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Unfortunately I live in an apartment complex with poor office hours that require I take time off work to receive an online delivery. I am sure there are others out there like me, plus once you pay for overnight shipping it's as expensive if not moreso than a brick and mortar store. Not saying online shopping is bad and there are many advantaged to it I just don't want there to be no brick and mortar stores left.
I can't remember the last time I even shopped at Best Buy. The last time I made an expensive purchase there was almost 10 years ago when I bought a P3 laptop. Salesguy bugged me about getting a warranty for it which I declined and he wasn't going to even sell it to me without it! Needless to say I went elsewhere.
The only time I go to BB now is to occasionally buy a movie or a game guide, but nothing else. Most of my computer shopping comes from Newegg and I go to Amazon for most of my other stuff. If BB did finally go under as compared to Circuit City I surely wouldn't miss them. No-nothing employees and being corralled like cattle in the checkout line--nah I won't miss them.
Amazon Prime trumps Best Buy. Better prices, wider selection, better availability, and it's on my porch in two days.
Amazon and Newegg don't try to upsell you to $60 HDMI cables that don't work any better than a $5 HDMI cable. They don't try to sell you a "scratch protection warranty" on a game disc for $5.00 They just sell you what you want, and they let you see reviewer comments from others who have brought the item so you have a better idea whether you are making a good choice or not.
They scam novices on things like computer "optimization". They charge you an "optional" set up fee to install the OS on their computers, but if you want to install it yourself and save the money on the fee you'll discover that they do this to all of their machines so they can tack on the fee. They get the bulk of their profits by scamming their customers into dubious warranty programs, protection plans and needlessly expensive products.
They can't die soon enough as far as I'm concerned. I'll only miss having a physical showroom to look at the items that I'm going to buy on Amazon or Newegg anyway.
As far as I know Amazon can't install a flatscreen TV on your bedroom wall, like the guys from Best Buy did for us.
Also, there were a few times I wanted something immediately, not in a couple of days.
Those were the two cases I can think of where Best Buy was the choice rather than Amazon (or any other online source).
There is one word that describes both Circuit City and BestBuy best: incompetence. Several years ago, I went into a Circuit City to buy a DVD player on sale--I knew exactly what I wanted and had the printed advertised price with me. It took over an hour and no less than 4 of their likely otherwise unemployable morons to get me checked out--including a manager who obviously knew nothing about either personnel management or proper customer service. Some months later, I went to another Circuit City and had nearly an identical experience. I knew right then that Circuit City would go under sooner or later, and they did.
BestBuy isn't much better. The couple of times that I've been in their stores I've pretty much seen the same idiocy from their hired help. Compared to the online retailers like Amazon, their prices are not very competitive, either.
On the other side of the coin, I've done business with Amazon for years, and have had a problem with an order only twice--both times their customer service people were exemplary and had the problem corrected immediately.
Personally, I think most of the "big boxes" are going to be dead within a few years. First, they will be inconvenient as hell when fuel is $5 or more a gallon. Second, their "brick and mortar" overhead costs move in lockstep with energy costs. Finally, the online retailers incur really no more shipping costs to the customer than do the brick and mortar retailers and the online retailers avoid other huge overhead costs that the big box stores can not avoid. One does have to wonder, though, where all those bubbleheads "working" in those big boxes like BestBuy are going to get jobs when those stores are gone--our economy has transcended, probably permanently, its ability to suffer fools lightly.
As far as I know Amazon can't install a flatscreen TV on your bedroom wall, like the guys from Best Buy did for us.
Also, there were a few times I wanted something immediately, not in a couple of days.
Those were the two cases I can think of where Best Buy was the choice rather than Amazon (or any other online source).
Exactly. Big ticket items like TVs don't have much benefit to ordering online because the shipping overrides the cost savings plus Amazon doesnt offer installation. Plus there are always instances where something is needed immediately. Until online retailers offer same day delivery there will always be a need for brick and mortar stores.
I used to have pretty lousy experiences the few times I went to Circuit City. I remember once I was looking to buy a mid level home theater subwoofer. The guy I found basically just showed me the room and said, "Here they are", and left. No attempt to sell or demo anything.
Their death knell was cutting their experienced commissioned sales people and going to all hourly help. There was no incentive to provide good customer service anymore.
Most of the time when I've gone to Best Buy, my experiences have been pretty good. They were the only retailer in the area that had the model of plasma TV I wanted a couple years ago, for example. They still try to sell you the stupid warranties and extra crap, but a simple "No thanks," shuts that down.
Last time I ordered on Newegg they offered the warranty as well so it's not like that's exclusive to brick and mortar retail. Does anybody think the reason for the decline of electronics stores is that there isn't as much demand for traditional items rather than everybody moving to online shopping? CDs have pretty much gone the way of the Dodo and PCs last much longer than they once did so there isn't the bi-yearly upgrade cycle there used to be. A PC bought in 2002 can do almost everything required today due to the fact more and more has become web based. Of course eggheads buy exclusively online but they always did. For some reason I don't think stores like Best Buy ever really marketed to the "intellectual elite" which drives Amazon and Newegg. CompUSA did which is why they didn't make it.
Why anyone wastes their time fighting traffic, parking, crowds, waiting in line, lousy customer service, pushy salesman with their stupid service plans that are a rip off is beyond me.
Stay at home in your clothes, watching Comedy Central or ESPN, and save yourself some peace of mind.
Best Buy is my least favorite retail store of all time. I cannot tell you a single pleasant experience I have had at the store except when they first opened. They honeymoon ended a long time ago.
The last time I tried to buy something at Best Buy was a laptop PC. Now I have been using PCs since 1983 so I know a little bit about them. I asked the sales associate some questions and it became very obvious she didn't have a clue. In the end, she pointed me to the Best Buy web site to get the answers I wanted. So, less than impressed, I left the store.
I then went to the Apple store where a kid in a T-shirt (official Apple T-shirt) spent 90 minutes with me answering my questions. There were a couple he couldn't answer so he called over the manager who could. Not only did I get answers but they showed me how it worked on a Mac. These kids really knew their stuff and I walked out of there with a Mac Book (I am now fully converted to Macs).
There is a reason Apple are doing well and Best Buy are not.
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