Best Buy Q1 Profits Fall 12% -- Do you still shop at BBY? (1 Viewer)

[Hollywoodaholic]

It's sad, Best Buy used to be such a eager destination. But since Circuit City went under, they dropped their catalog stock and personal service has gotten worse. Lately, I've noticed they increased Blu-ray stock, and are offering the exclusives (Midnight Cowboy, etc), which I've taken advantage of. And the $5 off $14.99 coupon good thru July 31 I've used several times (getting Harry Potter blu-rays for my son for $10 each).


But I found a better deal on a laptop at Staples, a better deal and service on a television at HHGregg, and better online deals for Blu-rays at Borders (!) and Barnes and Noble and Amazon lately.


I don't want to see Best Buy go away any time soon, but it would be nice if a brick and mortar stepped up to the plate and started to be a go-to place to browse and impulse buy blu-rays beyond the recent or top sellers. I'm dreaming.

 

[Ethan Riley]

I go in there at least once a month just to see what's on sale. And nothing ever is. So out I go.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Originally Posted by Ethan Riley
I go in there at least once a month just to see what's on sale. And nothing ever is. So out I go.

Part of the problem I find is that they are generally not great nor consistent about promoting their (better) sales at the stores -- this seems true of the few different BBs I've visited in the NYC area. I find you just cannot rely on casual shopping at their stores for current BD sales, which is another reason why I prefer to just order online and do the in-store pickup thing (whenever coupons are not involved).


_Man_

 

[Carlo_M]

Too true Man. Sometimes I walk in to my local store (halfway between work and home, what luck!) and there are a bunch of BDs for $9.99 that weren't advertised in the weekly circular.

 

[DaveF]

I bought my two HDTVs, two Tivos, and a receiver there in the past three years. I've gotten some printer inks, and a Blu-ray or two. However, half the major electronics were bought during substantial sales (clearance, black friday, and 30% off).


Today, I've got everything I want, so I don't even look at the Sunday flyer.

 

[Nelson Au]

I used to buy there a lot because I didn't want to buy n-line. Then a few years ago I started working from home and it worked out I could order from Amazon and I'd be home to receive it, and not worry some kid would steal it from my door step.


I'm doing a job now where I have to work in the office again, so I'm back to Best Buy, but also Fry's and Costco. Costco mainly for big releases and decent pricing and Fry's because they have a selection! Best Buy has been disappointing to me the past several years, fewer and fewer titles I want.


Here's the thing, last night on the news, they reported that a large number of the Best Buys in my area, San Francisco Bay Area, will be reducing the size of their stores and renting out the remaining space to other businesses! I guess they are hurting pretty bad! The one I go to is usually busy.

 

[Towergrove]

Used to go there. Now its mostly online Amazon or Deep Discount for my media BD, DVD and CD purchases. Best Buy stopped carrying all the catalog items. No Catalog= No Sale....Sad. Also when I go to purchase something the help is not too great. The folks who are working on my local store are more interested in talking to their co workers about their Saturday night date or high school prom than to help me make a purchase. If I do have to go to Best Buy I now take my husband with me because of his knowledge of product.

 

[Brian Sharp]

Haven't bought from Best Buy for a while. Selection and pricing is not, in my opinion, what it used to be. If you think Best Buy are having problems in the States,that is nothing compared to their performance in the UK where they have just six stores and managed losses of £63 million (about $100million). Though, to be fair, some of this can be attributed to start up costs.

 

[Carlo_M]

Ironic that I posted what I did. I just went in to buy an internal 2.5" SATA HD that was on sale (for my PS3 which was stuck at 60GB since I bought it, now it has 500GB!). While there, I browsed the Blu rays and there must have been 50 titles on sale for $5.99, $9.99 and $14.99. None of those were in the circular. Went home with The Thing.

 

[Charles Smith]

A similar thing happened to me last night. I was out enjoying some leisurely errand running and whatnot, and with this thread fresh in my mind I decided to stop in and browse the Blu-rays. I'm terrible about following circulars, and I definitely didn't know about the latest sale items. I walked out with The Ninth Gate at $5.99, the half-assed but anamorphic From Dusk Till Dawn at $7.99, and the Coen Bros. True Grit at $14.99.

