Does Anyone Go To Best Buy Anymore?

[Thrawn33]

Those were the days! A thief steals something, and the cops take care of it.

I remember in HS there were a few kids I knew that were constantly trying to steal stuff, total scumbags.

It was over 900... so even by today's bullshit...

 

[jefferz]

The last time I was in Best Buy, I thought they were going out of business. Entire rows of shelves were empty, there was probably 1/3 of the tv wall filled, the laptop section was maybe half full, etc.
It wasn’t dirty, but had that old worn down Kmart feeling.

 

[James Eagle]

I went to one like a month ago, holy fuck it was empty

 

[avenue94]

I'm surprised they are still TBH. I went to one a few months ago and it's pretty much just smart phones, computers and appliances nothing that interesting anymore besides you'd probably get better prices at Amazon anyways.

Most major companies still have exclusivity deals with Best Buy for key products. They bury Amazon in a lot of sales still. Online shopping is great, but a lot of the time people still prefer a physical preview if they're buying a fridge or computer or TV.

I think if they stayed open 24/7 they could be a niche like the convenience store of electronics but I skip the trip now.

This makes no economic sense. People aren't going to buy and pick up a 55" TV at 2am lol.

 

[avenue94]

I feel thats a mistake a lot of big bricks and mortar places are making, trying to keep to the same old mass market model of years past when really that market has been lost to Amazon.

Actual shops really I think should be aiming at the higher end of the market, not shifting cheapo TV's and trying to hard sell ripoff insurance but selling OLED TV's with expert advice and offering films on disc for the cinephile market.

Its a smaller market but one with a much higher profit margin who still potentially cares about in person shopping.

Math doesn't bare out for a lot of this. You need halo products in brick-and-mortar and brands will pay for that as a marketing loss leader. But most of the volume in TV, PCs, etc., are budget and midrange.

People really overestimate how many premium buyers there are in consumer electronic markets. If you saw NPD numbers, you'd probably be pretty surprised. They're available for the low low price for a couple hundred grand.

 

[TeTe]

I hear ya man. I used to have like 10 magazine subscriptions in early 2000s and bought some monthly at B&N too. Really miss the feeling of going out and hunting for physical media. All the music and movie hunting is gone but still have 1 last used book store in Baltimore that I go to regularly. Gonna be sad when it's gone.

How come you stopped hunting for music and movies? Still plenty of places you can buy used and new. I went to two record stores this past week that I hadn't been too. I was digging through crates over an hour looking for vinyl at an antique mall the weekend before.

Several of the record stores I go to have VHS, CDs and DVDs still. Granted, you're stuck buying used a lot of times if you want to find stuff in store and not online... But the market is there.

 

[TeTe]

Do any of the Best buys near you guys have those magnolia stores for home theater and sound in them? That part of the store has some nice shit.

 

[Cielo_]

their return policy is definitely top notch. I have a cheap tv I mounted in the basement to watch things while working out.

My nephew threw something and hit it causing a green line in the screen. Called Best Buy out of warranty and told them the problem, they said bring it in and we will send you a new one.

 

[Natural Order]

Shopping is for pussies!

 

[avenue94]

Do any of the Best buys near you guys have those magnolia stores for home theater and sound in them? That part of the store has some nice shit.

I'm guessing you go to the Missjon Valley one? It's one of Best Buy's more important testbed stores and I think the only one in SD.

 

[666]

Most major companies still have exclusivity deals with Best Buy for key products. They bury Amazon in a lot of sales still. Online shopping is great, but a lot of the time people still prefer a physical preview if they're buying a fridge or computer or TV.

This makes no economic sense. People aren't going to buy and pick up a 55" TV at 2am lol.

Yea right. Pretend like you've never been drunk at 2AM and fell into your TV. You're not fooling anyone.

 

[BoogerDawson]

Sometimes, the open box items can be good deals.

 

[avenue94]

Yea right. Pretend like you've never been drunk at 2AM and fell into your TV. You're not fooling anyone.

Oh I believe people make dumb purchases at 2am. But if we're talking big picture...well lol.

