Consumer-electronics chain Circuit City (CC) Stores told the media it will close 155 U.S. stores, cut back openings and renegotiate some leases as the company deals with its deteriorating liquidity position. CC has been unable to turn its fortune around the past several years and now finds itself threatened by a weakening economy and turbulent credit market. To address its liquidity crunch, the company will close 155 stores in 55 markets, with Circuit City exiting 12 of them entirely. The store-closing should begin on Wednesday. Furthermore, CC is planning to lay off 17 percent of its workforce.

One problem for the company is that customers have started buying from CC’s rivals, including Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) and Best Buy (BBY). The stores had sales for the fiscal year ended February the 29th of $1.4 billion and have been deemed underperforming and unprofitable. The company’s total sales were $11.74 billion and it currently had 566 stores. At least 10 stores which were expected to open by the end of this fiscal year won’t do that anymore and no further store openings will take place beyond those already in the works. As for lease renegotiations, the company said it would exit some deals if rents aren’t dropped. Circuit City’s shares were up 7% at 28 cents in premarket trading, while the stock is down 94% this year.

A potential delisting of CC’s stock from the New York Stock Exchange is not impossible, and that’s because the company was warned that its stock price had fallen below $1 for 30 consecutive trading days, a trigger point for a potential delisting. On October the 24th, the NYSE warned Circuit City it had 10 days to resolve the issue. One way of dealing with it is the reverse stock split, in which investors who hold a certain number of shares can swap them for a single share in the issuer’s stock.