Best Buy closing stores to public, will bring orders curbside (1 Viewer)

[Jake Lipson]

The last time I went to my close Best Buy before the pandemic was back on February 25 to pick up my preorder of Frozen II. They had plenty of copies of the regular version of it on display, as well as a few spare copies of the steelbook for the original Frozen. I didn't actually go back to look at the aisles of non-new releases.

Then on Leap Day I went across town to another store where I had been able to reserve the steelbook of Knives Out, which was unavailable at my usual store. I was in and out of there quickly as I was headed to a movie theater across the street for a sold out sneak preview of Onward.

Remember when movie theaters sold out? That feels like it was a few years ago now.

When I got the Onward steelbook inMay, the store was closed to the public and they brought it out curbside. I have not been in there since. My other Best Buy purchases since then have all been through the website for home delivery.

 

[Wayne_j]

Wow. That's my Best Buy, too. I haven't been there in months. THAT is sad.

One aisle of discs...

Most of the time I go there looking for the newest release and it isn't there. It would have definitely been there 2 years ago.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Most of the time I go there looking for the newest release and it isn't there. It would have definitely been there 2 years ago.

Good for you, Wayne, that you look to help out a local B&M store. Bad for them that they are not making your trips worthwhile.

 

[Wayne_j]

Target has also been significantly downsized. The only store left in my area with a decent sized media section is Barnes & Noble which has way too many DVDs as a percentage and very few UHD discs to be seen. B&N is also pretty much the only chance of picking up a CD.

 

[jayembee]

Are the stores open for the public to go in and browse now?

The website is still showing a link to "schedule an in-store consultation" for my local store. The last time I had any business there was in May when my steelbook of Onward was ready for pickup, and they did that curbside.

My next item on order from them is the Back to the Future steelbook box set, and it is only available for shipping with no option for pickup. Of course, being a trilogy box set including both 4K and the steelbook premium, its cost was enough to trigger free shipping on its own, so that's fine. But I doubt I will have any business using the actual store for quite some time.

My local (Concord, NH) store has been open to the public for a couple of months now.

As for the "only available for shipping", it looks like that's the default "one size fits all" in the on-line listings for pre-orders, probably since access to the stores varies across the country.

Last night, I was checking to see if the exclusive SteelBook UHDs for Full Metal Jacket and Whiplash were indeed coming out today. Both listings said "only available for shipping". I just checked a little while ago, and both were available at my local store. I need to pop in first thing (well, 10am, when they open) tomorrow, as they apparently have only 1 copy left of Jacket (and 2 of Whiplash). I also want to pick up the 47 Ronin UHD SB.

 

[Jake Lipson]

As for the "only available for shipping", it looks like that's the default "one size fits all" in the on-line listings for pre-orders, probably since access to the stores varies across the country.

Good point.

That being said, I'm just as happy to ship them because, without being able to reserve in advance for a store pickup option, I don't want to risk a steelbook being sold out. That's happened to me before (although not recently) where the store only got one or two and I wasn't quick enough.

It will be a problem if there is cosmetic damage to one of the shipped steelbooks (knock on wood) because the whole point of buying a steelbook is for it to look fancy. That being said, Best Buy is currently 2 for 2 in shipping steelbooks to me recently in pristine condition, so I hope that continues. My next order with them is the Back to the Future steelbook trilogy, and I want that to come through safely. Fingers crossed.

 

[jayembee]

I had to check my account on-line to see when I was last in a BB before Lockdown. It appears to have been March 17th, and I bought the four Daniel Craig Bond UHD SteelBooks, along with the UHD SB for Jumanji: The Next Level.

My first day back in-store was August 5th. Bought the UHD SBs for The Town, Inception, and the reissue of Wonder Woman. Plus a BD Complete Series of The Good Place.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Target has also been significantly downsized.

For sure.

The only store left in my area with a decent sized media section is Barnes & Noble which has way too many DVDs as a percentage and very few UHD discs to be seen.

If it survives all this, the FYE in Crossgates still has a fair amount off discs on shelves. But I fear it may not be long for this world. I only say that because of the closing of other "nearby" FYE stores in Burlington and Queensbury.

 

[Wayne_j]

For sure.



If it survives all this, the FYE in Crossgates still has a fair amount off discs on shelves. But I fear it may not be long for this world. I only say that because of the closing of other "nearby" FYE stores in Burlington and Queensbury.

I didn't even realize they were still open.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I didn't even realize they were still open.

I'm not 100% sure that it is. But it was the last time I was in the mall. But it's been a while.

EDIT: A Google search seems to indicate it is open for business.

 

[Malcolm R]

FYE recently changed hands and is now owned by Canadian company Sunrise Records, which also has purchased HMV in Canada and Britain. Not sure exactly what that means for the future, but they must think it's still a viable business in some form.

 

[Bryan^H]

Best Buy to lay off store workers amid shift to online sales

Best Buy Co. notified workers this week that it was cutting some jobs at its big-box stores, according to people familiar with the situation, as the retailer...

www.marketwatch.com

 

[NorgeRunner]

Our store keeps evolving it's layout and has more "overstock cages" sitting in middle of the stores where they used to sell DVD's, which they quit selling.

 

[jayembee]

Seems silly to me. Sure, if the bulk of their sales are from DVDs/BDs or external hard drives, and such like, that's one thing. But it seems to me that people aren't going to be ordering washers & dryers on-line. Or do they?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Seems silly to me. Sure, if the bulk of their sales are from DVDs/BDs or external hard drives, and such like, that's one thing. But it seems to me that people aren't going to be ordering washers & dryers on-line. Or do they?

We bought a 12 cubic foot refrigerator for our basement bar online recently. We could not find anything we wanted in stock at the local stores.

 

[Bryan^H]

I thought it pretty odd when my store took out the "check out lanes" a few years ago. They are constantly leaning more toward a online/warehouse type store.

 

[B-ROLL]

I thought it pretty odd when my store took out the "check out lanes" a few years ago. They are constantly leaning more toward a online/warehouse type store.

As far as in-store - I think they were trying to be more like a Fry's Electronics (minus the As-Seen-On-TV crap and perfume knock-offs). The Major appliance area was largely unstaffed during week-days. I'm assuming they had commission-based salespeople on the weekends.

 

[RolandL]

They pay a flat rate for sales people with no commission.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Went to my local Best Buy today. The whole store is under construction, it looks like to partition it between a smaller Best Buy and another store. The TV/Movies section was completely eliminated. The only physical media in the store was a very small video games section.

 

[uncledougie]

Went to my local Best Buy today. The whole store is under construction, it looks like to partition it between a smaller Best Buy and another store. The TV/Movies section was completely eliminated. The only physical media in the store was a very small video games section.

And yet they’re still releasing exclusive steelbook editions like Poltergeist, Angel Heart, The Lost Boys. And selling out quickly I might add. Brick and mortar retail is self destructing. They reduce inventory or entire categories of stock, then everyone laments that people are hesitant to come out to shop. It’s a self fulfilling road to doom. As an actual example of this mindset, we literally had a manager at The Home Depot one time say they were discontinuing stocking a certain item because they were always selling out of it and, rather than bother to keep track of inventory and ordering enough to meet demand, it was too big a headache hearing complaints that they were always out of it. Mind boggling.