Electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc. no longer plans to open two new stores in Hawai'i as the financially troubled company seeks to reduce expenses and restructure operations.

Circuit City said it's backing out of a deal to open a store in Kailua, Kona, on the Big Island for which it had signed a lease, and has also decided not to sign a lease for another store considered for Kapolei on O'ahu.

The company's sole existing store in Hawai'i, at Pearlridge Center, will remain open, escaping cuts that will shutter 155 underperforming Circuit City stores in 55 U.S. metropolitan areas.

Circuit City announced the restructuring plan yesterday, about a month after reporting the latest in a string of quarterly losses and being warned that its stock price has plummeted to a level at which shares are in danger of being removed from New York Stock Exchange trading.

The electronics retailer previously had been expected to be an anchor tenant at Kapolei Commons, a regional shopping complex under construction and slated to open next year with Target, OfficeMax, Petco, Sports Authority, Borders Books and Music and a 15-screen Regal Cinema. Circuit City, however, didn't sign a lease and has been replaced with another tenant that the project's developer, The MacNaughton Group, declined to identify.

In Kona, Circuit City had a lease for store space at Kona Commons, a regional shopping complex at which several tenants including Sports Authority, Petco and OfficeMax opened last month. A Target store is slated to open in July.

Eric Tema, director of real estate for the MacNaughton Group, which is developing Kona Commons, said all the anchor stores have set opening sales records within their respective chains.

But Circuit City decided that the expense of opening the store at Kona Commons was better eliminated in light of the company's financial situation.

"We are no longer planning to open that one," Circuit City spokeswoman Jessica Clarke said about the Kona Commons store.

The Kona store is one of at least 10 new stores the company planned to open but now will not go forward with. Circuit City also will not pursue plans for new stores next year so it can focus on improving existing store operations.

After the planned store closures, Circuit City will operate 566 stores in the U.S. and 770 stores and dealer outlets in Canada.

As part of its restructuring effort, the electronics retailer also plans to negotiate rent reductions at some existing stores that could be closed if rents are not reduced. Clarke said the company is not identifying the stores at which rent reductions will be sought.

Circuit City reported a $239.2 million net loss in its most recent fiscal quarter ended Aug. 31, which compared with a $62.8 million net loss in the same period last year.

The recent loss included a $73 million charge for reducing the value of store assets, and was the seventh net loss in eight quarters for the company, which in September replaced its chairman and chief executive officer.

"Clearly, the performance of the company is unacceptable to all of our stakeholders, and it is imperative that we take the right steps to accelerate our turnaround," James A. Marcum, vice chairman and acting chief executive officer, said in a Sept. 29 statement.

Yesterday, Marcum said in a statement that "we are making a number of difficult, but necessary, decisions to address the company's financial situation as quickly as possible."

Shares of Circuit City stock rose 10 cents yesterday to close at 36 cents. Within the past 12 months, Circuit City shares reached a high of $8.04 on Dec. 10 and a low of 20 cents on Oct. 23.