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Best Buy Closing 50 Stores

Posted by Soulskill on from the try-not-charging-60-bucks-for-an-hdmi-cable dept.

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."

6 of 407 comments (clear)

  1. Good by wisnoskij · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If any retail chain deserves to fail it is Best Buy.

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    Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
    1. Re:Good by Wain13001 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No no, CompUSA deserved it too. As a former CompUSA employee, I guarantee you, they were the devil just as much as the others. When we started selling 6-10' USB cables for $39.99 so we could more easily convince people to buy our Printer warranty kit for $49.99 that *came with a free cable* I quit.

    2. Re:Good by asylumx · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ...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).

      I find it funny that people blame Amazon's success and brick-and-mortar's failure on lack of sales taxes, when examples like these are rampant.

    3. Re:Good by milbournosphere · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Somebody did try this. Gateway opened quite a few stores with this idea in the 90s. There was one local to where I lived. The store was shiny and all, but they didn't keep any product in stock and IIRC, they preferred that you picked up their merch from the store, rather than shipping direct to your home. Needless to say, the idea failed miserably. Perhaps a modern day attempt would work for larger tech products like TVs and the like. I'm curious to see how this pans out.

  2. Forbes covered this really well by onyxruby · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Forbes had a really good article explaining why this was inevitable a few months ago. The author was absolutely dead right about his central point contrasting best buy and amazon.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrydownes/2012/01/02/why-best-buy-is-going-out-of-business-gradually/

    He makes the point that it isn't about money, it's about the customer experience and he is absolutely right. Amazon goes to extremes to make the customer have a better experience. Best Buy goes to extremes to make the customer more profitable. Best Buy needs to drop their customer as the enemy mentality and learned to embrace the customer instead of alienating them on a routine basis.

  3. Treating Customers Like Criminals by FreshlyShornBalls · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No one seems to have brought it up so I will. I don't mind paying a premium for getting an item today. Or for being able to hold the thing in my hands while I'm making a decision. But they're so worried about getting ripped off, they treat everyone like a criminal. Their security at the front of the store and their policy of requiring GOVERMNMENT-ISSUED PHOTO ID to return an item, even if purchased with a credit card, is absurd. Next up: a full-fledged TSA groping on the way out the door. No thanks. Good riddance.

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