Former Circuit City site. Click to enlarge.
photo by Harmon Jolley
When I was in school, it always bothered me that the history classes never reached the end of the book and the more modern times. So, to ensure that we keep things balanced, this week’s article features a relatively new building and its history.
It was June, 1979 – the latter days of disco and before the advent of MTV – that Circuit City opened two stores in the Chattanooga market. They were located at 5230 Brainerd Road and 5017 Hixson Pike. Circuit City was a descendant of the Dixie Hi Fi chain, which opened for business in 1959. The stores featured a sound room where customers could compare speakers and stereos, as well as an area devoted to automobile sound systems. Recordings of the artists of the day, such as the Doobie Brothers, the Bee Gees, Blondie, and Fleetwood Mac, resounded with a booming bass over the speakers.
The grand opening advertisement for Circuit City included some items which are now, in our era of DVD’s and compact discs, considered obsolete. For instance, a compact stereo system including a turntable and 8-track tape player was priced at $88. For $449, one could buy an open-reel tape unit. A Beta VCR could be purchased for $699. A few years after their opening, the stores introduced video rental, starting with just a few shelves of tapes.
As Circuit City’s sales increased, they moved into larger locations, first to Lee Highway and Highway 153, and then to the present location near Hamilton Place. The original Circuit City building in Hixson was converted to a Honeybaked Ham location, and later subdivided into the present homes of Chu’s Martial Art and Cross Chiropractic.
A lot has changed since 1979 in the field of entertainment technology, and we can be assured that we haven’t seen the final innovation. This summer, we visited the DeBence Antique Music World museum in Franklin, PA. On display is a collection of the various musical gadgets that have been marketed over the years – music boxes, nickelodeons, victrolas, player pianos, etc. Those were “before my time.” However, I felt a little older as I moved into their section of more recent items – 8-track players, Beta VCR’s, and open-reel tape units!
If you would like to comment on this article, please e-mail me at jolleyh@signaldata.net.