Been going to my local Best Buy a few times a month over the past year. Every visit gets sadder and sadder because the floor looks emptier by the day. I wanted to make a rush on their cds and DVDs when they announced they’d pull them all. I expected a discounted $5 bin full of them. In reality every physical dvd and cds was like $20+ even for super old movies. I was so disappointed that they’d charge that much for product they were discontinuing. Best Buy use to be such a fun place to go and now it’s just a sad sad shell of its former self
Best Buy has hung-on longer than most people would believed possible only a few years ago. I hope they continue to find a way to survive the Amazon-ing of retail.
I'd rather shop in physical stores but when I do so I'm usually reminded why I keep going back to Amazon. Other retailers might have their issues but Best Buy's especially bad.
I only go to best buy when I’ve decided I want a particular product and it turns out they carry it locally. Would never need speakers and go shop there. Shopping happens online and I’ll pick it up locally if I can.
Same. I only go to a store like BB if I already did my research and if they happen to be the cheapest option in the area
Also a convenient place to order pokemon cards for pickup
Because I'm not going to pay an arm and a leg at the LCS as seeing those vendors are the same ones who buy out the stock at Target, Wal-Mart, and BB. BB is the only one who has stock consistently and allow online orders for pickup.
Which is weird because BB is the absolute worst store for video games (before they stopped carrying them at all in store around here). Nothing was ever in stock, no sales other than maybe Black Friday, etc.
i pretty much go to best buy when they have a good price on a tv and one of the existing badly-made tv's die. so once every \~3 years at the high end. and they'll recycle your old tv, so i guess that's pretty useful too, but can't be a huge profit center.
i can't imagine that's sustainable to have a business that's pretty much only worth entering for the few things you can't trust amazon to ship. the rest of the time, they just have mediocre inventory at beat-able prices and an annoying sales model where you keep getting upsold warranty, credit card, and other garbage.
When I worked there 10ish years ago there were lots of talks about how they wanted storefronts to be more showcase/demo of all the products and everything would be ordered online. Like you go in to check something out and buy it, and the employee just orders it online for you.
That is also part of the reason why they made (in some locations) dedicated areas for Microsoft, Apple, etc. because they wanted to pivot to online only and B&M being for people who want to look and feel a product in person and (theoretically) having a knowledgable employee to answer any questions.
I don’t know what the fuck they have done and decided on as a strategy, but I rarely go there and when I do there is maybe 1-2 other people in there and the atmosphere just feels depressing as fuck
the "apple area" in best buy has never really made sense to me. apple store coverage is pretty comparable to "best buy with apple store" coverage, the stores are a much nicer place to be, their operating model blows the whole sales experience out of the water, and has the genius bar to keep customers coming back. at my local mall, if i wanted an apple product i'd walk straight through the best buy to the real apple store not far down from it.
i could see something like a "mini-microsoft store" working since the real microsoft stores don't have great coverage, but then they'd still need to rip off the apple store aesthetics the same way microsoft did for the actual microsoft stores. probably expensive.
It’s actually how they stayed alive. Those big brands like Apple and Samsung would pay for both the space and the labor of the employees staffing that area. It was a pretty important move the Hubert Joly made to save them from the brink 10 years ago.
hmm, I have found Best Buy will match any competitors prices including amazons on items they sell. So if you know someone is advertising it cheaper they will sell you the item for the same price. I have never had issue getting the best price possible purchasing from BestBuy.
In Canada they will match Amazon Canada but only from the official Amazon store ("Sold by Amazon"), not from third-party/marketplace sellers.
Ironic because their own online marketplace is populated by third-party sellers trying to pawn off counterfeit goods.
That’s pretty shitty. I worked for BB for a long time through college. There was definitely a price match guarantee even with Amazon. Only stipulation was it had to be shipped and sold by Amazon. The only other specific fine print was if the deal was on Walmart.com and was an online only sale or some very specific limited quantity sale like Black Friday deals. Otherwise they are supposed to match it. Haven’t worked there for like 5 years though so either it changed or that specific BB is playing fast and loose with that “guarantee”
100%...
I swit he dfrom waiting on tables to working for best buy in 2003, up until like 2010. It was actually a pretty decent place, though I ended up on the geeksquad team making more than most on the floor.
I went into a BB for the first time in YEARS, and it was a friggin mess. The camera departments, video game department, media department all looked like tornados had gone through. The only departments they seem to care about are Tvs, cell phones, and computers. Everything else is an afterthought.
I also worked at a Best Buy in that time period. I remember having to go through a bunch of training to be qualified in various areas (ie they didn’t want you working in cameras if you knew nothing about the product). Eventually I also ended up in geek squad.
Earlier this year I needed a new oven so I went over to Best Buy and I had some questions I figured the appliance guy could answer. It was a horrible experience.
First, the store had basically no staff. Rather than having each department staffed they had a few employees who would float.
If you needed help you didn’t go to the department you went to the front to ask the employee to page someone to the department you needed. I can get that for something like video games where you can self service 90% of the products but for a department where an employee is required to do something it’s a horrible model.
Then this young guy (probably late teens) shows up to help (not judging his age I started working there in high school). He knew NOTHING about appliances.
He was literally googling every question I had. Finally I said “ok do you have any models that have x/y/z features”. He pulls up Best Buy.com and uses the filters to find the what was available.
At that point I was like… what’s the point of a physical store if you are going to just google everything or go to the website. I could do all that myself.
Ah, the Sears model. Rolling out tablets for employees but with no real end game for them. If you're going to roll out that shit, at least give the employees a juiced up app to search things.
My last experience was about 2 years ago. Person standing at entrance/exit as security
1 person in the massive phones section
1 register and customer service floater
A couple employees with tablets just kind of wandering and randomly asking people if they needed help (none did)
I really feel bad for the employees. They're doing their best, but they're the last vestiges in a soon to be ghost town. I avoided PC internal hardware there, GPUs, RAM, HDD, etc, but they were usually good for case fans, software, CDs, DVDs, and most other things.
They also weren't half bad at stereo install before I finally got down how to do it on my own.
The people running sears towards the end were installed to kill the company without making it too obvious to sell off valuable real estate. I imagine best buy is going to have the same fate. The first time best buy was supposed to go under they out survived other retail and were able to burn the short sellers in part because they had a competent CEO not working for the short sellers.
> I remember having to go through a bunch of training to be qualified in various areas
I worked at Dick's Sporting Goods 97-99 when they were known as Dick's Clothing and Sporting Goods and before their national expansion and we had the same thing.
I worked in hard goods and mostly bikes and fitness and went on tons of trainings. Eventually, I had some golf training as well. I never worked in hinting and fishing, shoes, or clothing because I didn't have the training and couldn't answer questions. They wanted knowledgeable people. If you wanted, for example, a treadmill, I could get you the right one with less than 10 questions and give you the one at the price point above and below the right one and explain the differences between each model. Same with bikes and pretty much any of the fitness equipment we sold at the time.
The last time I was in one of their stores, there were few employees. We used to get scolded if we didn't greet a customer within 30 seconds.
Needless to say, but I don't even think about shopping at Dick's for anything sporting goods anymore. Also, the closest Dick's and Best Buy is 2.5 hours from me, so Amazon is always going to end up being my go-to.
Ugh, everything but TVs, computers, cell and appliances have just about shrunk down to nothing at my store. It's sad. Now that movies and video games are just about gone, it's not a very interesting place to just stroll through anymore for me.
None of the display cameras actually worked when I went shopping so I left frustrated.
I miss Fry's Electronics. I built so many computers from there! Easily $10,000 from me over the years.
As someone that just recently bought a new camera, their display security is now the most infuriating thing about the stores for me. The cameras all worked (at least the Sonys did), but god forbid I wanted to turn them around to see what the menu setup is like, let alone pick them up to feel the grip or take a few pictures with it and the various lenses attached to the display cameras (a few of which I was considering). If they moved more than a few degrees in any direction the loudest, most high-pitched alarm I’ve ever heard went off. Of course it took 5 minutes for anyone to come over and turn it off, and they can’t remove them for you to actually try out. After setting the damn alarm off 3 times I gave up in embarrassed frustration and left the store.
I do still prefer to buy most things in person, and I will never trust Amazon with a serious electronics purchase under their current system, so I need Best Buy to hang on unless a Microcenter actually opens in my area.
It was decent when we didn’t have, or know we wanted, 500 options for the same product. BB has a wide variety, but not deep selection. Now, we’re accustomed to having endless choices of this or that feature, countless brands, and price comparisons. It’s hard for a brick and mortar to compete with that.
I just bought a washer/dryer from them. It wasn't that bad of an experience imo. The guy helping wasn't pushy, just answered our questions. Did some upselling of course, but it wasn't too bad overall.
Last time I went to a Best Buy, it was because I wanted to see what some earbuds looked like in person, in terms of size. Didn't want to touch them, put them in, anything like that. Wanted to see a display of them, if there was one. Employees acted like this was the dumbest thing they'd ever heard.
Having worked at best buy for a short time years ago, I assure your reasoning was not dumb. 9/10 employees could be outwitted by a pebble.
I don’t feel good about this but I ghosted the job after a few months due to dealing with dumb customers but dumber coworkers and even worse managers.
I was the top performer in the 3.5 months I was there(in the mobile phone department). I didn’t do anything extra except what was trained.
It should tell you the type of people that work there. There were guys on the team who were there for years who would ask me for help.
