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Circuit City Announces December Sales

5 January 2001

Circuit City Stores, Inc. Announces December Sales For the Circuit City Group

    Encouraging Results from This Year's Partial Remodels and Adjustments
             To the Remodeling Plan for the Upcoming Fiscal Year

    RICHMOND, Va., Jan. 5 Circuit City Stores, Inc. today
announced December 2000 sales for the Circuit City Group ,
encouraging results from this fiscal year's partial remodels and adjustments
to its remodeling plan for the Circuit City Superstores during the upcoming
fiscal year.

    December Sales
    Sales for the Circuit City Group are comprised of the sales produced by
the company's Circuit City stores and related operations.  For the month of
December, total sales for the Circuit City Group rose 2 percent to $1.66
billion from $1.63 billion in December 1999.  Comparable store sales declined
1 percent.  Excluding the appliance category, from which the company completed
its exit during the third quarter, comparable store sales rose 7 percent.
    "Our best performing products continue to be the new selections added in
the former major appliance space and new digital technologies, such as DVD
players, digital cameras, PCCs and digital televisions," said W. Alan
McCollough, president and chief executive officer of Circuit City Stores, Inc.
"The new and expanded selections of video game hardware and software, personal
computer software, peripherals, accessories and digital imaging more than
offset the sales lost by our exit from the appliance business.  Sales during
the month were negatively affected by severe weather, which caused store
closings in the Midwest and Northeast.

    Store Remodeling Plans
    "Early research indicates that we have achieved our key objectives in the
store design introduced last fall in our new and fully remodeled stores.
Consumers shopping these stores are pleased with the new product selections,
the improved ability to browse and self-select products and the more
contemporary look and feel," said McCollough.  "As a result, we will continue
to follow this design for all new store construction in the coming fiscal
year.
    "However, the success of the new categories in partial remodels also is
encouraging and suggests that we can strengthen our brand identity and our
return on investment with a full remodel that is less costly and less
disruptive," said McCollough.  "In the coming fiscal year, we expect to test a
remodel with an average cost of approximately $1.5 million.  This remodel
achieves similar product adjacencies, product availability, lighting and
signage benefits as in this fiscal year's full remodels, but eliminates costly
changes that appear to have little short-term impact on sales volumes.  It can
be completed in approximately 60 days, or one-third of the time required for
this year's full remodels.  We expect to remodel 20 to 25 stores to reflect
this new design rather than the 140 initially anticipated in the upcoming
fiscal year.
    "In addition to the remodels, we currently expect to relocate 10 to 15
stores and open 15 to 20 new stores in the fiscal year that begins March 1,
2001," said McCollough.  "We also will continue to upgrade our remaining
stores to optimize the former appliance space.  For an average cost of
approximately $20,000 per store, we believe we can further improve product
adjacencies and lighting.
    "Finally, we will focus on building a stronger marketing program that
communicates the changes introduced in our remodeling program," said
McCollough.  "Consumers have clearly indicated that they like our new store;
now, we must increase our emphasis on building foot traffic to further
increase our sales volumes."