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Best Buy Closing 50 Stores
An anonymous reader tips news that electronics retailer Best Buy will be closing 50 of its big-box stores across the U.S. this year, and laying off hundreds of corporate workers besides. The company plans to start testing new types of outlets as it tries to adapt to the changing face of retail sales. From the article:
"Best Buy shares were off 7.7% at $24.56 on Thursday afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange. Also Thursday, Best Buy reported a $1.7 billion loss for its fourth quarter ended March 3. ... Consumers armed with mobile phones are increasingly using stores as showrooms to check out merchandise they later purchase for less online, a trend greatly benefiting Internet retailers such as Amazon.com Inc. that aren't encumbered by the costs of running physical locations and in many cases don't have to collect sales tax. Meanwhile Apple Inc.'s phones and tablets, showcased in its own namesake stores, have eroded the status of specialty chains as the one-stop shop for the latest in gadgetry. In response, Best Buy said it will launch large-scale tests of what it calls new 'connected store' formats in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., as well as San Antonio. The stores, which will emphasize services such as technology support and wireless connections, will feature large new hubs at their center to assist shoppers, as well as reconfigured checkout lanes and new areas to accelerate the pickup of items purchased earlier online."
For what it is worth, Best Buy does have a high value for me as a showroom. And for when I absolutely have to have something that day.
For what it is worth, Best Buy does have a high value for me as a showroom.
Which no doubt is one of the reasons it is failing. People going to the store to look, then going online to buy. Of course, in the 80s, this is how big box stores got their business. People would go to the small locally owned TV/electronics retailers to get the spiel, but then go for the lower prices at the big box stores. It sucks to be on the other end doesn't it Best Buy?
And for when I absolutely have to have something that day.
I used to feel that way.. until the day they tried to sell me a discount video card for $120, and then I went home and got it online, with overnight shipping for about $30. Similar story for hard drives or any kind of cable (they tried to sell me a SATA cable for $30 -- they're literally $1 online). Having things today is nice, but I can wait 24 hours for that kind of discount.
It couldn't be how every time I go into a Best Buy it is a horrible experience. It couldn't be how any time you ask one of the minimum wage sales people a question about a product, the answer is, "I don't know, but would you like an extended warranty?" It couldn't be that to make up for the loss leaders they price other things through the roof. Just Google "Why best buy deserves to fail" and you will see I am not alone. My two favourites are http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrydownes/2012/01/02/why-best-buy-is-going-out-of-business-gradually/ and http://www.jrdeputyaccountant.com/2012/02/why-best-buy-deserves-to-die-horrible.html personally.
For me it was the time I went there to buy a monitor and walked out when someone wasn't at the front checking receipts, so a guy comes tearing down hallway outside the store (in a mall), yelling at me to stop, grabs the monitor and holds on, demanding to see a receipt. I told him to get his hands of my stuff. He threatened to call the cops. I told him that I would like that so he would get his hands off my stuff. He then took said he would let go if I showed him my receipt. I agreed, but will never go back.