Best Buy Announces Plans to Close 50 U.S. Stores

[JMcEntegart]

Also plans a reduction of approximately 400 positions in corporate and support divisions.

Best Buy Announces Plans to Close 50 U.S. Stores : Read more

 

[outlw6669]

"We intend to invest some of these cost savings into offering new and improved customer experiences and competitive prices ---

If by 'improved customer experiences and competitive prices' you actually mean 'further padding the CEO's bonus', then yeah, way to go Best Buy...

 

[akopp21]

Customer experience will improve when they close all of their stores...

 

[JOSHSKORN]

They should've changed their name a long time ago. There's nothing "Best" about your "Buy" in a Best Buy. Usually I can find something cheaper online through Newegg, Walmart or Amazon.

 

[maximiza]

We are in economic recovery, didn't they get the memo!!!!

 

[shin0bi272]

Any word on what stores it will be? Also is best buy wholly owned or is it a subsidiary of another company? I know some big mexican telecom billionare bought out compUSA and then closed half the stores. Is this that type of thing or are they just finding it hard to bilk people out of an extra 10-25% for all their items that could be bought on the internet?

 

[alidan]

close 50 big stores, plan to open 100+ smaller ones

 

[guruofchem]

Best Buy trying to improve customer service is a bit like Jeffrey Dahmer expanding the vegetarian section of his cookbook...

akopp21 has the right of it, methinks...

 

[john_4]

[citation][nom]maximiza[/nom]We are in economic recovery, didn't they get the memo!!!![/citation]
LOL, good one, we will rid ourselves of the Socialist hack in the White House then we can start to repair the damage done by his crony capitalist regime. I would start by firing every last Socialist hack he hired and fire anyone they hired down the food chain, give DC a sorely needed enema.

 

[danwat1234]

I don't get how these electronic stores still exist. Doesn't everybody buy everything online? Newegg, Ebay, ...

 

[Mathos]

From my memory Best Buy was never any higher than any other Brick and Mortar electronics store. They do charge a premium for cables and accessories though. Things you need to remember about online etailers like amazon and newegg, most of their system is automated. Meaning they don't have a lot of employee's and sales staff they need to pay. Walmart forces their suppliers to supply them with merchandise at a cost they set, and most of the electronics they have aren't any cheaper than any other store. This is also why most of the crap you get from walmart these days is cheap second rate crap that breaks soon after.

 

[Mathos]

[citation][nom]danwat1234[/nom]I don't get how these electronic stores still exist. Doesn't everybody buy everything online? Newegg, Ebay, ...[/citation]

No, the average person who doesn't build their own computer, or isn't too internet savvy, or doesn't have reliable internet available still shops at brick and mortar, which tends to be the vast majority of computer shoppers.

 

[eddieroolz]

They do have a lot of stores that seem to be operating below capacity.

 

[techtre2003]

Yes, a lot of their stuff is overpriced, but if you catch some of their sale items you can get some good deals there. I've actually bought the last 6 laptops for my company at Best Buy. The same model at Newegg would have cost me about $200 more.

 

[gilbertfh]

I hope this isn't the beginning of the end for BB I like em.

 

[thegreatms]

[citation][nom]john_4[/nom]LOL, good one, we will rid ourselves of the Socialist hack in the White House then we can start to repair the damage done by his crony capitalist regime. I would start by firing every last Socialist hack he hired and fire anyone they hired down the food chain, give DC a sorely needed enema.[/citation]

wait...are they socialist or capitalist...

If you're going to bring politics into a tech site at least have your rantings be internally consistent.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

First Circuit City, next Best Buy!

 

[confish21]

BB is the worst. Ignorant sales people, expensive pricing, and a joke of a website where 75% of the reviews are fake.

Thx for the good news!

 

[blackened144]

I once walked into a BestBuy and they had a little card table in the front with some returned merchandise that was in less than perfect condition.. But on that table happened to be a Creative 5.1 speaker system for $19. Its only analog but Ive been rocking that thing for over 5 years now and I expect to continue to use it for a long long time.. Its the only decent "buy" Ive ever had while shopping there.. I only use it as a last resort for something I cant wait to be shipped.. When my parents finally got an HD tv they made the mistake of buying an HDMI, spdif, and component video cables there for over $300.. I made him return them and bought the same 3 cables online for $50 including shipping..

 

[IAmVortigaunt]

I think there can be value in brick and mortar electronics stores...it's just that Best Buy doesn't really add any of it. For example, one theoretical advantage of brick and mortar is that you could try out the gadgets. Doesn't really work when your "display" units are non-working dummy units and the laptops are all locked on the screensaver and/or missing keys and you can't listen to samples of the music and the video game consoles have broken controllers. This kind of stuff seems to be par for the course at Best Buys and it makes for a horrible retail experience. Add to that the fact that the sales people don't always know what they're talking about. There's really not a way they can compete with Amazon on price I don't think, so they should concentrate on delivering a solid retail experience, which, in my estimation, they fail miserably at.