 

[mixmastermo]

circuit city for life bitches

I'm more of a Crazy Eddie guy

 

[TeTe]

I'm guessing you go to the Missjon Valley one? It's one of Best Buy's more important testbed stores and I think the only one in SD.

The one in Mira Mesa has a Magnolia too.

But yeah, the mission valley store has more shit than the others.

 

[crabmeat]

Went to check a recipt on a guy pushing a cart with a high dollar home stereo system at the exit, and dude rams me with the shopping cart grabs the box and bolts out the door to his running vehicle with some chick driving: pink s10 pickup truck, no tailgate, a spoiler on the back and (as if it made a difference) no licence plate...speeds off

I walk back to my podium and dial the police, who's station is damn near next door to the store. Needless to say they find his totally non descript vehicle and grab him. Cop comes to the store to take my statement, check if I was hurt (was fine) and casually tells me dude was tweaking so bad they had to pepper spray him and take him down with multiple officers, then when he was getting booked after the OC wore off he tried to run out the police station...then he got tazed.

Glad I didn't try to fight back and risk injury for $7/hr, was more suprised than anything.

It was more fun messing with kids who I had no proof were stealing anything, but knew they had merch on them, so I'd set off the alarms as they got close, usually they panic and just give up the shit, no arrest or paperwork. Sometimes they'd play dumb and I'd tell them that they might have a tag on their shoes or jacket and helpfully ask if I could disable it with the sensor wand I carried.. they'd cheerfully consent but then when it beeped over their pockets, as I casually moved the wand there they knew what was up and gave up. Some kept their nerve and I couldn't do shit...I had to have everything on camera or be willing to testify I saw everything.

We didn't get bonuses for apprehensions, but we did if we were below our shrink budget, so my goal was keeping the merch in the store.

It was fast and loose in the late 90's to early 2000's. If the thief made initial contact with you trying to escape, it was weapons free. We formed a line at the entrance and exits. Contact was going to be made.

We had a corkboard with polaroid photos of thieves that got tuned during apprehension. The worst was this guy that got sidewalk slammed, facedown, on the tile. My LP sup was the one who did it, and took a photo of him while he was on the stretcher. The guy had jagged nubs because all his front teeth got destroyed on the tile.

My favorite was shoulder tackling a guy running down the media aisle into a new release cd endcap. That shit exploded when he impacted it.

 

[Thrawn33]

It was fast and loose in the late 90's to early 2000's. If the thief made initial contact with you trying to escape, it was weapons free. We formed a line at the entrance and exits. Contact was going to be made.

We had a corkboard with polaroid photos of thieves that got tuned during apprehension. The worst was this guy that got sidewalk slammed, facedown, on the tile. My LP sup was the one who did it, and took a photo of him while he was on the stretcher. The guy had jagged nubs because all his front teeth got destroyed on the tile.

My favorite was shoulder tackling a guy running down the media aisle into a new release cd endcap. That shit exploded when he impacted it.

My sup and department head were graduates of the K mart loss prevention system...aka by any means necessary..they had "greatest hits" videos on vhs tapes from their apprehensions elsewhere.

 

[ralphc1]

Math doesn't bare out for a lot of this. You need halo products in brick-and-mortar and brands will pay for that as a marketing loss leader. But most of the volume in TV, PCs, etc., are budget and midrange.

People really overestimate how many premium buyers there are in consumer electronic markets. If you saw NPD numbers, you'd probably be pretty surprised. They're available for the low low price for a couple hundred grand.

Not to mention that the people who purchase the high end products expect to get special deals. Many of them buy from people who install the products. I have a relative who had a business installing high end stereo and video systems in California. I know he installed systems for Dick Martin and Shaq.

 

[ralphc1]

Having flashbacks of working loss prevention at Best Buy back in 01....

Oh what fun that was.

I bought things at Best Buy and they didn't get the tags all cleared and the alarm would go off when I left. They were in one store then moved to another a block away. I liked the first store where they had all of the televisions on one wall. You could stand back and look at them from a distance and really tell the difference to see which picture was the best. When they moved they put the televisions in aisles so you couldn't get more than 5 feet away.

 

[Stump]

I remember walking around futureshop back in the day. They are long gone now. I guess, after all these years they probably did not like what the future had in store.