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Good

5 (10%)

OK / Average

10 (20%)

Not too good

18 (36%)

Not good at all

11 (22%)

Don't shop there, don't have an opinion

5 (10%)

No stores nearby

1 (2%)

Total Members Voted: 50

[JimH]

Best Buy's CEO resigned this week, but they also let about 400 people go, and a friend of mine was among them.  I asked him how often they ask their customers what they think.  He said "Probably not often enough."

Dick Schulze, the founder, is back in the day to day operations there.  He's done a great job over the years, in my opinion.  I still shop at store #3.

Edit: There is a similar poll on Amazon also.

[MrC]

When I'd leave a Circuit City, I would feel the urge to shower.  After leaving Best Buy, only a mild sponging.

Best Buy is a bit confusing to me.  You can buy fairly expensive HiFi stuff adjacent to a washer-dryer, or a cheap tricycle.  It's like they hijacked a truck, and were selling the contents, dents and all.  

And then there's all the phone junk.

[Magic_Randy]

I think they are basically OK. They are one of the few brick and mortar chains I buy from.

I believe they suffer from many buyers shopping at BB so they can feel and touch the product, but the actual purchases are done online through Amazon or whatever. So they end up with all the costs of the brick and mortar model without enjoying the full benefit of sales. To deal with this they need to focus on the appropriate product lines and ensure they are contributing enough value to counteract the urge to window shop at BB and purchase online from someone else.

[jgreen]

I was very impressed by the store roll-out they did, in their expansion phase (of course that was years ago).  They put a lot of competing big-box electronics retailers out of business.  It seemed to me they were holding ground, or maybe up until recently.

Retail is a very tough game, because the lenders favor the newest kid and will back him with capital to go after "established" territories held by aging stores.

For those that think they look like a hijacked-truck bazaar, take a walk into a Fry's. 

[Matt]

Best Buy is pleasant enough, but I think Amazon built a better mouse trap.

Long-term more and more purchases will happen online.  Best Buy has never leveraged their physical presence into a strong online presence (and you could argue it's actually held them back due to margin requirements to support stores).

Amazon and NewEgg run on a few percent margin for most electronics.  Best Buy either needs to find products with a higher margin (which they've tried with cables, warranties, magazine subscriptions, etc.), provide a reason to pay more (it's hard to beat Amazon's service), or adopt to a lower margin structure.  None of these paths are easy.

On the digital side, Best Buy watched as iTunes took its music sales away.  It will lose DVD, Bluray, and software / console sales next.  JRiver could help, but I think Dick Schulze uses iTunes (I'm joking).

Anyway, I hope the best for Best Buy.  Competition is good for us consumers.  And Best Buy is a local company to us Minnesotans.

[glynor]

Best Buy is pleasant enough, but I think Amazon built a better mouse trap.

Long-term more and more purchases will happen online.

I voted "not good at all".

I do agree with the comments that compared to Circuit City, Best Buy is less slimy.  The sales people are less aggressive and intrusively annoying, and the bad deals seem somewhat less disguised as good deals at Best Buy, I'll give them that.

But a comparison to Circuit City is no comparison at all.

Besides, my standards have risen as a consumer.  The sales people are still completely un(or more often mis)informed.  The video cards on the shelf are still priced "high" for that model 16 months ago (and now laughable that they even still have that relic on the shelf for any price).  The TVs they have in stock are never the actual high-quality sets that perform well, or the good quality value contenders, nor do they usually have in stock the just-plain-acceptable-but-darn-cheap models either.  They usually have a decent, recent phone collection available, but those sales people are usually the slimiest there, and they always try to push the complete wrong choice because they get the biggest kickback for that model.  They bother me about insurance (not aggressively, but every little annoyance adds up).  And for their other products (media and whatnot) they've absolutely completely lost to Amazon and online services for me.  That ship sailed long ago.

And then it is just a store.  In or near a mall in the sprawl.  And there is the parking lot and fluorescent lights and the lines and the jerk talking real loud on his cell phone about his latest conquest and the sales clerk telling the lady near me something blatantly wrong and.... I don't know....

Amazon exists.  Newegg exists.  That's real customer service.  And with Amazon Prime (which I've gotten for free for almost two years so far because of Amazon Moms, also awesome) the stuff shows up so quickly it doesn't matter, often next-day without paying the piddly $3 for overnight.  No lines.  They have what I want, and they even have really nice user reviews in many cases, and they have great pricing.  They ship it to me with no fuss and I can do it in my PJs at 3:48am (usually a dangerous time to shop on Newegg).

Evolve or die.

[Gl3nn]

What glynor said.

[DarkPenguin]

I never get help when I want to buy something (my attempted blu-ray player purchase there was comical) and tons of help when I don't.  I've purchased from Amazon in the best buy parking lot via my cell phone far more often than I've bought from Best Buy recently.

They have no meaningful selection of anything other than TVs these days.

The thing is I will pay more to buy locally.  I mean almost all of my camera purchases lately have been from National Camera.  They are rarely cheaper than mail order (last two lenses were) and I have to pay tax.  But at least when I go there I get help and have a decent selection to paw.

