By Prince McLean

Published: 12:00 AM EST

Retailer Circuit City is expected to announce the closure of 155 stores, representing around 20 percent of the chains 714 US locations and a full withdrawal from 12 markets.

The closures, reported by The Consumerist are expected to immediately put some employees out of work, including those working in its Firedog on-location tech support and car installation departments. The stores will be liquidated over the next two months and close permanently at the end of the year.

Circuit City is the nation's second largest electronics retailer. A Reuters article from October 20 noted the closures of 150 stores were reported to be under consideration in a Wall Street Journal report.

Reuters cited an analyst who stated that 80 percent of Circuit City's stores were within five miles of a Best Buy location. The beleaguered chain is also reported to face strong competition from general retailers such as WalMart.

Apple split with Circuit City in 2000, but reopened a test pilot retailing agreement with the chain in 2006 to sell iMacs, notebooks, and Airport base stations. Last fall, Apple terminated its trial program with Circuit City and focused its resources on selling through Best Buy, the largest electronics retailer in the country.

Last year, Apple's other retail partner, CompUSA, also liquidated and closed most of its stores before having its remaining 16 stores acquired by the parent company of TigerDirect.

A listing of stores is presented in this PDF.