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| Best Barf (BBY) in forum [Market-Ticker]
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Smacktle
Posts: 1362
Incept: 2009-01-20
Texas
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How many TVs, computers, cameras etc... does one need to own?
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The faults of the burglar are the qualities of the financier.
- George Bernard Shaw
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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I took a look at some DVD box sets there yesterday.
The Tudors: $99.99
Buffy: $179.99
Smallville: $249.99
They're dreaming.
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Margincalltime
Posts: 1025
Incept: 2008-04-01
NJ
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Ever stop to think it's mostly due to Apple and their stores/products. What if Samsung, Toshiba, Nokia, etc. come up with something game changing in the coming months/years. Then maybe Best Buy has a shot.
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Matt_bear
Posts: 6359
Incept: 2008-07-15
a week early on spy puts
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the biggest ripoff of all is the HDMI cable.
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In terms of real-world fundamentals, I expect that most of the people around me, whom I work with day to day, and whom I pass on the street ... will be dead within five years.
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5755hsa
Posts: 646
Incept: 2008-09-07
North of 40 in the land of pathetic highways
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the other issue is customer service....there isn't any because the staff is mostly made up of kids that don't really know Jack or could care less if you have a problem. You always get told to call the manufacturer should you have a problem. I quit shopping at best buy 4 years ago.
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Ineptocracy (in-ep-toc'-ra-cy) - a system of government where the
least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing,
and where members of society least likely to succeed, are rewarded with goods paid for by the
confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.
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Enapa
Posts: 1165
Incept: 2008-01-25
Online
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Hey come on karl. My local Best Buy just had a huge remodel done to it. Nevermind that the remodel involved one entire half of the store being turned into a Petco.... Its all good. Lmao!!
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Jimg
Posts: 180
Incept: 2009-02-04
Dunedin, FL
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They do sell appliances - washing machines, refrigerators, etc. We did buy our new refrigerator there after comparison shopping. But for the most part they are just not price competitive anymore. When we were pricing a new flat screen, we went there and were shocked at how much higher their prices were than on the internet.
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Irishblues
Posts: 290
Incept: 2010-12-18
Wisconsin
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A buddy here at work had a laptop go out under BBY's service plan; he swapped it out for a newer model, the price difference was about $50. BBY offered him 6 months, 0% interest on the BBY card for that amount; in the past, they've required at least $200 on a purchase to get the 0% offer.
Throw in the fact that they really don't have a price advantage and little if any advantage on the sales floor when it comes to employees being knowledgable about the products, and it's no wonder why BBY is struggling.
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Aquapura
Posts: 131
Incept: 2012-04-19
Land of 10,000 taxes
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Don't forget the small ticket items that has kept BBY going is all collapsing. How many DVD's and music CD's are they selling these days? Before the iPod BBY was THE place to buy movies and music as they had put all the little mall shops and independants out of business in the 90's.
BBY makes me scratch my head. Their turnaround strategy is selling cell phones?!? My local Costco has a kiosk that sells plans from the big 4, but I can also pick up steaks and bulk laundry detergent at the same time. I just don't see a marketing angle to steer me into a BBY cell phone shop.
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Covenant
Posts: 267
Incept: 2009-01-13
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BBY has a solid website going for them, they should pull a newegg and close down their their big stores, and compete online.
Let wallmart and target be the ones to "window shop" at, then compete with them on internet pricing.
I wonder if a few smaller private boutique stores will pop up once they are gone?
I bought a small Shuttle XPC at Central Computer here in the Bay Area (centralcomputer.com) and they have been expanding their stores slowly. Their prices compete with Newegg.
Frys seems to be doing well, always see shoppers there still.
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There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them.
-- Atlas Shrugged
No matter how good you look in the mirror, the skinny little BJJ kid is still gonna choke you.
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Blackswan
Posts: 5564
Incept: 2007-11-06
Just outside of Philly
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BBY got a break from some competition when short-Circuit City went down but the Walmart gorilla and HHGreg filled any other retail void in many cities.
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“It’s checkmate. Everywhere it’s checkmate.”
