Circuit City - Somerville, MA
CIRCUIT CITY 65 MYSTIC AVE
SOMERVILLE, MA
CLOSED 2007
I know it's not usual for me to post two articles in a weekend, but this one was so good I couldn't help but release it right away.
Believe it or not, this is my first time covering an old Circuit City. I was on my way home from the Boston airport and I just happened to see this gem right off of I-93, so of course I had to stop!
This particular location is located in Somerville, MA, and is your quintessential Circuit City store, with its red plug facade. It's located adjacent to The Home Depot, and has been used as a Spirit Halloween store various times throughout its vacancy. It wasn't until 2014 when the Circuit City signage was removed from the storefront, although one Circuit City sign still remains in the rear of the store. The only sign to have been removed at the time of the store's closure was a Verizon Wireless sign, which replaced a former 'WIRELESS' sign on the store's facade.
Entering the Home Depot/Circuit City plaza, I entered from the rear, where I was greeted by a pretty awesome Circuit City neon sign, which for the most part was still in tact.
There was also some signage from Circuit City's Car Stereo installation center, whose entrance has since been overtaken by The Home Depot's merchandise.
Scattered throughout the store's parking lot were these signs saying Circuit City Customer Parking Only. Some signs clearly were it better conditions than others.
Besides Spirit Halloween temporarily moving into the space every so often, no other store has gone in and occupied the former Circuit City space. As a result of its vacancy, the signs on the outside of the store still remain, with the exception of the main Circuit City sign.
When this Circuit City store opened, there were four signs on the storefront which highlighted each of the store's departments. They were Wireless, Audio, Video and Computers. Sometime during the store's operation, the original Wireless sign was replaced with a new one for Verizon Wireless. Both the labelscar for the original Wireless sign as well as the one for Verizon Wireless can still be found today, as Verizon removed their sign at the time of the store's closure (sorry if that was a bit confusing).
A stray Kmart shopping cart was found just outside of the store's facade (which I'll be covering in another upcoming article)
The red plug facade was in pretty good condition, considering how it hasn't had any work done on it in the last 10 years.
It was pretty hard to see inside of the store since there was quite a bit of sun glare. I was able to get some pretty good shots from inside of the entrance vestibule, though. Many of the Circuit City window clings also remained.
Above the entrance doors, there is another Verizon Wireless sign, which has since been painted over with black. An outline of the Verizon Wireless logo can still be seen underneath the paint.
Much to my surprise, the pylon Circuit City road sign was still completely together, underneath the one for The Home Depot. Both sides were in fantastic condition for being left alone for ten years, and each sign only suffered minor paint peeling.
So that will wrap up this week's article on Circuit City in Somerville, MA. I was pretty excited about this find, and hope to cover more Circuit City stores in the future. I don't know how true this holds for much of the rest of the nation but most Circuit City stores remain relatively intact today serving as either a thrift store, P. C. Richardson and Son, or hhgreg. After all, it is pretty difficult to mask Circuit City's red plug facade.
Well, until next time
~RS
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