Circuit City Stores - Superstores

Superstores

Wards purchased a new headquarters building at 2040 Thalbro Street (named after Thalhimer Bros. Department Store) in Richmond, Virginia and in the extra space opened "Wards Loading Dock," its first big-box format in 1974. The large-format store was very popular with customers. The company continued to expand with the new format modeled after "Wards Loading Dock" and renamed it Circuit City Superstore in 1981. Circuit City began to replace its smaller stores with the Superstore format and started a nationwide expansion.

In 1988, the company began constructing the new "plug" design Superstore stores. During this era, Circuit City became known for its exceptional service, going so far as to have many of its staff factory-trained. Its slogan, likewise, was "Welcome to Circuit City, Where Service Is State of the Art."

In 1998, Circuit City returned to New York City opening a 40,000 sq ft (3,700 m2) Superstore in Union Square, the first of two planned Manhattan locations.

Also in 1998, Circuit City introduced the "Pluggie" mascot that was seen on television and in-store advertising. The mascot was a plug similar to the one seen on Circuit City television commercials plugging into store fronts, but had a smiley face and arms. Pluggie was discontinued when the new circle logo was introduced in 2001.