When BB goes tits I won't mourn them like I did (still do) Borders.

[Listener]

Best Buy is pleasant enough, but I think Amazon built a better mouse trap.

Long-term more and more purchases will happen online.  

Anyway, I hope the best for Best Buy.  Competition is good for us consumers.

I agree.  My local Best Buy isn 't awful.  Fry's is better.  Amazon and Newegg are far better.

I imagine that the end of the big screen TV boom is a bigger factor than the quality of service in Best Buy's troubles.

---
For cameras, lenses and accessories, B&H Photo and Adorama are great for my needs.  Amazon works too.  Local camera stores have been disappearing for some time.

Bill

[rjm]

I much prefer Costco's approach. Much less selection but everything is good quality at rock bottom prices with a superb return policy.

[glynor]

For cameras, lenses and accessories, B&H Photo and Adorama are great for my needs.  Amazon works too.  Local camera stores have been disappearing for some time.

Those two are where I buy all my video and camera gear for work.  B&H also often has some really thoughtful casual-but-professional real-world user reviews of the gear, from people like you.

[glynor]

I imagine that the end of the big screen TV boom is a bigger factor than the quality of service in Best Buy's troubles.

I think that certainly has sounded the death-knell, but I don't think the TV boom created the problem.  It was a band-aid that gave them a temporary reprieve.  Their last bastion, if you will.

Big TVs are big and heavy and hard to ship and deliver for online retailers (you don't get that new 65" Panny plasma in two days on Amazon prime), and they're major purchases whose value depends on, effectively, how they look, so... For consumers, seeing them is pretty important.  And if you do order online, it takes a week to come and then if you need to return it, Amazon will let you, but if it isn't broken you'll end up eating the return shipping cost so that's a big gamble without getting eyes-on-it.

And, frankly, there's some real man-value to getting your family in the minivan on a special occasion, driving to Best Buy and picking out and buying a brand new TV that you bring home and set up that night. *

But that was their one last foothold... I don't know.  The boom was doomed to bust eventually.  When, you know, most people who wanted or could even remotely afford (or not afford) that shiny new HDTV already had one or two... When TVs kept getting thinner, and lighter (and easier to ship), and when process shrinks and economies of scale made prices fall enough that TVs weren't quite so major of purchases for your target market, then the boom starts fading and the online retailers start making a dent on one front and the discount (Costco, Walmart, etc) retailers start hitting you on the other end...

I don't know.  If they'd made me CEO within the past 5-8 years or so, I think the best plan likely would have been to follow Michael Dell's advice.  I think that good service and a great customer experience is maybe the only thing that can save a retail space (Fry's is a perfect example, but then, they also didn't dramatically over-expand 10 years ago like Best Buy did).

* - Post-HDTV-boom we do the same but the destination is an Apple Store and the object is an iPad or something else with an i.

[texneus]

Not good at all.  I'm probably spoiled having grown up in Best Buy territory (Sound of Music anyone?), but it used to be a very fun place to go.  An absolutely incredible depth and breadth of product.  You could demo everything they sell.  I very well remember their "wall of cassette recorders" and the sales person helping me pick one.  About that same time they also had a "wall of VCRs", maybe 15-20 models in all, all hooked to individual small overhead monitor.  At one time I could truly be exited about a trip to BB.

In all honesty, apparently emboldened by their defeat of Highland (I think that was their name?), I believe their expansion out of MN ruined them.  Over time selection became more and more limited, but also more and more distinctly bottom of the barrel, the help far less helpful (and relevant).  Actual functioning displays were replaced by non-functioning, empty chassis, and for a few items the displays were eliminated all together, leaving only the packing box with a picture.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but other than their flat screen TV's, can you really check out anything in a Best Buy anymore?

Their prices are certainly not "Best Buy", and I'm not even talking about in comparison to Amazon, Newegg, etc.  The prices they charge for accessories (cables, power strips, keyboards, mice, video cards, etc) is positively criminal.  And the help?  What help?  I found it completely laughable their claim that people go shop at BB to learn about an item then buy it on Amazon.  In reality, you will learn far more on Amazon in 10 minutes than you ever will in a BB store.

As for customer service, I can't recall a time in the past 5-10 years when I haven't walked out positively angry.  Most recently was a few weeks before Christmas when they advertised a great deal on Android Tablet as "in store only".   I went to the store as soon as I could only to discover (1) no sales person there knew about the sale (I had to go online using the sales terminal to pull it up for them), (2) there was no display location for the sale product, (3) they did not have the sale item in stock at all, (4) they would not price match the identical model number they did have in stock because cleverly gave the sale item a different SKU, and (5) there was only 1 store in the entire DFW metroplex that had the sale item, and they only had 1 or 2 of it!

In all honesty BB lost all relevancy many years ago, not because of their B&M business model, but because they forgot about the very thing that made them successful in the first place.  Product selection that was second to none, and a sales staff that knew what they were selling (and trained to do more than push extended warranties).