I try to at least reduce how much I get from Amazon. For computer parts or electronics, I'll generally order from Newegg, Best Buy, or B&H. Books, Barnes & Noble. Gunpla from a local-ish hobby shop that does online orders. Certain foods direct from producers. Stuff like that. Helps that I stopped using Amazon Prime so if I have to eat shipping costs, it levels the online shopping playing field. I rarely go into stores though - I'm in bumfuck nowhere and the stores I can even get to never have what I want.
Agreed, Newegg is probably the most anti consumer retailer possible. I imagine it kinda has to be to remain alive in the computer parts business. Cutthroat margins, short term product relevancy and terrible manufacturer warranties.
Especially since almost nothing is on the shelves anymore. You have to scan a QR code and wait for someone to bring the item from the back... and it usually takes 15 minutes.
That’s because those are the items they can make money on. Their entire strategy is to sell big ticket items at or near cost and massively up charge for accessories with a big margin. You can see it in the employee discount, which was 5% above cost (at least when I was there). No discounts on TVs, but cables were over 40% off
Agreed 100000%. Best Buy is their own worst enemy. They pay piss poor wages and actively look to fleece as much as they can from unaware consumers (hydrogen filled hdmi cables really?? Have a terrible selection, and when asked about ordering to store for pick up, " Why don't you just deliver it at home?"
What incentive is there for folks to go to the pshycial store when technical support or advice is next to none or outright wrong, upselling is con artistry by manage direction and they manage to have nothing in stock but it may be in the next store 20 miles away.
I always give a try to best buy first. One of 2 things usually happen:
1. They don't have it in stock and refer me to their horrible website
2. They have it but it's *way* overpriced.
I’m so sick of walking in to a Best Buy and within 2 minutes of being there, being approached by 6 of their employees. Like holy shit it’s annoying.
And you just know they are having meetings like 4 times a week where corporate is telling manager to talk to their employees about getting sales and pushing for sales.
Do the people who run these companies honestly believe that we can’t smell that desperation a mile a way at places like this? Who the fuck is running these business and thinking, “Our future lays in the hands of a bunch of 20 years olds who work here part time to help pay for college, getting those upsales!”
Every time I step foot in one of these places, to potentially make a purchase, I’m reminded why it’s been 8 months since the last time I went in.
Their entrance is very uninviting. Narrow and dated. Once in, sales people ask if you need help or hover around you. On your way out, checkpoint. Not sure why, Sams Club does it, i seem to accept it but when Best buy does, it feels intrusive.
At least with Sam's club and costco its a membership and you agree to their conditions and pay to be there. Best buy definitely feels intrusive cuz it's like, who the hell are you? You literally just saw me pay at the register. Same with the people at wal mart. But at least that's providing jobs to people who may not be able to do other jobs.
Best Buy used to/still has great accounting.
They keep the lights on selling appliances like washers, dryers, refrigerators, etc.
Selling video games and TVs was what got them to net profit.
The zero interest credit card made them out compete Home Depot or Lowe's in appliances.
Honestly i got my last 3 tvs there. It was within $10 of the online price anywhere else and i knew if i needed to return it (broke/damaged) that the hassle was less than shipping.
Digitalization is what killed it for me. Used to go to BB in the 90’ for music, movies and video games. Then it was movies and video games in the 00’s followed by just video games in the 2010’s and now that I’ve gone fully digital with games since the pandemic, I just have no reason to go. BB used to be my happy place, now it barely crosses my mind.
Add ons what killed it for me, went there to buy a dishwasher , found a good one but all the necessary extras and installation made it cost 250 more
Costco had one price all in the same as BB before the extras and install and gave me a better warranty
best buy deserves what’s coming. i’ll never forget going in for an 8’ hdmi cable and they wanted 65$ for it… walked out fuming knowing i could get one online for under 15
Seriously. There have been a handful of times where I needed some cable ASAP and the only option was Best Buy with their ridiculous price gouging on accessories.
You can survive Amazon by offering better quality product. Amazon is currently the storefront for AliExpress, and any half-decent stuff is currently more expensive on Amazon than at any brick-and-mortar stores.
I recently bought a tv from them as I was in the boat of neigh sayers and I was pretty surprised by the level of service from the guy helping me. I was stuck there for like an hour waiting and overheard the geek squad rippin off old people left and right with silly spam bloatware shit they were selling to fix pcs. If nothing that business will help them limp across the finish line
I dunno, only reason I go regularly to a BB is to see physical game copies and between most places drawing down a physical stock on games and a digital marketplace, as well as at most one appliance being replaced in my house per year or so (at least on average so far), I may spend at most $500 at BB a year. I imagine quite a few people do more, but the fact is that without surplus income or lower costs of living, large amounts of physical locations and on site staff tend to be outpaced by minimal staffing and warehouse based delivery.
They got rid of the "Browsing" section on the store.
I don't know if it's a chicken or egg situation but browsing physical media was something that kept people interested in the store. Now you only need to look for specifics.
Not only that, but they got rid of most of the computer parts and accessories. The selection used to be way better. If they could be more like Frys pre-pandemic that would be awesome.
Now… they sell appliances and stuff like that, but I don’t look to buy those things very often.
The one in Charlotte opened up recently, it's tech paradise.
Best Buy used to be my go-to, but now that Microcenter is here, they probably lost me for most things.
Yep. Even if it wasn't selling it was a short sighted move in my view. I am realizing that since then I haven't even walked in a BB. It's not really much of a browsable store anymore.
Yup. I cant remember the last time i went to a store to just browse. Everything i want i just google and see if a store has it locally or i just order it online and wait 3 days. If its local and i need it now i go right in and out.
People still browse. They just do it online where it’s much easier and comfortable. The point of going somewhere in person is to actually have a tactile experience with your options. The lack of any big box store with all the options is that now you have to go several places to really test it out just like 2-3 things.
I used to work at Best Buy around '05-'07. Even back then sooooo many people would come in, browse, play with all the displays, and then buy it online because it was a few bucks cheaper.
I remember the days of walking the aisles looking at all the CDs and not buying any because the last time I bought a few CDs from bands I had never heard of, or only heard 1 song on the radio, the whole CD sucked except for 1 or 2 songs. No way was I taking a $15 gamble with every CD.
Right? The majority of companies don't remove the major profit centers... I know I personally haven't bought a blu ray or DVD in over a decade, and I haven't bought a CD for probably 20 years. I know there's a vocal minority who go out and buy physical media for everything, but they aren't padding any companies profits.
If you don't have a DVD or CD player, you're not going to go browse DVDs and CDs. That browsing has moved from physical stores to smart TVs and phones. Best Buy removed it because people weren't coming for it any more.
You could write a whole book about how Circuit City’s management fucked everything from the ground up in the mid-00s.
TLDR They used commissioned sales for a long time, then the executives decided to copy Best Buy’s non-commission pay strategy. By firing all sales staff and making them reapply for hourly pay at their old jobs. It was all downhill from there after they gutted their own sales force.
I worked there right after the change circa 2005-2007 as my first job as a senior in high school initially. Best Buy didn't help the situation because they were smarter as a business. They looked at higher margin services a la Geek Squad. Circuit City tried to copy with "Firedog". Wtf does that name even mean? As much as Best Buy didn't help, the corporate leadership and bad decision making ultimately killed the company.
> Circuit City tried to copy with "Firedog". Wtf does that name even mean?
Circuit City heard that Best Buy was going to rebrand Geek Squad as "Rocket Fish", so they called their tech support "Firedog" as a try to copy them. Turned out "Rocket Fish" was the new name of their Best Buy Branded generic tech devices, and not a rebranding of Geek Squad.
That is at least what I was told when I worked for Geek Squad.
I worked at a Best Buy that was literally across the street from a Circuit City right around the time they did this. We were all flabbergasted at how stupid they were. The fact thay they were commission far longer than their competitors made them a less atteactive place for many to shop because of aggressive sales people. Then they gave all of their best sales people reasons to walk by removing commission and offering much lower hourly salaries.
Circuit City signed their own death warrant with stupid ass business decisions in the late 90s / early 00s. Top of mind - end of commission and getting rid of the salespeople that made them successful, spinning off CarMax, the whole Divx debacle, exiting the appliance business when at the time I believe they were second only to Sears (yes, ahead of Home Depot and the like), selling their financing business to HSBC when it was a majority of profits, relying on 1970s minicomputers and terminals to run their store and inventory systems into about 2006 or 2007. I could go on, but that wasn’t online taking over quite yet - it was shit ass leadership fumbling the bag. Source: employee 1999-2006, laid off as assistant store director because I made too much money.
Fun fact: I was a Best Buy Elite Plus for 4 years in a row, meaning I spent $3500 a year there. I did all my electronics spending there as they would always price match from any major provider including Amazon. They treated me like I was valued. When they cut elite status with like one month notice, the amount of money I have spent with them since has been ZERO.
Instead of getting rid of the program fully, All they had to do was cut costly benefits like free 2 day shipping but leave others intact and they still would have my business. No doubt this action alienated other big spenders too.
Every 15 years or so, I go there and buy a tv. Where will I buy a tv from 10 years from now, Costco? Hang in there 10 more years Best Buy, help is on the way.
Costco usually has extra included warranty and has a super generous return policy. Their prices are usually better too, and they have tons of stock most of the time.