Hugh Hendry
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Debtpie
Posts: 534
Incept: 2009-12-17
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Quote:The fundamental problem with Best Buy is that there's simply no reason to shop there. Plenty of reason to "shop" there...just no reason to buy there because of the listed price...BB is well aware of this problem...people shop price online...go to BB to actually touch the item...then buy online. The listed price at BB is big time negotiable...just grab the manager and tell them that X company online has it for $X...they will check the site and match the price (they will add in the shipping cost)...now you can buy it locally and take it home right now...problem? you take it back...no cost to return ship... BB's strategy is sucker fishing...if you can get a moron to pay way too much,******em'...if not, match your competitors price... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quote:Who (other than people like, who still appreciate a good camera) wants one? Everyone's cell phone is a camera too, right? Remember this? "Cisco to buy Pure Digital (the Flip camera) for $590 million in 2009" I knew this would be a failure: 1. The "Flip" camera was junk. 2. Cell phones were starting to take great pics and video and would get better at it. 3. Who wants to carry a camera when your phone can do the job? My annual salary at the time...well, not as much as Cisco's CEO in 2009 when he made the brilliant move of buying Flip...$12,788,498
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A Leader, or an Opportunist? "A leader has the capacity of vision, the ability to see where things are headed before people in general see those things." Mitt Romney --- DebtPie's definition: a leader decides where "things" should head and "leads" us there.
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Shannonlk1
Posts: 112
Incept: 2008-12-02
Raleigh
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Was in the market for a desk top computer two weeks prior to this past Christmas. Went to Bestbuy, there was 9 people in the computer section wanting help. This is TWO WEEKS before Christmas. There was one employee there to help and he was useless. This has happened to me on more than one occasion. In there efforts to cut costs they have reduced staff and are losing sales. I ended up suggesting to some of the other customers some things and I then left to go to another store. And I also so others leaving as well. at least half the time i go in there I have a bad experience.
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Criminals thrive on the indulgence of Society's understanding.
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Mayorquimby
Posts: 13909
Incept: 2008-09-18
The Archaic Past
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With every up-cycle in the economy, there is a big-box electronics retailer - Crazy Eddie/Wiz in the 90's and since 2000 it has been Circuit City/Best Buy. I think BBY will probably go bye-bye or at least end up a *much* smaller company (read: private sized) when all is said and done.
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They who wish to hurt you, work within the law.
- Morrissey
Gold is theft.
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Genesis
Posts: 130787
Incept: 2007-06-26
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Yeah, the only thing that does happen though is that occasionally they have something on sale that I actually need and they're quite competitive. For example, recently I had two older monitors go in the toilet (after having been repaired once; they were both ~5 years old) and so I wanted to replace both.
Well, Best Buy had two IPS panels from LG (!!) at less than I could find the same size TFT panels for online or elsewhere. They were on sale and there weren't many left-- people were figuring it out FAST that this was a screaming deal, and guess what -- it was, and I bought two.
Guess what -- if you want one now, they still have them and they're still insanely competitive. In fact, they're matching Amazon's price -- $190.
(They're really, really nice monitors too....)
But what sort of PROFIT are they making at that price? Maybe $5?
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I don't care if it makes sense -- only if it makes money. -- Me
Bank (n): See scam, fraud and theft. Eat a bankster -- they're low-carb.
What part of "shall not be infringed" was unclear?
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Drench
Posts: 28631
Incept: 2009-11-10
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Quote:The listed price at BB is big time negotiable...just grab the manager and tell them that X company online has it for $X...they will check the site and match the price (they will add in the shipping cost)...now you can buy it locally and take it home right now... I have tried this a few times and been told at my local Best Buy that the prices are not negotiable. Big items, small items... it doesn't seem to matter. |
Goldmanssack
Posts: 1080
Incept: 2009-07-08
There is no pain, you are receding
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Can't recall where(probably here) I saw it but last year or so I saw a great quote...
Paraphrasing: "Best Buy has started down the road to Circuit City"
Looks like they're just about there.
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"But like every one of the superstates that preceded it, it has one iron rule: logic is an enemy and truth is a menace" - The Obsolete Man, Twilight Zone
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Lowbeyond
Posts: 16930
Incept: 2008-02-11
CO aka West NJ/East CA
Online
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I actually stupidly had hope for their magnolia store sections. Their stuff was decent. Not super high end but better then the stuff out on the main floor for sure. That and, while not the best acoustic environment, they did have a separate room for auditions.
So i go there one day to audition some front main speakers for an upgrade for the home theater i think one of the definitive bi-polar ones IIRC. They were meh for the price but i did give them like 20 minutes to run them through the paces with different types of music, pop, rock, and classical, and that's actually kinda short but it was enough to exclude them.
