I’d barely finished my post about my favorite computer store (MicroCenter, www.myephemerae.com/my-regular-computer-store). I’d explained why it’s my favorite: the staff knows their stuff.

Then, I discover this InformationWeek article titled Clueless Circuit City Scrooges Itself Out Of Christmas Sales (http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/ 2008/01/clueless_circui_1.html).

In summary, last March, Circuit City decided to fire 3,400 people who worked there and knew what they were doing and replace them with cheaper, and much less knowledgable, sales clerks.

Sorry, but when you are trying to make a wazillion dollars selling stuff that consumers don’t really understand, like PCs, cameras, and televisions, you need staff that knows their stuff.

What happened? Well, their 3rd quarter and Christmas sales tanked.

In contrast, their competitor, BestBuy, trained its staff on their high tech products so they could actually help customers and what do you know … BestBuy’s 3rd quarter profit went up 54%.

Seems I’m not the only one who values staff who know their stuff.