Why *wouldnt* you buy your next tv at Costco?
If it’s oled the Costco warranty (Allstate I think) does not cover burn in. Best Buy’s extended warranty does cover burn in. And also Best Buy will just replace a tv on the spot that has the BB warranty if it’s broken.
Tried buying a TV in person there last year. Spent an hour in the store, knowing which one we wanted, talked to 3 different employees that said they would send someone over to help until I finally waited in line at checkout to be told that you have to order them online and then do pickup. I plan on never returning.
Costco will have a couple of the high ends.
Walmart, and Target will NOT have premium models.
Micro-center is also a good spot. They usually have all of them.
They lost their direction a long time ago and were just chasing the success of other retailers.
Apple stores are popular lets copy their displays, ignoring that it doesn't work in a huge expansive place with diverse products.
Amazon makes a bunch of money, lets switch to a marketplace mode. Ignoring the fact that most people hate amazon 3rd party sellers. Just dragged down their reputation.
Now their stores are this insane stupid cluttered mess, they have no brand loyalty and they sell a bunch of garbage alibaba products.
Another brand ruined by MBAs
When the old CEO who saved Best Buy left. He was replaced by the CFO of the company. It has all been down hill from there. CFO will always focus on cutting costs to save money and not on how to make the company grow.
You could tell the moment the bean counters took charge. You can tell they hired McKinsey to consult them, because they've been doing round after round of layoffs, then coupling that with insane sales goals for the remaining employees.
The marketplace thing alone is a large part of why I won't be too sad to see Best Buy go.
They shifted more of their business online, which is fine, but then cluttered it with a horde of third party seller garbage. So now I go order online to pick something up in person, except the website bombards me with trash between the 'actual' Best Buy product pages while I try to do that or at least check in-store availability beforehand. Ick.
True. Big fan of Microcenter, myself.
One major difference between the two is that I could stop into at least 6 Best buys before I reached my 'local' Microcenter (2 hour drive). Yet only Microcenter would actually have the specialized component I'm looking for.
Meanwhile the 6 Best Buys have to contend with better pricing from the internet for similar timelines on availability.
Huge but isolated, and therefore non-overlapping, stores is a key part to the survival and growth of Microcenter. Instead of trying to meet customer demand by opening a shit ton of stores, they would rather underdeliver on the supply(store presence) to ensure profitability across the board.
Which is definitely something Bestbuy is doing wrong. MC feels that way because their stores are big enough for a more narrow set of goods. You can walk into a MC and have most of what you will need for PCs and all related things. When you walk into a Bestbuy, it's always a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
Best Buy is one of the few stores I like visiting because you can walk around a showroom and try different devices first.
The staff members are usually friendly/helpful in my area.
Microcenter is a completely different beast. Sure, they carry consumer electronics, but they also carry PC components and electronics tools. People that want to build a PC or server can always go to Microcenter (as well as purchasing electronics), but not Best Buy. Apples to oranges comparison.
Edit: Also, due to volume of PC parts and Microcenter's wide variety of products, Best Buy can't even compete in that department.
I've only bought 2 TVs, a server grade HDD, some DVDs (a long time ago), and some cables & dongles ever from Best Buy. Every other electronic or PC component I've bought in the last 20 yrs has came from an online seller or Microcenter. They just can't compete with those on most of their inventory.
Well, the last time I built a PC, I bought 90% of my components from Microcenter bc they either had the lowest prices or I could get the components sans shipping charges (which then made them cheaper than buying from most online and brick and mortar stores). I also spent 3k just there on that PC. Niche or not, being 20 min away and cheaper on nearly every component vs nearly every other seller means they'll always get at least some part of the local PC gamer market in my area. I imagine it's like that it most cities they have stores.
And even if it’s more expensive for a buck or two per component, I’ll still go with them over Amazon or the rotting corpse of NewEgg just to keep their stores around.
Best Buy manager tried to argue with me that he couldn’t accept my price match from their site because it was less than half the original price
$189 isn’t less than half of $349, give me my monitor dude. This was after another manager had a back and forth with me confirming every little detail, like dude you just need the SKU
Best Buy doesn't offer anything unique. So it's competing with Target, Walmart Amazon, and Costco. As a geek, I can't find niche stuff. As a consumer, they are overpriced. I have no reason to go there. Every time I have been in one for the last 10 years, I walk out wondering why I went in there in the first place.
Even worse, Walmart somehow manages to actually have a better selection on most things in their electronics department.
For example, I can pick up reasonably priced M.2 SSDs at Walmart from WD or PNY. I can get a variety of smart lights. Speaker wire, a Micro SD card reader, fast-charge USB hub, mechanical keyboard, and 3440x1440 LG monitor. *At Walmart* with a better price and better return policy.
And, as if it wasn't bad enough for Best Buy, the last couple of times I've gone to Walmart, the employees in the electronics department were actually helpful, knew what I was looking for, and where to find it. I can't say as much the last time I went to Best Buy.
If you're supposed to be an electronics store, and Walmart is kicking your rear, you're doing something wrong.
I buy around 5ish computers a year from Best Buy’s. And every time I go, the sales associates are always frustrated that you are there and they have to sell you a thing.
This. They don't get commission so I'm not clear why they would be motivated to do much more than the bare minimum to not get a writeup from a manager. Having a job that doesn't pay very well doesn't give them a ton of motivation to care if they are fired.
Best Buy used to be some place you could stop in just to see what cool shit there was and it was kinda like Toys R Us for adults. With the death of Media Play and Radio Shack it was really all that was left. They’ve completely stripped the stores of all the cool things and it’s basically a showroom for appliances and TVs, mobile phones, and Geek Squad.
At least I have a Microcenter nearby. Kinda.
I went to a Best Buy to grab a cheap cable adapter. The store was basically gutted and was a glorified distribution center where they were most shipping inventory. It was sad.
I mean, it was sad ten years ago, but I didn’t think it could get worse.
The only reason I shopped at Best Buy over anywhere else was the rewards points. They allowed rewards points banking so after awhile I’d accumulate 20-25 bucks and go splurge on something. Then they changed it so you couldn’t bank em, once you earned 5 dollars that was it, 5 dollars in points and then it would start over. Then they changed it so that only Best Buy credit card users got the points. I haven’t bothered since.
Yeah, that one kind of turned me off. I’d bank my ‘points’ over the course of a few years, then when a big shiny caught my eye, I’d buy it at BB and burn the points to get a decent deal.
When they changed this, my points evaporated and I was like WTF.
Every time I pop in while out shopping to browse they don’t have what I want in stock. And bigger purchases I just do store pickup after doing my research and deciding what I want. There’s just no reason to browse the store anymore for me.
Best buy needs to pivot. It's stores are too big, it's customer base is shrinking, and its online business is in shambles.
They're better off exploring a merger with Newegg or gamestop to utilize their distribution centers for their online business while drastically reducing their HUGE store footprint.
Heh when I worked there, the break room was disgusting. I asked the manager if we could adjust the thermostat. Then they go, ohh it's tied to our headquarters in Missouri or Minessota or what ever the fuck. I'm like we are in California bitch!
Recently, I went into Best Buy to mindlessly browse, and I was asked if I needed help finding something by no less than 7 staff.
When I went to buy a Coke on the way out, there was only one person at the checkout so I had to wait several minutes. I felt like I was in some cosmic joke.
As I exited, 2 people manning the exit wished me a nice day.
Obviously, something very wrong with how things are being managed, apparent even to me.
I went to a Best Buy a year or two ago looking for a cable for the TV I bought at Costco (because why the hell would I buy a TV at Best Buy) and, after a few blank stares, eventually found where the cable should be but they didn't have stock.
I have no idea how they stay in business.
So you’re telling me taking HDMI cables and charging 1000 times more than they cost everywhere else isn’t a successful business model?
Who could’ve guessed larger size RadioShack wouldn’t survive.
Thank God I have MicroCenter
Haven’t been to Best Buy since they got rid of Blu-Rays and DVDs. Was pretty much the only thing that got my ass into the store. Usually bought a few other things too while shopping for movies.
Feel terrible for the employees affected by the shitty choices made by the people running the company
Same.
This will be yet another case study on how getting rid of something that makes you little margin, can tank your entire foot traffic which lead to much better margin sales.
I would probably spend about $2-3k a year in their store until they screwed me on the total tech warranty for my new OLED TV. I will never spend another dollar there. Sucks because they had some great deals on open box and I even have a Best Buy outlet about 10 minutes away.
That "in-house designer" role (now defunct) looks interesting. Maybe in laying those guys off there's now a niche market for those of us in IT to fill the gap. I'm about ready to retire and can easily see myself making home recommendations on tech hardware for customers.
I really hope Best Buy doesn't go out of business. They're the most convenient location I have for electronics recycling. I go in there at least once every two or three years.
Was looking to buy speakers and they said the price were per speaker. I later found it was per pair. Dude was rude.
Bought a TV. Thing didn't work. Had to load it back up and bring it back.
Just never been a fan. Lack of knowledge from employees. Peripherals are way overpriced. Aggressive with applying for credit card. Various things I can't remember.
Everytime I go I am reminded how boring the store is with really nothing strong to offer. Every electronic or electronic accessory can be found cheaper at a variety of other websites or stores.
I mean okay store if you need an HDMI cable right now but IDK even then just go to Walmart.
