Have a little cash sitting around just waiting to be spent on an HDTV? Well, don't head to Circuit City. The electronics chain, which had previously closed several area locations already, the chain has shut down completely nationwide. more ›

The current financial meltdown has claimed another victim: Circuit City. The electronics chain will be shutting down 155 stores nationwide, including 14 in the Chicago area. The store at 1030 W. North Ave, in the Clybourn Corridor, will be the highest profile store of the area to close. Other locations shutting down include ones in Joliet, Bolingbrook, Niles, and Oswego. The stores that are being shut down will be closed tomorrow (Tuesday, November 4) but will reopen on Wednesday, November 5 to begin closing sales. New store openings are being reduced and existing leases are being renegotiated to help save money as well. more ›

Being as nerdy as we are, we tend to buy a lot of tech stuff, usually online. But sometimes, we want something now. Maybe we figure out we could reconfigure our comp to churn homemade ice cream right at our desk if we only had that one cord, so we just pick it up on the way home. No fuss, no muss, no waiting, no shipping charges. Kind of like how even though we use Netflix, we still skip out to Blockbuster sometimes when “Sylvia” sitting in our mailboxes feels like too much of a pick-me-up. more ›

We just came across Find Nearby, a site that helps you find what you're looking for in your local area. The site maps out where you can find a certain item for sale on Amazon, eBay, craigslist, and local retailers like Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart and Target who have the item in stock. Seems helpful sometimes when you don't want to wait for across-the-country or around-the-world shipping. And if you're a gaming nerd, you're in for some extra lovin' — there are special search sites for finding a Wii or a PS3. more ›

Those of us at the Chicagoist offices enjoy video games as much as the next person. It's not that uncommon for us to go head-to-head in a round of Mario Kart while we're waiting for new stories to post. Why, last week, we were on the last lap of the 150cc dinosaur track when KFed became Fed-Ex. The losers in last place driving the Goomba Kart decided that we had to post that story right then and there, and that was the end of our match. (Frakking editors...) more ›

Chicagoist has long avoided Black Friday, that day of misery following Thanksgiving, when millions of men, women, and children descend upon malls and other retailers across the country in hopes of scoring some fabulous holiday deals. However, we do realize that some people really get into the spirit of crushing crowds and waiting in freezing temperatures outside Circuit City at 3 a.m., as some of our friends have been known to do. Retailers are catching... more ›

Rarely do we get the chance, or feel the need, to redeem ourselves around here. Most of the time our readers point out our mistakes, second guess us, and basically call us idiots and we have to take it because, well, most of the time we are. But Chicagoist will indulge ourselves this one time. Ha! We were right: Gov. Blagojevich admits he had no clue what he was getting into on the Daily Show two weeks ago. more ›