I dropped by the Santa Monica location of Circuit City this morning and the liquidation sale had begun. As expected, don’t expect an incredible sale. Most items (including all flat panels) were 10% off the MSRP which translates to discounts not much better than a normal sale.

There were loads of packaged panels out on the showroom floor available for purchase (as pictured above and below) right when you walk in. These pictures were snapped using my iPhone 3G so I apologize for the grainy picture quality.

Walking through the first floor, it became obvious that price cuts were going to be minimal. Let’s face it – the liquidators are looking for the best possible price they can get to pay off the creditors.

Here are pictures of the MP3 player section.

There were random sections where you saw discounts of 20 or even 30%. However, do yourself a favor and make sure to verify the discounts on checkout. I overheard one salesperson tell a customer that a 30% off markdown sign was meant to be interpreted as “up to 30%”. Of course, that customer complained and the salesman gave him the 30% discount anyhow. Shady.

So did I end up with anything? I picked up a few cheap CDs (20% off prices of around $9.99 or so), a new Xbox 360 wireless controller (which was marked at 30% off), and a Zune case (marked down 20%). I stayed away from anything marked down 10%.

One thing of note – if you’re looking for a cheaper Xbox 360, the 60GB Pro systems were marked down 10% – down to around $269 or so.

Finally, I did talk to one sales rep who mentioned that the liquidators gave the store until the end of March to sell everything. Will you get better prices in a few weeks? No guarantee but if you go now, you’ll be disappointed.

Technorati Tags: Circuit City, Liquidation, Santa Monica, CA