RETAIL

Sounds of Silo: Electronic warfare has broken out.

Silo Inc., a Philadelphia-based consumer electronics chain, has joined an increasingly competitive local market by opening three stores in Orange County. A fourth store is planned. The chain, which ran a television advertising campaign that implied missile silos were being dug in the Los Angeles area, will face off against newcomer The Good Guys! and the already entrenched Circuit City.

“For consumers, Silo’s presence brings another shopping and pricing alternative to a market previously dominated by one chain,” Silo President Barry H. Feinberg said in a statement.

Feinberg was referring to Circuit City, a Richmond, Va.-based chain that opened four stores in Orange County in 1985. Given its latest challenge from Silo and The Good Guys!, a San Francisco-based chain, Circuit City is hardly backing down. It is continuing to expand, having opened its sixth Orange County store in Brea last week.

The Good Guys! opened in Tustin and Huntington Beach in August and plans another expansion by year’s end.

Silo, a subsidiary of the British-based Dixon Group PLC, has stores in Fullerton, Santa Ana and Westminster. A Mission Viejo location opens Nov. 23.