 results topped analysts expectations and drove shares higher.
• DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) swung to a larger-than-expected Q4 loss and revenue slipped.
• DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW) reported a bigger-than-expected Q4 loss as same-store sales declined.