CHICAGO — Circuit City Stores Inc., the nation’s second-largest consumer electronics chain, called it quits Friday after attempts to find a buyer failed, becoming the first major casualty of the worst holiday shopping season in four decades.

The big-box electronics store — founded in 1949 with the dawn of television — is set to begin liquidating $1.8 billion in inventory as soon as today. The familiar brand name will be lost, along with its 34,000 jobs.

Another factor in its demise: Best Buy, Wal-Mart and online retailers chipped away at Circuit City’s market share over the past decade with cutthroat pricing on TVs, cameras and computers.

Circuit City filed for bankruptcy reorganization in November and closed 155 stores in hopes that it could re-emerge as a smaller, stronger retailer. But during the critical holiday season shoppers, anxious about their jobs and retirement savings, avoided big-ticket purchases.

After attempts to sell the company failed in the wake of falling sales, tight credit markets and a poor outlook for consumer spending, the retailer decided Friday to sell what is left on its shelves and shutter stores. Circuit City’s vice chairman and acting CEO James Marcum said there was no choice. Without a new owner and financing, he said in a statement, “This is the only possible path for our company.”

Great American Group WF LLC, SB Capital Group LLC, Hudson Capital Partners LLC and Tiger Capital Group LLCS will handle the liquidation. A team of 300 from those companies arrived at Circuit City offices Friday to begin coordination of going-out-of-business sales at 567 stores nationwide. Sales are slated to run through March. Circuit City’s Canadian operations aren’t part of the liquidation.

The Better Business Bureau advises shoppers salivating for big discounts to first comparison-shop like they would with any purchase and to head to stores knowing that the liquidators’ job is to generate as much cash as possible for creditors. So prices may not be as attractive as some of the signs might suggest.

Sometimes competitors will match the price of a liquidation sale, so it pays to ask, said Tom Joyce, a spokesman for the Better Business Bureau in Chicago.

Discounts typically are smaller in the beginning and get deeper as the selling deadline approaches. Yet the most desirable merchandise is likely to be snapped up early. The sooner consumers use their gift cards, the better. Circuit City’s group of liquidators have agreed to honor gift cards for at least the first few weeks. Deadlines for gift card use are expected to be posted within the next couple of days.

Consumers should avoid buying extended warranties from stores that are closing, Joyce said. The manufacturer’s warranty is typically sufficient. Nonetheless, Circuit City plans to continue its “advantage protection plan,” an extended warranty backed by a third-party company unaffected by Circuit City’s closure.