CIRCUIT CITY, BEST BUY REVAMP BUYING STAFFS

Richard Souder, vp-gen. mdse. mgr., AV products, and David Cecil, vp-imaging products, long-time Circuit City employees, departed earlier this month as Exec. Vp-Mdsg. Kim MaGuire, who was hired from Target last summer, continued overhaul of buying staff. Meanwhile, Best Buy, in move that gives more P&L responsibility to senior staff, has created business team leader positions to oversee picture (TVs), source (DBS, cable set-top boxes and DVD players) and sound (audio gear) buying groups, sources said.

Heading up buying and reporting to MaGuire will Ronald Baime, vp-gen. mdse. mgr., IT Technology/AV, while Cliff Denney, who handles entertainment software, adds responsibility for portable and mobile products, sources said. Baime and Denney will have 4 and 3 mdse. mgrs. reporting to them, respectively, sources said. Latest restructuring follows creation last summer of new “teams” dedicated to overseas sourcing and product development, financial planning, operations.

Circuit City also has quietly moved since Jan. to lay off dozen or so employees from its corporate offices, Richmond Times- Dispatch reported. While job cuts are designed to boost bottom line and streamline operations, Circuit City told newspaper that it was creating jobs elsewhere in its corporate offices and hiring employees. Job cuts earlier in spring were said to be in management-information systems area, accounting and department that handles building and maintenance of stores. “For employees affected, this is a big event,” Circuit City spokesman said. “But for the company, it is not a materially financial event, so we don’t break out those numbers or departments. We continue to review our processes and make changes that we feel are necessary.” Earlier this year, Circuit City shifted to noncommissioned sales staff, trimming more than 1,000 jobs in process. To help in making store-level changes, Circuit City Wed. announced hiring of Millennium Retail Partners as exclusive national real estate agent for its store relocation program that starts next year with 50 outlets and continues with similar number each year until “revitalization” of chain is complete.

Meanwhile, Best Buy has created 20 team leader positions with P&L responsibility in eliminating 13 merchandise manager posts, vendor sources said. Major thrust was to narrow product responsibilities while adding P&L oversight, sources said. New business team leaders for Picture (TVs), Source (DBS, digital cable, DVD players and PVRs) and Sound (all home audio including portable and shelf systems) are being headed by Lee Simonson, Chris Koller and John Maskell, respectively. Maskell previously also handled DVD players and STBs. “We narrowed the product category responsibilities, but the expectation is you are going to manage a P&L and you're going to need to dive deeper into that business to effectively manage it,” Simonson said. Picture group also added new senior buyer position for LCD and plasma TVs, he said. Lisa Carlson, senior buyer for projection TV, shifted to camcorders, while Alan Halvorson, who handled 27"-and-under TVs, assumed Carlson’s former post. Changes at Best Buy and Circuit City reflect “economic realities” of CE industry as well as emergence of new categories such as LCD and plasma TVs that require retailers to “take a fresh look at product responsibilities,” vendor source said.

Best Buy also said Wed. it had expanded rollout of Descartes Systems Group’s routing and scheduling software to include its entire U.S. home delivery operation, which manages more than 1.5 million deliveries per year. Value of contract wasn’t disclosed. Descartes routing and scheduling, which connects dispatchers, drivers and customer service, will operate from Best Buy’s Richland, Minn., hq. Best Buy and Comcast also moved to expand HDTV retail program to 4 additional markets -- Baltimore; Knoxville, Nashville and Washington. Previously, Best Buy and Comcast had sold high-definition service in Philadelphia. As part of expansion, 31 Best Buy stores will sell HD-ready sets and Comcast digital cable, which offers sales activation kit free to customers buying HDTV and subscribing to it through retailer. Digital cable service also is marketed as standalone service in Philadelphia with $29.99 monthly fee.

At same time, Sears Electronics Vp-GM Raymond Brown shifted to mktg. vp-retail, succeeding Jeffrey Haines, who advanced to vp-strategic mktg. & mdsg. integration. Haines and Brown will report to Mktg. Vp Janine Bousquette. Replacement for Brown hasn’t been named. In his new position, Brown will work with branded and OEM products including Kenmore, Die-Hard, Craftsman and, on apparel side, Covington and Lands End, sources said. Separately, Steve Simon, long-time CE buyer at BJ’s Wholesale Club, resigned, plans unknown.