A Best Buy opening in New York in March 2010. (JB Reed/Bloomberg)

By Sandra M. Jones | The demise of Circuit City has been a boon to rivals Best Buy and Wal-Mart, according to a report released Monday from NPD Group.

Best Buy Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. combined captured two-thirds of Circuit City Stores Inc.’s total dollar market share from March through December 2009, after Circuit City went out of business, the report said.

Best Buy, the nation’s largest consumer electronics retailer, made the biggest strides, adding more than 5 percentage points to its share in flat-panel TVs, digital cameras and notebook computers.  Best Buy made particular headway with upscale flat-panel TVs priced at $1,000 or more, according to the Port Washington, N.Y.-based market research group. 

Wal-Mart, for its part, picked up business in flat-panel TVs and digital cameras, and to a lesser extent in notebook computers.

Best Buy also gained market share in the southern U.S., where Wal-Mart traditionally has dominated.

NPD declined to release total market share for each company.

Circuit City, formerly the nation’s second-largest consumer electronics chain, liquidated in March 2009 after an attempt to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy failed.