Best Buy Verses Circuit City

Best Buy and Circuit City are both leading multichannel retailers. Each chain features hundreds of stores with the latest electronics and entertainment. Each chain features websites with above-average functionality. Both chains lead the multichannel industry with buy-online, pickup-in-store functionality, thereby cancelling out any possible multichannel advantage. Both chains feature a similar merchandise assortment. Both chains have similar pricing on common items.

So why do you, the loyal reader and avid multichannel consumer, choose one of these retailers over the other? When everything between the chains is essentially the same, what causes you to pick one over the other?

If Best Buy verses Circuit City were an election, I'd give the nod to Best Buy, by a 51-49 margin. I don't dislike Circuit City. I just ever-so-slightly prefer the layout of a Best Buy store, I prefer the lighting, I prefer the signage.

In a world where everything is essentially the same, the experience becomes so vitally important, because it is the only thing that differentiates one business from another.

What do you think? Which chain do you prefer, and what is your reason for your preference? Is there anything that Best Buy or Circuit City does that places one ahead of the other in your mind?