Having failed to find a buyer for its poorly run business, Circuit City announced today that it would close its remaining 567 stores in the United States and send all 34,000 employees packing. The nation's second largest electronics retailer, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November and had already shuttered 155 under-performing stores, says it will start to liquidate its merchandise and other assets on Saturday and that the process should run until March 31, pending court approval.

The demise of Circuit City, while not surprising given its declining sales, marks the end of the line for a company that seemed to be Best Buy's biggest threat just a couple of years ago. However, the fates of its Firedog repair service and Canadian stores are still to be determined, according to the company.