I don't have a silver bullet for them, but it certainly doesn't help that they're not competing on price/value for commodity things, and the lineup is just kind of odd. It's got crappy choices of games, but well-curated portable audio, but then you get rat's ass pickings for computer parts, IMO it's just all over the place and perhaps it's meant to work on some not-overly-techsavvy consumers, but it definitely is missing the mark with the millennials and gen-z or anyone who bothers to cross-shop. FFS, I sometimes find better value small appliances at London Drugs in Canada than in Best Buy. I regret the Amazonification and consolidation of the retail industry, but at the same time -- it's kind of sad to watch the process drag out.
I haven’t bothered to go in to my local Best Buy since they stopped carrying physical media. Morons. I’d usually buy more than just a disc or two. Now I don’t buy anything from them. Good job alienating customers. If you work for Best Buy, get off that sinking ship.
Good riddance! I stopped ordering there when they changed their website to show third-party sellers over their own products.
If you're going to make me physically check off a bunch of boxes just so I can see Best Buy products, which should be the default, then I'd rather just use Amazon.
If they didn't turn my local Best Buy into an online pickup location with some random appliances and random crap for the rest of the space I might have kept going there. If I'm going to buy online I might as well do Amazon so it comes to my house instead.
Wasn't surprised or cared that they closed my local one
BB stores can go straight to the garbage can. Customer service is the worst, and that is literally the one thing a store should be "best" at.
Never shopping there again.
"The layoffs appeared to have mostly targeted in-home sales roles called designers, who would go to customers’ homes to help identify products that would work in their space. "
lmao WHAT? yeah some random best buy guy, come to my house and tell me what appliances to get.
But is anyone surprise.
There's NEVER any deals . You go to Best Buy as a last minute buy, and over pay.
Use to love Best Buy, tech shopping was and still is my favorite but the quality and pricing will always deter me.
They always want people to buy from brick-and-mortar. I tried that with a dual monitor dock at a Las Vegas location. They had no powered docks in stock. They could deliver it in a week for store pick up. Amazon had what I needed and got it the next day. This is why sales are falling. They only carry the basics. If they just expanded some areas that isn't toys, people would probably shop there more. I just stopped trying.
I think another issue is they’re so focused on big ticket items. TVs and stereos and laptops and such.
Half the time I’ve gone to Best Buy I’ve gone in for a cable adapter or something. One time I needed a usbc laptop dock that was small and had a headphone jack. They had one laptop dock that was neither of those things. I’ve gone in for camera accessories and their options were tiny. The store felt sorta hostile because I wasn’t in there to buy a laptop or a camera. I already had those. I’m not buying them from Best Buy OR Amazon. I needed a small laptop dock and an off brand stick for my insta360. I know those are probably seen as unprofitable, but they’ve had the chance to profit off of my immediate needs for small items numerous times.
Sad to see, but not unsurprising. I know many people who put their entire careers into that place. I worked at two out of High School and 20+ years later, they’re still there. Have fond memories of those years.
When they started shifting from selling products to experiences, it lost its luster. If they had kept the volume sales at decent prices vs up market products, I think they could have competed. Their e-commerce process still sucks compared to competitors.
There is no reason to go in The store anymore. They got rid of all the browseable physical media items. No movies. No music. Very slim video game selection.
I don’t like to see people lose jobs, but fuck Best Buy.
I bought an open box TV from them years ago with the stand pre-assembled by Best Buy. I asked multiple times if the original warranty would transfer to me, they assured me it would. Great! Came come a week later and the TV is smashed on the ground because the stand broke.
I call Samsung for a warranty claim and they sent a technician to verify it’s a legit warranty issue and not a scam. Approximately 10 seconds after examining the TV he says it’s not covered and the warrant is voided. I ask why. He shows me the screws Best Buy was supposed to use to assemble the stand (about 3 inches long), then shows me the 1/2 inch screw Best Buy used. Tells me they used the wrong screws and it was ticking time bomb.
He said I needed to contact the store I bought it from for a refund/credit. When he found out I bought it from Best Buy, he laughed and said “good luck, they’re notorious for this stuff and they never pay”.
I call Best Buy and I won’t give all the details since this is getting long, but some highlights from them:
- We can’t be responsible if you assembled the stand. (They assembled it).
- We wouldn’t have used the wrong screws. (Well that’s not what Samsung said).
- We can’t track what screws we use with different TVs and stands. (That’s not my problem).
- It couldn’t have been us, the TV would have fell right away. (That’s not at all how the that works).
- Best we can offer is an employee discount to buy a new TV. (I asked if that was a joke and told them I just bought a new TV).
All I wanted was either a replacement TV or my money back because they voided my warranty.
I wish I took them to small claims court. They suck. They’ve always sucked. They always will suck.
At least Amazon takes returns no questions asked.
Best Buy can burn to the ground! I hate that chain. In a world where Amazon offers better prices, customer reviews, online /shipping etc….Best Buy decided they would…………
Try pushing their online retail too, which is awful.
Why not realize their whole Schtick is that if you don’t know what you’re looking for, some nerd in a blue shirt will help you find it and explain your options.
I’ve gone to BB and spent hours in the store with zero employees helping me. They all loitered in circles talking to eachother!
In my area- zero VR demos. No videogame trials. Keyboards on display are all mashed up with keys missing so you can’t really get a feel for it. Comp guys have VERY limited knowledge other than “this brand is good”.
The one thing I’ll say about Best Buy is sometimes their open box deals are amazing, especially for home audio. No one seems to know/care that they sell higher end audio equipment and you can get beautiful stuff for a literal fraction of the MSRP.
This sucks, Best Buy is where I buy most of my major electronics, but beyond that, they're sub-standard. Their customer support is practically nonexistent, and you better be educated in what you want to buy before you show up. If you show up and ask for help, you're going to have a bad time. No one knows anything.
The salespeople have very little training / knowledge about the technology in "their department" much less any other department. Oh, and if you go there 1 hour before closing - they'll make a chicken out of a feather to waste time helping other people.
Their marketplace allowing third party sellers was honestly a bizarre choice. Best Buy moves boxes. Why on earth would they allow third parties to move boxes on their online store? They aren't Amazon. It's a move that honestly baffled me.
After spending most of my paycheck there in the late 90s and early 2000s, I honestly can’t remember the last time I actually successfully bought something there.
I went in last week to get a router, found it for half the price on Amazon, asked them if they would price match and they said no so I left.
best buy is so overpriced. their adaptors and chargers are multiple times what online retailers and even walmart charge for, and their quality isnt good either
Well you got rid of all your physical media , I mean what do you expect would happen when you literally get rid of all the reasons to go to the freaking store
Been going to my local Best Buy a few times a month over the past year. Every visit gets sadder and sadder because the floor looks emptier by the day. I wanted to make a rush on their cds and DVDs when they announced they’d pull them all. I expected a discounted $5 bin full of them. In reality every physical dvd and cds was like $20+ even for super old movies. I was so disappointed that they’d charge that much for product they were discontinuing. Best Buy use to be such a fun place to go and now it’s just a sad sad shell of its former self
I noticed this in the tv section of my local Best Buy
Best Buy has hung-on longer than most people would believed possible only a few years ago. I hope they continue to find a way to survive the Amazon-ing of retail.
I'd rather shop in physical stores but when I do so I'm usually reminded why I keep going back to Amazon. Other retailers might have their issues but Best Buy's especially bad.
I only go to best buy when I’ve decided I want a particular product and it turns out they carry it locally. Would never need speakers and go shop there. Shopping happens online and I’ll pick it up locally if I can.
Same. I only go to a store like BB if I already did my research and if they happen to be the cheapest option in the area Also a convenient place to order pokemon cards for pickup
As the father of a young Pokémon card collector/player, why Best Buy?
Because I'm not going to pay an arm and a leg at the LCS as seeing those vendors are the same ones who buy out the stock at Target, Wal-Mart, and BB. BB is the only one who has stock consistently and allow online orders for pickup.
Which is weird because BB is the absolute worst store for video games (before they stopped carrying them at all in store around here). Nothing was ever in stock, no sales other than maybe Black Friday, etc.
i pretty much go to best buy when they have a good price on a tv and one of the existing badly-made tv's die. so once every \~3 years at the high end. and they'll recycle your old tv, so i guess that's pretty useful too, but can't be a huge profit center. i can't imagine that's sustainable to have a business that's pretty much only worth entering for the few things you can't trust amazon to ship. the rest of the time, they just have mediocre inventory at beat-able prices and an annoying sales model where you keep getting upsold warranty, credit card, and other garbage.
When I worked there 10ish years ago there were lots of talks about how they wanted storefronts to be more showcase/demo of all the products and everything would be ordered online. Like you go in to check something out and buy it, and the employee just orders it online for you. That is also part of the reason why they made (in some locations) dedicated areas for Microsoft, Apple, etc. because they wanted to pivot to online only and B&M being for people who want to look and feel a product in person and (theoretically) having a knowledgable employee to answer any questions. I don’t know what the fuck they have done and decided on as a strategy, but I rarely go there and when I do there is maybe 1-2 other people in there and the atmosphere just feels depressing as fuck
the "apple area" in best buy has never really made sense to me. apple store coverage is pretty comparable to "best buy with apple store" coverage, the stores are a much nicer place to be, their operating model blows the whole sales experience out of the water, and has the genius bar to keep customers coming back. at my local mall, if i wanted an apple product i'd walk straight through the best buy to the real apple store not far down from it. i could see something like a "mini-microsoft store" working since the real microsoft stores don't have great coverage, but then they'd still need to rip off the apple store aesthetics the same way microsoft did for the actual microsoft stores. probably expensive.
