Circuit City CEO says focusing on U.S. for now

By Martinne Geller

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumer electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc CC.N is focusing on turning around its business in the United States, although it sees learning opportunities in overseas markets, its chief executive officer said on Monday.

During a presentation at the National Retail Federation's annual conference Chief Executive Philip Schoonover said he can learn from Europe and India, as he works to reverse several quarters of losses due in part to an onslaught of competition from the likes of Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), Costco Wholesale Corp (COST.O) and Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N).

"I think Europe is hyper-competitive and when I'm looking for best practices and operational excellence ... I've always found Europe to be one or two years ahead of the U.S.," Schoonover said.

"I think India's done a great job of high-quality growth, the attention to detail and to building things for sustainability. It's just amazing to me the quality," he added.

Schoonover, who once worked at rival Best Buy, said China was intriguing because of how fast it is growing, but said the lessons were limited.

"Honestly I don't know how much I'm really learning from that other than it's just curious," he said.

"Right now we've got our hands full right here in the U.S., so we try to think about the U.S. a lot," Schoonover said.

In 2007, Circuit City restructured its headquarters and reorganized store leadership. It replaced more than 3,000 workers with lower-paid staff, a move criticized by analysts who said it could cost the chain sales of higher-margin items.

The company saw a steep decline in December sales as changes at U.S. stores disrupted its business. But like Best Buy, it also was hurt by weaker consumer spending, as people bought fewer televisions and other gadgets.

Many U.S. retailers are now looking to emerging markets for growth opportunities as spending in the United States slows amid a credit crises, a housing decline and higher costs for food and fuel.

(Additional reporting by Karen Jacobs in Atlanta)