 

[irishsooner]

Well! my opinion would be biased since i work there but depends what quality of the store you get and the size. Our store is arguably the largest in the chain in the U.S. at 56k which means we have the largest selection compared to the smaller stores. Also helps that i have a good knowledge of movie and cd knowledge since i have been doing this since early 90's. Prices i think could be lower for non sale stuff but so could the cost to us for buying the product.
But now comes word that all the media related product will be outsourced to a 3rd party company called Anderson. Whether that is good or bad you can judge. Think the consumer will lose interest even more with this work change.

 

[cineMANIAC]

I have long given up hope of finding cult titles at Best Buy but I fully expect to see copies of major new releases readily available, especially on street date. So why is BB not carrying the Island on Blu-ray? Another reason why I almost never shop there. Totally unacceptable.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

95% of my purchases are new titles on release date. I have a Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target and Fry's all in my area. I shop at whichever one has the lowest price for what I want to buy.

 

[Cinescott]

I shop very infrequently at brick and mortar stores anymore for Blu-ray. Online is the way to go for me, since I don't need the "instant gratification factor." Although, I did find John Carpenter's "The Thing" for $9.99 last week as well as "True Grit" (Bridges) for $14.99, which matched even the best deals I could find anywhere on the net.


Money's tight for almost everyone right now and I think the stores like BBY will recover when things improve.

 

[Ryan-G]

I shop regularly at Best Buy.


But that's probably going to change soon, I'm probably going to start shopping online and at the new HHGregg near me. I went to go and buy a 46" Bravia a few weeks ago, and had to stand and around looking for someone to help for half an hour while most of the staff flirted with one of the sales girls.

I went to preorder the BB exclusive LotR two weeks ago, and went through 3 of their staff trying to find out how I preorder the exclusive edition, until I finally gave up and took my little ring to the checkout, where it turns out you pick your edition at the register.


My BB is horrible with video game exclusives, if you preorder you won't get them unless you go wander the aisle and find wherever some drone tossed them.


Then there was the "Geek squad" lady who has to be around 70, who sat there and argued with me for 10 minutes about the power of an AMD chip she was trying to push relative to an Intel one. She stormed off after I carefully explained to her that I'm a software engineer and I understand exactly how both chips work. Apparently, she doesn't understand Intel's naming conventions and thinks a 2400 actually runs at 2.4ghz, nor did she understand what "On die GPU" means.


BB's rapidly approaching my "Won't shop there" list these days. The staff is unhelpful, beyond the normal drone unhelpful, and completely clueless.

 

[Jason_V]

Ever since they began severely reducing their media department, I've taken my business elsewhere. Sure, I check every Sunday to see the titles they have on sale online and I do still shop there when I hit a sale. But it's no longer stop #1 for new releases. Target and WalMart are often better in the price department, not to mention Amazon. I don't need new discs on release day anymore, allowing me to wait for a better price down the road or a better online price/shipping.


I'm just over the hassle of going into the store, fighting to find what I want in an obscure place on the shelf, going to the checkout and then gambling to see if the right price is going to pop up. Now, I will go in on Black Friday and do my thing. It's a bit of a ritual for me, so I'm alright with that.

 

[Carlo_M]

The aforementioned article about BB reducing their footprint and releasing space was just released in the L.A. Times a day or two ago. (Different article/author, same subject)

 

[Jonathan_Clarke]

I'm also finding unless it's a big release you won't see a title there for a month or so.

 

[irishsooner]

"Island", i would not consider a major new release and we have it at our location but not at the other smaller stores in our market. Even working there i only buy 3-5 titles a year and mostly do mine from renting on Netflix. Best Buy doesn't have the caliber of media qualified personal like they had in the 90's and early 00's. Now that the department is being outsourced don't expect even the existing service levels to remain and expect titles to linger in the whse. i know RickEr will attest to my knowledge and the way best Buy has gone.

 

[Anthony_H]

The whole outsourcing of media really doesnt make sense.. even with the decrease in sales. The whole "loss-leader" business model has served them well for years and even now I assume increases traffic. Video games really don't lend themselves to this model as a whole. It makes sense that their sales are off as whats left to drive traffic? Mobile phone accessories? How often to people really buy washers, dryers, new computers..?