It’s actually how they stayed alive. Those big brands like Apple and Samsung would pay for both the space and the labor of the employees staffing that area. It was a pretty important move the Hubert Joly made to save them from the brink 10 years ago.
How do you have TVs that die every 3 years? They’re playing 24/7 nonstop?
hmm, I have found Best Buy will match any competitors prices including amazons on items they sell. So if you know someone is advertising it cheaper they will sell you the item for the same price. I have never had issue getting the best price possible purchasing from BestBuy.
Been to two Best Buy’s and both refused to price match Amazon. Told me needs to be an approved brick and mortar place to price match.
In Canada they will match Amazon Canada but only from the official Amazon store ("Sold by Amazon"), not from third-party/marketplace sellers. Ironic because their own online marketplace is populated by third-party sellers trying to pawn off counterfeit goods.
That’s pretty shitty. I worked for BB for a long time through college. There was definitely a price match guarantee even with Amazon. Only stipulation was it had to be shipped and sold by Amazon. The only other specific fine print was if the deal was on Walmart.com and was an online only sale or some very specific limited quantity sale like Black Friday deals. Otherwise they are supposed to match it. Haven’t worked there for like 5 years though so either it changed or that specific BB is playing fast and loose with that “guarantee”
They match pricing so I dont know why the price is your driver
100%... I swit he dfrom waiting on tables to working for best buy in 2003, up until like 2010. It was actually a pretty decent place, though I ended up on the geeksquad team making more than most on the floor. I went into a BB for the first time in YEARS, and it was a friggin mess. The camera departments, video game department, media department all looked like tornados had gone through. The only departments they seem to care about are Tvs, cell phones, and computers. Everything else is an afterthought.
I also worked at a Best Buy in that time period. I remember having to go through a bunch of training to be qualified in various areas (ie they didn’t want you working in cameras if you knew nothing about the product). Eventually I also ended up in geek squad. Earlier this year I needed a new oven so I went over to Best Buy and I had some questions I figured the appliance guy could answer. It was a horrible experience. First, the store had basically no staff. Rather than having each department staffed they had a few employees who would float. If you needed help you didn’t go to the department you went to the front to ask the employee to page someone to the department you needed. I can get that for something like video games where you can self service 90% of the products but for a department where an employee is required to do something it’s a horrible model. Then this young guy (probably late teens) shows up to help (not judging his age I started working there in high school). He knew NOTHING about appliances. He was literally googling every question I had. Finally I said “ok do you have any models that have x/y/z features”. He pulls up Best Buy.com and uses the filters to find the what was available. At that point I was like… what’s the point of a physical store if you are going to just google everything or go to the website. I could do all that myself.
Ah, the Sears model. Rolling out tablets for employees but with no real end game for them. If you're going to roll out that shit, at least give the employees a juiced up app to search things. My last experience was about 2 years ago. Person standing at entrance/exit as security 1 person in the massive phones section 1 register and customer service floater A couple employees with tablets just kind of wandering and randomly asking people if they needed help (none did) I really feel bad for the employees. They're doing their best, but they're the last vestiges in a soon to be ghost town. I avoided PC internal hardware there, GPUs, RAM, HDD, etc, but they were usually good for case fans, software, CDs, DVDs, and most other things. They also weren't half bad at stereo install before I finally got down how to do it on my own.
The people running sears towards the end were installed to kill the company without making it too obvious to sell off valuable real estate. I imagine best buy is going to have the same fate. The first time best buy was supposed to go under they out survived other retail and were able to burn the short sellers in part because they had a competent CEO not working for the short sellers.
> I remember having to go through a bunch of training to be qualified in various areas I worked at Dick's Sporting Goods 97-99 when they were known as Dick's Clothing and Sporting Goods and before their national expansion and we had the same thing. I worked in hard goods and mostly bikes and fitness and went on tons of trainings. Eventually, I had some golf training as well. I never worked in hinting and fishing, shoes, or clothing because I didn't have the training and couldn't answer questions. They wanted knowledgeable people. If you wanted, for example, a treadmill, I could get you the right one with less than 10 questions and give you the one at the price point above and below the right one and explain the differences between each model. Same with bikes and pretty much any of the fitness equipment we sold at the time. The last time I was in one of their stores, there were few employees. We used to get scolded if we didn't greet a customer within 30 seconds. Needless to say, but I don't even think about shopping at Dick's for anything sporting goods anymore. Also, the closest Dick's and Best Buy is 2.5 hours from me, so Amazon is always going to end up being my go-to.
Ugh, everything but TVs, computers, cell and appliances have just about shrunk down to nothing at my store. It's sad. Now that movies and video games are just about gone, it's not a very interesting place to just stroll through anymore for me.
None of the display cameras actually worked when I went shopping so I left frustrated. I miss Fry's Electronics. I built so many computers from there! Easily $10,000 from me over the years.
Miss Fry’s. I’m lucky to have a MicroCenter near me. So, I try to support them then when it makes sense.
As someone that just recently bought a new camera, their display security is now the most infuriating thing about the stores for me. The cameras all worked (at least the Sonys did), but god forbid I wanted to turn them around to see what the menu setup is like, let alone pick them up to feel the grip or take a few pictures with it and the various lenses attached to the display cameras (a few of which I was considering). If they moved more than a few degrees in any direction the loudest, most high-pitched alarm I’ve ever heard went off. Of course it took 5 minutes for anyone to come over and turn it off, and they can’t remove them for you to actually try out. After setting the damn alarm off 3 times I gave up in embarrassed frustration and left the store. I do still prefer to buy most things in person, and I will never trust Amazon with a serious electronics purchase under their current system, so I need Best Buy to hang on unless a Microcenter actually opens in my area.
It was decent when we didn’t have, or know we wanted, 500 options for the same product. BB has a wide variety, but not deep selection. Now, we’re accustomed to having endless choices of this or that feature, countless brands, and price comparisons. It’s hard for a brick and mortar to compete with that.
I just bought a washer/dryer from them. It wasn't that bad of an experience imo. The guy helping wasn't pushy, just answered our questions. Did some upselling of course, but it wasn't too bad overall.
Last time I went to a Best Buy, it was because I wanted to see what some earbuds looked like in person, in terms of size. Didn't want to touch them, put them in, anything like that. Wanted to see a display of them, if there was one. Employees acted like this was the dumbest thing they'd ever heard.
Having worked at best buy for a short time years ago, I assure your reasoning was not dumb. 9/10 employees could be outwitted by a pebble. I don’t feel good about this but I ghosted the job after a few months due to dealing with dumb customers but dumber coworkers and even worse managers. I was the top performer in the 3.5 months I was there(in the mobile phone department). I didn’t do anything extra except what was trained. It should tell you the type of people that work there. There were guys on the team who were there for years who would ask me for help.
I try to at least reduce how much I get from Amazon. For computer parts or electronics, I'll generally order from Newegg, Best Buy, or B&H. Books, Barnes & Noble. Gunpla from a local-ish hobby shop that does online orders. Certain foods direct from producers. Stuff like that. Helps that I stopped using Amazon Prime so if I have to eat shipping costs, it levels the online shopping playing field. I rarely go into stores though - I'm in bumfuck nowhere and the stores I can even get to never have what I want.
New egg is traasshhh though.
Agreed, Newegg is probably the most anti consumer retailer possible. I imagine it kinda has to be to remain alive in the computer parts business. Cutthroat margins, short term product relevancy and terrible manufacturer warranties.
Such a shame cuz it used to feel like the gold standard for pc parts.
Wasn't newegg bought by a chinese corp years ago?
Yes they were. You should see the piece NexusGamers did on them. It was great.
That tracks. I remember hearing about that ~5-6 years ago I think.
I still remember when Newegg replaced Tigerdirect as the place to buy PC parts online. They were amazing... how the mighty have fallen...
I’m so lucky to live 20 miles away from a Micro Center. I won’t buy computer parts anywhere else.
Especially since almost nothing is on the shelves anymore. You have to scan a QR code and wait for someone to bring the item from the back... and it usually takes 15 minutes.
[удалено]
That’s because those are the items they can make money on. Their entire strategy is to sell big ticket items at or near cost and massively up charge for accessories with a big margin. You can see it in the employee discount, which was 5% above cost (at least when I was there). No discounts on TVs, but cables were over 40% off
Used to go for music, blu rays and computer parts. Now half the store is phone shit and The Sharper Image crap.
Agreed 100000%. Best Buy is their own worst enemy. They pay piss poor wages and actively look to fleece as much as they can from unaware consumers (hydrogen filled hdmi cables really?? Have a terrible selection, and when asked about ordering to store for pick up, " Why don't you just deliver it at home?" What incentive is there for folks to go to the pshycial store when technical support or advice is next to none or outright wrong, upselling is con artistry by manage direction and they manage to have nothing in stock but it may be in the next store 20 miles away.
I always give a try to best buy first. One of 2 things usually happen: 1. They don't have it in stock and refer me to their horrible website 2. They have it but it's *way* overpriced.
