>>Addendum: if you are thinking of heading over to the nearest Circuit City to snap up some bargains, it's probably a waste of time. I just got back from the one in McHenry. It was jammed with people (first day of liquidation sale) but not so much with bargains. Lots of stuff was not marked down at all and most of the rest was 10% off. DVD box sets were 20% off but were so high before they're still expensive. (Apparently Circuit City's prices there never dropped down like Best Buy, Amazon, et al did last year). Big signs all over the place outside saying up to 30% off. Key phrase = "up to." The only items I saw marked down 30% were some TV stands which were wildly overpriced to begin with. Some open box printers for around half price. There wasn't anything that even tempted me.
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>That's pretty typical though. They start with no or 10% in the beginning, then by the 2nd month or so they are into the 70% discounts and are selling the fixtures. By that time though, the things you likely want are gone and you're left with cables and outdated video cards.

You nailed it. That's exactly what happened here.