Didn't buy them, the guy was like your not buying them? I nope and explained why, basically i thought the sound stage was meh and a bit muddled. Decent enough for movies if you have the center to anchor the dialog, but don't like them for music at all. And at that price point i expect to be able to close my eyes and point to where the individual instruments are, etc etc.
So then the guy cops me attitude, said your lucky that he's not on commission or he'd be*****ed. Didn't offer or suggest any others to give a whirl. Just attitude. I left thinking you guys are doomed. How many sets of 2k speakers are you going to sell if you want to sell them like a $400 HTiB and a the rip off $50 HDMI cable?
Good luck with that.
I wonder how successful those stores within a store are, and how much they blew on the re-models...
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Maybe it was a birdy bread-bomber from the future?!
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Debtpie
Posts: 534
Incept: 2009-12-17
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Quote:But what sort of PROFIT are they making at that price? Maybe $5? Probably, but that's ok...they'll make it up on the $50 cable you need to plug in the monitor.;) Quote:I have tried this a few times and been told at my local Best Buy that the prices are not negotiable. Big items, small items... it doesn't seem to matter. All prices are negotiable everywhere...you just gotta know how to get them to negotiate. Sorry to say, but sex and appearance make a difference in the willingness to negotiate...if they think they can say "no" and you'll cave, they'll do it...just like buying a car...they know women and weak looking men are likely to pay full price, so they go for it...seen this a 100 times with my wife...she walks up, the price is as stated...I walk up and it's negotiable...
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A Leader, or an Opportunist? "A leader has the capacity of vision, the ability to see where things are headed before people in general see those things." Mitt Romney --- DebtPie's definition: a leader decides where "things" should head and "leads" us there.
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Weezie
Posts: 6070
Incept: 2008-05-19
Caution: Congress at Work
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BB will routinely match local B&M stores, but won't match online prices. I've been able to get them to match Amazon twice though, both for DVD sets which were $49.99 at BB and $45 or so at Amazon. Guess it didn't hit their margins enough, so they went with the 'sale now'.
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The election is not a way to have a voice in government, but rather an impotent declaration if we prefer ketchup or mustard on our **** sandwich.
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Maybe-not
Posts: 76
Incept: 2011-04-26
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BB is toast. I said that 2 years ago. Anecdotal but, I walk in there while the rest of the family is shopping a for clothes. Traffic is way down from the days of the CD and DVD. I did buy a TV there a few months ago. The 27 inch 20 year old Zenith in the bedroom finally died. I shopped online. Found a 32 inch lcd at BB that was priced better than the walmart. I went to BB found the TV. There was an open box model marked down an additional $40. I bought it. Good enough for the bedroom.
Interestingly I was shopping the local pawn shops last weekend for another lead shooter and they had a few used 32 inch TV's there. I paid less for my new tv from BB.
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Nohype
Posts: 39
Incept: 2011-03-19
United States
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There are two trends in this comment thread that stand out. The first is the whining about lack of decent salespeople. The second is the demand that Best Buy compete with online pricing, where there are no salespeople to add to the cost. Which one do you want? Price or service? Oh, I get it. You want BOTH.
I'm no fan of Best Buy, but their participation in the race to the bottom didn't happen in a vacuum. If people didn't happily patronize retailers that ruthlessly sacrificed their employees in favor of short-term margin gains, it wouldn't happen. We've applauded this sort of behavior for 30+ years now, with no thought as to what the ultimate consequences might be.
After incessant rounds of staff cuts followed by rehiring at lower wages, now you want the 20-somethings who can't afford rent on their wages to put up with your snotty attitudes (as in: "give me a discount or I walk out!") with a smile?
Keep dreaming.
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Mayorquimby
Posts: 13909
Incept: 2008-09-18
The Archaic Past
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@Nohype- Which is why I think it is a failed business model. Look - let's face it - the consumer one way or another is going to be much less affluent in the coming years and that will hurt all retailers - but certain ones more than others. Clothes are a necessity and $20 Blu-Ray discs and overpriced HDMI cables are not (not to mention online alternatives).
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They who wish to hurt you, work within the law.
- Morrissey
Gold is theft.
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Nohype
Posts: 39
Incept: 2011-03-19
United States
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@Mayorquimby- Then I guess this goes into the "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it" file.
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