[Listener]

B&H also often has some really thoughtful casual-but-professional real-world user reviews of the gear, from people like you.

Sounds like a compliment.  Thanks.

Bill

[MrC]

For those that think they look like a hijacked-truck bazaar, take a walk into a Fry's. 

I recall visits to the original Fry's in Sunnyvale off Lawrence Expressway.  Leaving, a shower was insufficient, requiring instead a course of antibiotics.  Being the only game in town, for years I occasioned the unsafe practice anyway.  I swore off the risky behavior years ago, and have been abstinent e'er since.  Hallelujah.

[nwboater]

I recall visits to the original Fry's in Sunnyvale off Lawrence Expressway.  Leaving, a shower was insufficient, requiring instead a course of antibiotics.  Being the only game in town, for years I occasioned the unsafe practice anyway.  I swore off the risky behavior years ago, and have been abstinent e'er since.  Hallelujah.

After growing up and living in the SF Bay Area for many years but now living in a small Canadian town I would gladly have access to any version of a Fry's. Not too sure about wanting a Best Buy though.

Rod

[Listener]

I recall visits to the original Fry's in Sunnyvale off Lawrence Expressway.  Leaving, a shower was insufficient, requiring instead a course of antibiotics.  Being the only game in town, for years I occasioned the unsafe practice anyway.  I swore off the risky behavior years ago, and have been abstinent e'er since.  Hallelujah.

You clearly aren't a real computer geek.    I visited that Fry's in its early days and didn't notice anything of the sort you mentioned.

Bill

[MrC]

So, that was you!

[Listener]

So, that was you!

Probably.  But I wasn't alone.

Bill

[glynor]

Sounds like a compliment.  Thanks.

It was. 

[MrC]

Here's the list of store closures announced today:

  http://pr.bby.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=244152&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1683036&highlight=

[DarkPenguin]

Here's the list of store closures announced today:

  http://pr.bby.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=244152&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1683036&highlight=

Crap.  They're closing the one in Edina across from Southdale.  That was a store I liked.  Just packed with stuff.  No space at all.  Was the only one I really liked.

Was also the only store I've ever been kicked out of.

[tcman41]

Havent bought anything in a brick and mortar store in years, all online.

[gtgray]

Very hit and miss... they just don't seem to be able to get out of their own way. Their price matching policies are confusing and inconsistently implemented from from hour to hour and item to item, let alone from store to store. Their store managers seem to think they are demigods. The ethics issues and many fraud and consumer complaints have practically been bad at time over the years to  enough to be considered a criminal organization. Something basically wrong in the culture.

They also seems to create enormous paperwork problems if they have promotions and price matches. I have spent tens of thousands with them over the years but mostly I try to buy anywhere else. Often their pricing is rediciulously off base to high side.

They can screw up just about any transaction and sometimes the simplest thing ends up being a bureaucratic nightmare. I bought a Mits 82"  TV last year from that a register went down on during the transaction and they double billed my debit card. It took nearly two weeks to get a refund. I worked with that store manager (fortunately she was nice) for days before she could provide adequate documentation to get the main office to approve the refund. She was the one who was involved from the begining and was operating the register that went offline. BTW, they told me they had lots of problems with that register... I could literally tell you dozens of stories. The mere mention of their name used to make my blood boil. I just finally accepted they were a mess and were screws ups and then doing business with the got better for me. My expectaions got low enough that even they could exceed them once in awhile.

While clearly their business practices have bordered on criminal at times, most of their problems come from shear incompetence.

[wilfredjg]

In all honesty BB lost all relevancy many years ago, not because of their B&M business model, but because they forgot about the very thing that made them successful in the first place.  Product selection that was second to none, and a sales staff that knew what they were selling (and trained to do more than push extended warranties).

That is so true. I shop at Best buy only when I can not wait for Amazon or Newegg.

[contium]

I only shop at Best Buy when I need something immediately. In general, their selection sucks (never have what I actually need), prices suck (MSRP), sales associates are clueless, and I hate them trying to shove their extended warranties down my throat.

[jmone]

Best Buys, hits a new high ($1K for an HDMI Cable anyone?) http://www.bestbuy.com/site/AudioQuest+-+Diamond+3.3%27+High-Speed+HDMI+Cable+-+Dark+Gray/Black/2383276.p?id=1218324437192#tabbed-customerreviews

[BartMan01]

Best Buy is ok/average.  The selection could be better, as could the prices - but neither is out of line with the other brick and mortar stores around here. 

The one things they REALLY get wrong (and it is hit or miss based on actual store location) is their returns.  On more than one occasion I have been treated as a criminal when trying to return defective or mis-boxed (once bought a high-end capture card there only to find the low end version actually in the box) merchandise.  I have had them flat refuse to take returns at the store by my house when the store by my office took them no questions asked.

[drmimosa]

I was at a DC/Baltimore Best Buy the other day and checked out their Magnolia high-end A/V showroom.

The crown jewel was a pair of B&W CM9's with completely blown tweeter domes. You actually could see them flapping in wind as you turned up the volume. $1500 fuzzboxes...