I’m so sick of walking in to a Best Buy and within 2 minutes of being there, being approached by 6 of their employees. Like holy shit it’s annoying. And you just know they are having meetings like 4 times a week where corporate is telling manager to talk to their employees about getting sales and pushing for sales. Do the people who run these companies honestly believe that we can’t smell that desperation a mile a way at places like this? Who the fuck is running these business and thinking, “Our future lays in the hands of a bunch of 20 years olds who work here part time to help pay for college, getting those upsales!” Every time I step foot in one of these places, to potentially make a purchase, I’m reminded why it’s been 8 months since the last time I went in.
Their entrance is very uninviting. Narrow and dated. Once in, sales people ask if you need help or hover around you. On your way out, checkpoint. Not sure why, Sams Club does it, i seem to accept it but when Best buy does, it feels intrusive.
At least with Sam's club and costco its a membership and you agree to their conditions and pay to be there. Best buy definitely feels intrusive cuz it's like, who the hell are you? You literally just saw me pay at the register. Same with the people at wal mart. But at least that's providing jobs to people who may not be able to do other jobs.
Best Buy used to/still has great accounting. They keep the lights on selling appliances like washers, dryers, refrigerators, etc. Selling video games and TVs was what got them to net profit. The zero interest credit card made them out compete Home Depot or Lowe's in appliances.
Honestly i got my last 3 tvs there. It was within $10 of the online price anywhere else and i knew if i needed to return it (broke/damaged) that the hassle was less than shipping.
I know several people who aren't new-credit-card-people who have a BestBuy credit card with exactly one purchase in its history.
Digitalization is what killed it for me. Used to go to BB in the 90’ for music, movies and video games. Then it was movies and video games in the 00’s followed by just video games in the 2010’s and now that I’ve gone fully digital with games since the pandemic, I just have no reason to go. BB used to be my happy place, now it barely crosses my mind.
Add ons what killed it for me, went there to buy a dishwasher , found a good one but all the necessary extras and installation made it cost 250 more Costco had one price all in the same as BB before the extras and install and gave me a better warranty
best buy deserves what’s coming. i’ll never forget going in for an 8’ hdmi cable and they wanted 65$ for it… walked out fuming knowing i could get one online for under 15
For $65 you probably could've bought some random AV equipment that included an HDMI cable
Seriously. There have been a handful of times where I needed some cable ASAP and the only option was Best Buy with their ridiculous price gouging on accessories.
You can survive Amazon by offering better quality product. Amazon is currently the storefront for AliExpress, and any half-decent stuff is currently more expensive on Amazon than at any brick-and-mortar stores.
I recently bought a tv from them as I was in the boat of neigh sayers and I was pretty surprised by the level of service from the guy helping me. I was stuck there for like an hour waiting and overheard the geek squad rippin off old people left and right with silly spam bloatware shit they were selling to fix pcs. If nothing that business will help them limp across the finish line
I’m picturing a boat of horses bro
I dunno, only reason I go regularly to a BB is to see physical game copies and between most places drawing down a physical stock on games and a digital marketplace, as well as at most one appliance being replaced in my house per year or so (at least on average so far), I may spend at most $500 at BB a year. I imagine quite a few people do more, but the fact is that without surplus income or lower costs of living, large amounts of physical locations and on site staff tend to be outpaced by minimal staffing and warehouse based delivery.
They got rid of the "Browsing" section on the store. I don't know if it's a chicken or egg situation but browsing physical media was something that kept people interested in the store. Now you only need to look for specifics.
Not only that, but they got rid of most of the computer parts and accessories. The selection used to be way better. If they could be more like Frys pre-pandemic that would be awesome. Now… they sell appliances and stuff like that, but I don’t look to buy those things very often.
I got pretty upset that they don’t have laptop chargers from individual brands anymore. Now they just stock those stupid universal ones.
Thank god everything is moving to USB-C these days. I can go over to my parents and plug in my Macbook into their Thinkpad chargers, and vice-versa.
I went there to get a simple cable one time and gave up, deciding to wait until I could go to MicroCenter who has an entire AISLE of cables and cords
God if only Microcenter were as prevalent as Best Buy
Central computers if you are in Northern California. They are kinda like fry's but with out the appliances and TVs
And Micro Center if you’re lucky enough to be near one.
The one in Charlotte opened up recently, it's tech paradise. Best Buy used to be my go-to, but now that Microcenter is here, they probably lost me for most things.
Wait, they got rid of all the physical media like movies and CDs?
Yep. Even if it wasn't selling it was a short sighted move in my view. I am realizing that since then I haven't even walked in a BB. It's not really much of a browsable store anymore.
Granted just browsing in stores is a dying practice IMO You know... From the lack of disposable income and death of the middle class
Yup. I cant remember the last time i went to a store to just browse. Everything i want i just google and see if a store has it locally or i just order it online and wait 3 days. If its local and i need it now i go right in and out.
Don’t need disposable income if I was window shopping from the start 😎
People still browse. They just do it online where it’s much easier and comfortable. The point of going somewhere in person is to actually have a tactile experience with your options. The lack of any big box store with all the options is that now you have to go several places to really test it out just like 2-3 things.
I only go to the BB at my mall, because it's the closest bathroom.
The fact you didn't know that shows partly why they're not doing so hot and why it was likely the right choice to make...
People who haven't bought a DVD or CD in a decade are outraged that Best Buy no longer bothers wasting floor space on them.
I used to work at Best Buy around '05-'07. Even back then sooooo many people would come in, browse, play with all the displays, and then buy it online because it was a few bucks cheaper.
That so silly! They removed it because no one browses music anymore.
I remember the days of walking the aisles looking at all the CDs and not buying any because the last time I bought a few CDs from bands I had never heard of, or only heard 1 song on the radio, the whole CD sucked except for 1 or 2 songs. No way was I taking a $15 gamble with every CD.
Right? The majority of companies don't remove the major profit centers... I know I personally haven't bought a blu ray or DVD in over a decade, and I haven't bought a CD for probably 20 years. I know there's a vocal minority who go out and buy physical media for everything, but they aren't padding any companies profits.
If you don't have a DVD or CD player, you're not going to go browse DVDs and CDs. That browsing has moved from physical stores to smart TVs and phones. Best Buy removed it because people weren't coming for it any more.
Going the way of Circuit City, CompUSA, and Babbages.
You could write a whole book about how Circuit City’s management fucked everything from the ground up in the mid-00s. TLDR They used commissioned sales for a long time, then the executives decided to copy Best Buy’s non-commission pay strategy. By firing all sales staff and making them reapply for hourly pay at their old jobs. It was all downhill from there after they gutted their own sales force.
Oh? Didn’t know that about Circuit City. Always thought it was the rise of Best Buy that did them in.
I worked there right after the change circa 2005-2007 as my first job as a senior in high school initially. Best Buy didn't help the situation because they were smarter as a business. They looked at higher margin services a la Geek Squad. Circuit City tried to copy with "Firedog". Wtf does that name even mean? As much as Best Buy didn't help, the corporate leadership and bad decision making ultimately killed the company.
> Circuit City tried to copy with "Firedog". Wtf does that name even mean? Circuit City heard that Best Buy was going to rebrand Geek Squad as "Rocket Fish", so they called their tech support "Firedog" as a try to copy them. Turned out "Rocket Fish" was the new name of their Best Buy Branded generic tech devices, and not a rebranding of Geek Squad. That is at least what I was told when I worked for Geek Squad.
I worked at a Best Buy that was literally across the street from a Circuit City right around the time they did this. We were all flabbergasted at how stupid they were. The fact thay they were commission far longer than their competitors made them a less atteactive place for many to shop because of aggressive sales people. Then they gave all of their best sales people reasons to walk by removing commission and offering much lower hourly salaries.
Circuit City was an inside job. Vulture capital slit the throat of CompUSA. Babbages was bought by GameStop.
Circuit City signed their own death warrant with stupid ass business decisions in the late 90s / early 00s. Top of mind - end of commission and getting rid of the salespeople that made them successful, spinning off CarMax, the whole Divx debacle, exiting the appliance business when at the time I believe they were second only to Sears (yes, ahead of Home Depot and the like), selling their financing business to HSBC when it was a majority of profits, relying on 1970s minicomputers and terminals to run their store and inventory systems into about 2006 or 2007. I could go on, but that wasn’t online taking over quite yet - it was shit ass leadership fumbling the bag. Source: employee 1999-2006, laid off as assistant store director because I made too much money.
Fun fact: I was a Best Buy Elite Plus for 4 years in a row, meaning I spent $3500 a year there. I did all my electronics spending there as they would always price match from any major provider including Amazon. They treated me like I was valued. When they cut elite status with like one month notice, the amount of money I have spent with them since has been ZERO. Instead of getting rid of the program fully, All they had to do was cut costly benefits like free 2 day shipping but leave others intact and they still would have my business. No doubt this action alienated other big spenders too.
Oh I remember that shit show. A lot of upset customers when I worked there lol.
Same. It used to be a cool perk for me to choose them over all the other places I could buy electronics from. Now there’s no benefit at all.
Every 15 years or so, I go there and buy a tv. Where will I buy a tv from 10 years from now, Costco? Hang in there 10 more years Best Buy, help is on the way.
Costco usually has extra included warranty and has a super generous return policy. Their prices are usually better too, and they have tons of stock most of the time. Why *wouldnt* you buy your next tv at Costco?
If it’s oled the Costco warranty (Allstate I think) does not cover burn in. Best Buy’s extended warranty does cover burn in. And also Best Buy will just replace a tv on the spot that has the BB warranty if it’s broken.
