I went to the main Best Buy in Fresno today. To my surprise, they closed down their "high end" rooms and sold off all the audio equipment in a liquidation sale. They also closed their instrument section where they sold electric guitars and amplifiers. As usual, the place was practically empty--few customers. This could be a local thing because the central valley of CA has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. I hope the store doesn't close because it's the last audio place in town. Circuit City went out as did Comp USA. Although, I couldn never figure how they were able to stay in business this long with Amazon selling the same items for a significant discount. I used to bring in my Iphone and check Amazon prices on units they had on sale. I did it today with a low end Pioneer multimedia receiver. Best buy sale price was about $550.00, Amazon price $100 less with free shipping. Their extended warranties are inflated in price. You can buy a Square Trade Warranty for much less. Their so called Geek squad is a joke. I brought a computer in to them a while ago and it wasn't repaired correctly. I brought it back three times until I gave up.

A friend of mine knows computers very well and he told me that these Geek Squads are incompetent. 

I haven't seen any action such as that here in north Texas... However, I wouldn't be surprised if it did happen.

The problem with these places is allow shoppers to try before they go buy somewhere else cheaper. That is a huge disadvantage. The advantage they have is having the item in hand and ready to go home with the consumer. Another disadvantage is the brick and mortar cost, not to mention the cost of labor and other overheads. With Amazon and the like, its about sending an order to a DC which is highly mechanized and geared for volume, typically being located near hubs of major carriers like FedEx and UPS. Being close to a hub makes shipments usually at most two days away if ordered early in the day.

As for the repair geeks, the real geeks find jobs at places like CISCO, Microsoft, and Google. I doubt they would settle for slightly more than minimum wage cleaning porn and viri.

IMO, there is simply no way they will win this battle.

very true, mustang guy...

I cannot remember the last time I bought something at Best Buy. A friend bought the Klipsch Icon speakers from there I think. Another bought quintets. But I last bought a cd from there based on a gift card almost 2 years ago. I could see it going down. Surprisingly, there is an HH Greg going in right near the Best Buy by me. (In what used to be a Circuit City, and a Comp USA was in the same strip mall). This is in the NW suburbs of Chicago (Bloomingdale area). This store is always slow but I guess they stay in business.

I want higher end stores than best buy. They carry Denon dvd players, but you cannot get any of the higher end universal BluRay players; just the lowest end. I understand that they do not stock everything, but that they cannot order the higher end stuff from brands they carry is disappointing. Also, the concert Blu Rays and DVDs are overpriced and have a disappointing selection.

The only store I would miss is a Fry's. I fell in love with Fry's based on that they actually carry SACD and DVD Audios. I will pay the high prices for these from time to time. I guess I am lucky that Fry's is so far away.

Half Price Books has a local store. Being in the Chicago Area, it is rather large. It actually has SACDs, DVD Audios, DualDiscs, LaserDiscs and great LPs that pass through. I scour it twice a week at least. I am lucky to have this, and would feel lucky with a fry's, but do not feel that way about best buy.

Only a matter of time.... bought there stock in 1991 sold there stock last year. Anyway today's big box stores can not compete with the likes of amazon, just like blockbuster could not compete with netflix. It's a shame because I do go into those stores to get a "In Person" view of whatever electronics item that I'm looking to purchase. However nearly 100% of the time I can find that same electronic device way cheaper online by authorized resellers. Having said that my last TV purchase I showed the store manager the online price that I pulled up on my smartphone....he matched the price.

 I did the same thing last year and the salesman refused to come down on the price. This policy maybe changing bacause I recently noticed that they installed free WIFI. It was always difficult for my 3G to get reception in the store and I thought that they didn't like it when I took out my Iphone for price comparisons. There is now only one electronics store left in my town. I had terrible experiences with rude sales reps at Circuit City before they went out. If these stors offered something the mail order companies didn't, I could see paying a little extra. But I used to thoroughly study what I was interested in buying. Usually, the sales rep knew very little about the unit. In addition, I was ripped off several times by their so called technicians on computer repairs. Check the reviews on the Fresno CA Best Buy site. It's kind of funny, but sounds true, at least from my experience.

when you sold your stock in best buy did you turn around and invest in some home delivery service? My wife swears UPS and or Fedex is our house everyday! I do 95% of ALL my shopping (except food) online.

Once in a while, they will have a good sale on a blu-ray I want or something. I don't think I would ever buy anything big there except maybe a TV. Their TV prices seem to be pretty similar to what is available online. And they do price match but it can be pretty iffy by the store. I've heard people say that Best Buy will sometimes change or add a number/letter onto the end of the SKU so it doesn't match whatever you are trying to price match to it, so they don't have to give it to you for what the other store is selling.

gagelle:

This could be a local thing because the central valley of CA has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. I hope the store doesn't close because it's the last audio place in town. Circuit City went out as did Comp USA. Although, I couldn never figure how they were able to stay in business this long with Amazon selling the same items for a significant discount.

See the linked article:

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/12/death_knell_for_the_category_k.html

Chris

Of course they are doomed as brick and morter, I almost always feel bad when any biz goes down so kinda sad.Amazon just built a warehouse that's crazy big down the road some miles from me............