Best Buy is closing 50 stores. How does that make you feel and what does it mean for our retail economy?

This is only the tip of the iceberg, my friend.

It’s not that big of a deal.

We tend to go to Best Buy to look at stuff, then order it for less money/no sales tax online…everything except for appliances that is. But with appliances, BB gets a run for their money when compared to Lowes.

Best Buy needs to change their business model, IMO. It’s out-dated.

Best Buy still exists? I’m not going to shed any tears about overpriced brick-and-mortar stores finally closing their doors.

@CaptainHarley Three weeks ago I was at Best Buy being offered a rewards card. I told them no because I had it before and it just made me buy stuff I don’t really need. ( Like you know, when I’m drunk ) Which made me think of this idea, what if Best Buy start selling San Miguel Beer on the premises-? Lol.

Matt Yglesias has said a lot about the death of retail, most of which strikes me as reasonable. I agree it’s probably the tip of the iceberg. Doesn’t necessarily mean retail won’t exist. Apple runs a successful set of retail stores—but these stores are different from traditional retail because they basically function as marketing loss-leaders to promote (not even necessarily sell) Apple-manufactured products. That setup might work for a few companies, but obviously won’t work for companies that specialize in retail itself.

Better enjoy what is out there today as it may not be there tomorrow, at least as we know it now.

I’m quite excited; Best Buy has always been the worst of the brick-and-mortar electronics stores. I refuse to shop there, anyway.

The retail economy has moved online.

I don’t shop there, but I do feel bad for all the employees who will be out of work when the stores close.

Given the customer service I have received in the past from them, it surprises me they are only closing 50.

I have had decent service in Best Buy actually. I dislike some of their competitors much more. My first question would be did they overexpand too fast? This happens to a lot of companies even during good economies.

They’ve grown too big for their britches and are trimming back a bit.

That, and they’ve got a thing or two to learn about customer service, like when they force customers to buy service plans in order to get iPads out of storage and making customers stand around over half an hour just to be allowed the chance to buy an iPod nano, then having the so-called “manager” tell the customer “we’re busy,” and then having the customer walk out and buy their nano at Target.

That our economy is still going down the proverbial shitter :/

They are a rip. My latest, xBox 360 controller was 20 bucks more at Best Buy, than on Amazon with free two day shipping.

Sorry Sally, at the end of the day, 20 dollars off a 60 dollar item is a huge deal.

They have great deals on flat screens if you can get one when it’s the last one in stock though. I go an LED TV for 1200 when they were still going for 2000+

But still, I coulda got the same deal on Amazon. Soooo, I don’t feel bad : / , even if they completely went away.

I’ve occasionally shopped there out of necessity, but I don’t care too much for them. They are way overpriced. Our retail economy will adapt as online retailers and superstores continue to fill the void left by Circuit City and Best Buy. Will this be a positive or negative development? Hard to say.

Positive. The teens that work at Best Buy can just as easily work at an order fulfillment facility such as is run by Amazon to send out products!!!

I buy on line sometimes but I really prefer to buy in a store. I like to support local business and as was said, local business provide jobs for local people. I also like to have a place to take something back to if it doesn’t work as advertised.

But yes it is a fact that stores must offer good service. It is why in a recent question I said I do tell the manager when I receive poor service from an employee. Poor service is one of the major complaints listed above for not shopping at this particular store. A store that still applies “The customer is always right” rule is a pleasure to shop in.

Not good. People don’t realize that down the road people are going to have to buy and find little items that they need in a hurry from your smaller stores and they won’t have a large selection and it will cost more. As these other chains decline than that means that Walmart will expand and sell second rate stuff that they bought for real cheap at higher prices. I’m not sure that people realize, but Walmart prices continue to climb as each competitor bites the dust. And most of the products they buy aren’t made in America either.
I wasn’t a big fan of Best Buy, but I still purchased things there time to time. I rather pay for quality than get ripped off buy junk.

It is an example of the natural way of economics. Businesses fail because they don’t adapt and they should fail. It’s not good, it’s not bad…it just is.

Ever hear of the phrase “too big to fail?”

Yup but I don’t think Best Buy falls into that category. Other retailers will fill their gap and gladly serve those customers.

@woodcutter

No, I definitely don’t agree with any business being “too big to fail.” That’s errant nonsense. If managers can’t run the business properly, then the government has no business trying to save it.

I don’t think all brick and mortar retail will dissappear. The thing is probably a lot of Best Buy customers are very comfortable buying a lot of the products they sell online, or get more specialized service from smaller stores that sell a narrower product line.

You can’t really compare Walmart to Best Buy, bevause the majority of products sold in Walmart are inexpensive and take little time to make a decision about. Toys, towels, groceries, and deoderant might seem unrelated, but they have quick decision making in common with little need for extensive product knowledge. Large kitchen appliances, TV’s, computers, and cameras might seem related, but are not simple daily purchases. The person will live with the item for a long time and spend significant money.

I would love to have a brick and mortar electronics store. But, one that a) is staffed by people who recieve some kind of training in electronics, and can help me pick out what I need beyond color choice, b) has a good and diverse selection (including brand, features, and pricing), c) sells smaller parts and accessories at reasonable prices (like Radioshack used to do), and d) doesn’t have an ambiguous 15% restocking fee that might apply to refrigerators (reasonable) but also might apply to headphones (less reasonable). It was rough for me when Circuit City went out of business, but Best Buy, I shed no tears over.

I’ve never walked into a Best Buy. I hate that kind of store. If I need electronics I want to go where people know what they are talking about. I’ve always bought stuff online after I do my own research or locally at a locally owned store. I’m fanatical in this way. I went into a Circuit City before the digital change for broadcast networks took place and had to educate the sales people in the TV department about it.