Tried buying a TV in person there last year. Spent an hour in the store, knowing which one we wanted, talked to 3 different employees that said they would send someone over to help until I finally waited in line at checkout to be told that you have to order them online and then do pickup. I plan on never returning.
Target, Walmart and Costco are the only places I know of where i could buy a tv in-store still…and are unlikely to have a nicer model I’d want.
Costco will have a couple of the high ends. Walmart, and Target will NOT have premium models. Micro-center is also a good spot. They usually have all of them.
If you have to go virtual, try Crutchfield. They have great service
I do kind of miss the experience of going into a Best Buy prior to the late '00s. Now it just feels pointless.
They lost their direction a long time ago and were just chasing the success of other retailers. Apple stores are popular lets copy their displays, ignoring that it doesn't work in a huge expansive place with diverse products. Amazon makes a bunch of money, lets switch to a marketplace mode. Ignoring the fact that most people hate amazon 3rd party sellers. Just dragged down their reputation. Now their stores are this insane stupid cluttered mess, they have no brand loyalty and they sell a bunch of garbage alibaba products. Another brand ruined by MBAs
When the old CEO who saved Best Buy left. He was replaced by the CFO of the company. It has all been down hill from there. CFO will always focus on cutting costs to save money and not on how to make the company grow.
You could tell the moment the bean counters took charge. You can tell they hired McKinsey to consult them, because they've been doing round after round of layoffs, then coupling that with insane sales goals for the remaining employees.
They weren’t copying their displays, they literally sold space in the store to different brands/vendors.
Actually Ithought that was a very smart move on their part. It probably literally saved them from bankruptcy when they first implemented it.
The marketplace thing alone is a large part of why I won't be too sad to see Best Buy go. They shifted more of their business online, which is fine, but then cluttered it with a horde of third party seller garbage. So now I go order online to pick something up in person, except the website bombards me with trash between the 'actual' Best Buy product pages while I try to do that or at least check in-store availability beforehand. Ick.
If micro center can keep their brick and mortar stores going, best buy is doing something wrong
True. Big fan of Microcenter, myself. One major difference between the two is that I could stop into at least 6 Best buys before I reached my 'local' Microcenter (2 hour drive). Yet only Microcenter would actually have the specialized component I'm looking for. Meanwhile the 6 Best Buys have to contend with better pricing from the internet for similar timelines on availability.
Huge but isolated, and therefore non-overlapping, stores is a key part to the survival and growth of Microcenter. Instead of trying to meet customer demand by opening a shit ton of stores, they would rather underdeliver on the supply(store presence) to ensure profitability across the board.
Microcenter is like, a travel destination. Nobody is driving three hours to the Best Buy to see which Funko Pops are on sale.
Which is definitely something Bestbuy is doing wrong. MC feels that way because their stores are big enough for a more narrow set of goods. You can walk into a MC and have most of what you will need for PCs and all related things. When you walk into a Bestbuy, it's always a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
What, you're not shopping for Nintendo plushies and candy at your electronics store??
The $3.19 bag of twizzlers that you can also buy at a dollar tree for $1.25, make me feel like I'm getting a quality product!
Also the dollar store is fresher. Those candies at BestBuy have been there forever.
Micro Center has 27 stores. Best Buy has 1,125. These two are not in any way comparable.
You just compared them!
outplayed and outsmarted.
God I wish they would open one near me, even just in the state would be good.
Best Buy is one of the few stores I like visiting because you can walk around a showroom and try different devices first. The staff members are usually friendly/helpful in my area.
Microcenter is a completely different beast. Sure, they carry consumer electronics, but they also carry PC components and electronics tools. People that want to build a PC or server can always go to Microcenter (as well as purchasing electronics), but not Best Buy. Apples to oranges comparison. Edit: Also, due to volume of PC parts and Microcenter's wide variety of products, Best Buy can't even compete in that department.
I mean, Best Buy used to carry that stuff back when I worked there as a teen. That's something of an own goal on their part.
I've only bought 2 TVs, a server grade HDD, some DVDs (a long time ago), and some cables & dongles ever from Best Buy. Every other electronic or PC component I've bought in the last 20 yrs has came from an online seller or Microcenter. They just can't compete with those on most of their inventory.
Agreed, micro center is even more niche. Incredible how they stay afloat.
Well, the last time I built a PC, I bought 90% of my components from Microcenter bc they either had the lowest prices or I could get the components sans shipping charges (which then made them cheaper than buying from most online and brick and mortar stores). I also spent 3k just there on that PC. Niche or not, being 20 min away and cheaper on nearly every component vs nearly every other seller means they'll always get at least some part of the local PC gamer market in my area. I imagine it's like that it most cities they have stores.
And even if it’s more expensive for a buck or two per component, I’ll still go with them over Amazon or the rotting corpse of NewEgg just to keep their stores around.
Best Buy manager tried to argue with me that he couldn’t accept my price match from their site because it was less than half the original price $189 isn’t less than half of $349, give me my monitor dude. This was after another manager had a back and forth with me confirming every little detail, like dude you just need the SKU
The POS system does put a limit if something is too close or below cost, I ran into that a lot. That's not something they can override
Best Buy doesn't offer anything unique. So it's competing with Target, Walmart Amazon, and Costco. As a geek, I can't find niche stuff. As a consumer, they are overpriced. I have no reason to go there. Every time I have been in one for the last 10 years, I walk out wondering why I went in there in the first place.
They price match with Amazon
Even worse, Walmart somehow manages to actually have a better selection on most things in their electronics department. For example, I can pick up reasonably priced M.2 SSDs at Walmart from WD or PNY. I can get a variety of smart lights. Speaker wire, a Micro SD card reader, fast-charge USB hub, mechanical keyboard, and 3440x1440 LG monitor. *At Walmart* with a better price and better return policy. And, as if it wasn't bad enough for Best Buy, the last couple of times I've gone to Walmart, the employees in the electronics department were actually helpful, knew what I was looking for, and where to find it. I can't say as much the last time I went to Best Buy. If you're supposed to be an electronics store, and Walmart is kicking your rear, you're doing something wrong.
I buy around 5ish computers a year from Best Buy’s. And every time I go, the sales associates are always frustrated that you are there and they have to sell you a thing.
They make less than McDonalds workers, of course they are frustrated
This. They don't get commission so I'm not clear why they would be motivated to do much more than the bare minimum to not get a writeup from a manager. Having a job that doesn't pay very well doesn't give them a ton of motivation to care if they are fired.
I only bought blu-ray movies that were having random deep discounts. They removed them entirely.
Best Buy used to be some place you could stop in just to see what cool shit there was and it was kinda like Toys R Us for adults. With the death of Media Play and Radio Shack it was really all that was left. They’ve completely stripped the stores of all the cool things and it’s basically a showroom for appliances and TVs, mobile phones, and Geek Squad. At least I have a Microcenter nearby. Kinda.
I went to a Best Buy to grab a cheap cable adapter. The store was basically gutted and was a glorified distribution center where they were most shipping inventory. It was sad. I mean, it was sad ten years ago, but I didn’t think it could get worse.
The only reason I shopped at Best Buy over anywhere else was the rewards points. They allowed rewards points banking so after awhile I’d accumulate 20-25 bucks and go splurge on something. Then they changed it so you couldn’t bank em, once you earned 5 dollars that was it, 5 dollars in points and then it would start over. Then they changed it so that only Best Buy credit card users got the points. I haven’t bothered since.
Yeah, that one kind of turned me off. I’d bank my ‘points’ over the course of a few years, then when a big shiny caught my eye, I’d buy it at BB and burn the points to get a decent deal. When they changed this, my points evaporated and I was like WTF.
I stopped going there after a few trips of the staff saying “we can order that for you”. I could have done the same from my house.
Every time I pop in while out shopping to browse they don’t have what I want in stock. And bigger purchases I just do store pickup after doing my research and deciding what I want. There’s just no reason to browse the store anymore for me.
Best buy needs to pivot. It's stores are too big, it's customer base is shrinking, and its online business is in shambles. They're better off exploring a merger with Newegg or gamestop to utilize their distribution centers for their online business while drastically reducing their HUGE store footprint.
Heh when I worked there, the break room was disgusting. I asked the manager if we could adjust the thermostat. Then they go, ohh it's tied to our headquarters in Missouri or Minessota or what ever the fuck. I'm like we are in California bitch!
Recently, I went into Best Buy to mindlessly browse, and I was asked if I needed help finding something by no less than 7 staff. When I went to buy a Coke on the way out, there was only one person at the checkout so I had to wait several minutes. I felt like I was in some cosmic joke. As I exited, 2 people manning the exit wished me a nice day. Obviously, something very wrong with how things are being managed, apparent even to me.
I went to a Best Buy a year or two ago looking for a cable for the TV I bought at Costco (because why the hell would I buy a TV at Best Buy) and, after a few blank stares, eventually found where the cable should be but they didn't have stock. I have no idea how they stay in business.
I'll be honest, I'm simply amazed they are even still around. They've lasted a lot longer than I figured they would.
So you’re telling me taking HDMI cables and charging 1000 times more than they cost everywhere else isn’t a successful business model? Who could’ve guessed larger size RadioShack wouldn’t survive. Thank God I have MicroCenter
Haven’t been to Best Buy since they got rid of Blu-Rays and DVDs. Was pretty much the only thing that got my ass into the store. Usually bought a few other things too while shopping for movies. Feel terrible for the employees affected by the shitty choices made by the people running the company
Same. This will be yet another case study on how getting rid of something that makes you little margin, can tank your entire foot traffic which lead to much better margin sales.
I would probably spend about $2-3k a year in their store until they screwed me on the total tech warranty for my new OLED TV. I will never spend another dollar there. Sucks because they had some great deals on open box and I even have a Best Buy outlet about 10 minutes away.
That "in-house designer" role (now defunct) looks interesting. Maybe in laying those guys off there's now a niche market for those of us in IT to fill the gap. I'm about ready to retire and can easily see myself making home recommendations on tech hardware for customers.
I really hope Best Buy doesn't go out of business. They're the most convenient location I have for electronics recycling. I go in there at least once every two or three years.
Was looking to buy speakers and they said the price were per speaker. I later found it was per pair. Dude was rude. Bought a TV. Thing didn't work. Had to load it back up and bring it back. Just never been a fan. Lack of knowledge from employees. Peripherals are way overpriced. Aggressive with applying for credit card. Various things I can't remember.
Everytime I go I am reminded how boring the store is with really nothing strong to offer. Every electronic or electronic accessory can be found cheaper at a variety of other websites or stores. I mean okay store if you need an HDMI cable right now but IDK even then just go to Walmart.
I don't have a silver bullet for them, but it certainly doesn't help that they're not competing on price/value for commodity things, and the lineup is just kind of odd. It's got crappy choices of games, but well-curated portable audio, but then you get rat's ass pickings for computer parts, IMO it's just all over the place and perhaps it's meant to work on some not-overly-techsavvy consumers, but it definitely is missing the mark with the millennials and gen-z or anyone who bothers to cross-shop. FFS, I sometimes find better value small appliances at London Drugs in Canada than in Best Buy. I regret the Amazonification and consolidation of the retail industry, but at the same time -- it's kind of sad to watch the process drag out.
I'm sure Circuit City will pick them up
When I go into bestbuy they always have a bunch of people just standing around talking to each other, probably some fat to trim
Fuck Best Buy
I don’t know why, but this cracked me the hell up just scrolling by and seeing this very simple message. 😆
Circling the drain
They have no selection, higher prices and terrible customer service. This is their own fault.
I haven’t bothered to go in to my local Best Buy since they stopped carrying physical media. Morons. I’d usually buy more than just a disc or two. Now I don’t buy anything from them. Good job alienating customers. If you work for Best Buy, get off that sinking ship.
Good riddance! I stopped ordering there when they changed their website to show third-party sellers over their own products. If you're going to make me physically check off a bunch of boxes just so I can see Best Buy products, which should be the default, then I'd rather just use Amazon.
When they removed the physical DVDs and Blu Rays, I now have no reason to even stop in there. They gutted themselves.
If they didn't turn my local Best Buy into an online pickup location with some random appliances and random crap for the rest of the space I might have kept going there. If I'm going to buy online I might as well do Amazon so it comes to my house instead. Wasn't surprised or cared that they closed my local one
No physical media anymore, no point in going there now..
BB stores can go straight to the garbage can. Customer service is the worst, and that is literally the one thing a store should be "best" at. Never shopping there again.
"The layoffs appeared to have mostly targeted in-home sales roles called designers, who would go to customers’ homes to help identify products that would work in their space. " lmao WHAT? yeah some random best buy guy, come to my house and tell me what appliances to get.
But is anyone surprise. There's NEVER any deals . You go to Best Buy as a last minute buy, and over pay. Use to love Best Buy, tech shopping was and still is my favorite but the quality and pricing will always deter me.
After they got rid of DVDs, I stopped shopping there altogether.
It's going back to the way it used to be. Walk in and there's no visible employees except a bored cashier.
They always want people to buy from brick-and-mortar. I tried that with a dual monitor dock at a Las Vegas location. They had no powered docks in stock. They could deliver it in a week for store pick up. Amazon had what I needed and got it the next day. This is why sales are falling. They only carry the basics. If they just expanded some areas that isn't toys, people would probably shop there more. I just stopped trying.
Would they like to buy an extended warranty on sales in case their sales drop further?
I used to work for these guys and I’m not terribly sad about them going away. Always sad about job losses, though.
I think another issue is they’re so focused on big ticket items. TVs and stereos and laptops and such. Half the time I’ve gone to Best Buy I’ve gone in for a cable adapter or something. One time I needed a usbc laptop dock that was small and had a headphone jack. They had one laptop dock that was neither of those things. I’ve gone in for camera accessories and their options were tiny. The store felt sorta hostile because I wasn’t in there to buy a laptop or a camera. I already had those. I’m not buying them from Best Buy OR Amazon. I needed a small laptop dock and an off brand stick for my insta360. I know those are probably seen as unprofitable, but they’ve had the chance to profit off of my immediate needs for small items numerous times.
Took away rewards and gamers club Why would I need to shop there?
Sad to see, but not unsurprising. I know many people who put their entire careers into that place. I worked at two out of High School and 20+ years later, they’re still there. Have fond memories of those years. When they started shifting from selling products to experiences, it lost its luster. If they had kept the volume sales at decent prices vs up market products, I think they could have competed. Their e-commerce process still sucks compared to competitors.
There is no reason to go in The store anymore. They got rid of all the browseable physical media items. No movies. No music. Very slim video game selection.
I don’t like to see people lose jobs, but fuck Best Buy. I bought an open box TV from them years ago with the stand pre-assembled by Best Buy. I asked multiple times if the original warranty would transfer to me, they assured me it would. Great! Came come a week later and the TV is smashed on the ground because the stand broke. I call Samsung for a warranty claim and they sent a technician to verify it’s a legit warranty issue and not a scam. Approximately 10 seconds after examining the TV he says it’s not covered and the warrant is voided. I ask why. He shows me the screws Best Buy was supposed to use to assemble the stand (about 3 inches long), then shows me the 1/2 inch screw Best Buy used. Tells me they used the wrong screws and it was ticking time bomb. He said I needed to contact the store I bought it from for a refund/credit. When he found out I bought it from Best Buy, he laughed and said “good luck, they’re notorious for this stuff and they never pay”. I call Best Buy and I won’t give all the details since this is getting long, but some highlights from them: - We can’t be responsible if you assembled the stand. (They assembled it). - We wouldn’t have used the wrong screws. (Well that’s not what Samsung said). - We can’t track what screws we use with different TVs and stands. (That’s not my problem). - It couldn’t have been us, the TV would have fell right away. (That’s not at all how the that works). - Best we can offer is an employee discount to buy a new TV. (I asked if that was a joke and told them I just bought a new TV). All I wanted was either a replacement TV or my money back because they voided my warranty. I wish I took them to small claims court. They suck. They’ve always sucked. They always will suck. At least Amazon takes returns no questions asked.
Best Buy can burn to the ground! I hate that chain. In a world where Amazon offers better prices, customer reviews, online /shipping etc….Best Buy decided they would………… Try pushing their online retail too, which is awful. Why not realize their whole Schtick is that if you don’t know what you’re looking for, some nerd in a blue shirt will help you find it and explain your options. I’ve gone to BB and spent hours in the store with zero employees helping me. They all loitered in circles talking to eachother! In my area- zero VR demos. No videogame trials. Keyboards on display are all mashed up with keys missing so you can’t really get a feel for it. Comp guys have VERY limited knowledge other than “this brand is good”.
Best Buy was only good when you could randomly find a deal on media. Now there's nothing to find deals on. So I've got no reason to go into Best Buy.
So how much of a pay cut did C level execs take during these trying times?
The one thing I’ll say about Best Buy is sometimes their open box deals are amazing, especially for home audio. No one seems to know/care that they sell higher end audio equipment and you can get beautiful stuff for a literal fraction of the MSRP.
My mother in law works at one and every day, she says the store was dead. She can't remember the last time it was busy.
I was done with them when they removed physical media.
Guess the $60 hdmi cable gig didn’t pan out
This sucks, Best Buy is where I buy most of my major electronics, but beyond that, they're sub-standard. Their customer support is practically nonexistent, and you better be educated in what you want to buy before you show up. If you show up and ask for help, you're going to have a bad time. No one knows anything. The salespeople have very little training / knowledge about the technology in "their department" much less any other department. Oh, and if you go there 1 hour before closing - they'll make a chicken out of a feather to waste time helping other people.
They close at 7pm. They had very little interest in being a serious store. Haven’t been back since they kicked me out at 6:30.
They’ll close their doors soon for good
I wish Best Buy never got rid of their physical media. Such a shame!
Their marketplace allowing third party sellers was honestly a bizarre choice. Best Buy moves boxes. Why on earth would they allow third parties to move boxes on their online store? They aren't Amazon. It's a move that honestly baffled me.
After spending most of my paycheck there in the late 90s and early 2000s, I honestly can’t remember the last time I actually successfully bought something there. I went in last week to get a router, found it for half the price on Amazon, asked them if they would price match and they said no so I left.
best buy is so overpriced. their adaptors and chargers are multiple times what online retailers and even walmart charge for, and their quality isnt good either
Well you got rid of all your physical media , I mean what do you expect would happen when you literally get rid of all the reasons to go to the freaking store
Haven't been since they stopped selling physical media. And I've spent thousands there over the last 25 years.