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

Jake Lipson

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I just got the following email from Best Buy relative to new safety measures they are implementing due to the coronavirus.

Best Buy said:
To Our Customers,

Across the country these past several days, you have come to our stores to buy the technology and household necessities that are so valuable at a time like this. We remain determined to continue to serve you and are announcing today a new way of making our stores accessible while even further enhancing customer and employee safety.

In our stores

Beginning Sunday, March 22, we will offer contactless curbside service at all locations across the country where state or local laws allow. Rather than ask you to come into our stores, any items you order on BestBuy.com or the Best Buy app will be delivered to your car curbside. If, for any reason, you didn't order the product in advance and the product is in stock in the store, one of our employees will be more than happy to go get it in the store and sell it to you while you remain in your car. This service also extends to returns and exchanges, the period for which has been extended on most products so that you have more time. Only employees will be allowed in the store, but we are determined to serve you as fully as we can. Unfortunately, we are temporarily unable to continue our product trade-in and recycling services.

For those who want to continue shopping with us online or on the app, we will, of course, still get you what you want.

In your home

As you know, Best Buy works in millions of customer homes each year, and we have long been proud of the services we provide. Because of the increased concern for you, your families and our employees, we have made the decision to suspend currently scheduled installations, haul-aways or repairs for large items like refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers and TVs.

Beginning Monday, March 23, we will no longer deliver these large products into your home and will, instead, offer free doorstep delivery. This means we will take the item as close as we possibly can to the front door of your home without bringing it inside. We know that this change will be inconvenient, and we are truly sorry. It was made with our employees' and your best interests at heart. If you have an order scheduled for installation in the next 30 days, please expect an email or text from Best Buy about your delivery options.

Employees

Speaking of our employees, everyone working right now is doing so on a voluntary basis, and all hourly employees who volunteer are receiving a temporary pay increase. Additionally, anyone feeling sick is told to stay home, and they will be paid for that time. Finally, anyone exposed to a confirmed case of COVID-19 is also told to stay home, with pay, and we are paying employees who may need to stay home to care for their children.

All of us at Best Buy are grateful that so many states and localities believe we are an essential business, allowing us to continue to serve you when you need it most. We thank you for your patience and loyalty and look forward to continuing to provide you with the technology and home essentials you require to stay connected and work and learn from home. Thank you.

I don't want to say that this plan is extreme, because I understand why it is being put in place. But it does sound a little strange, or at least, unclear as to how this will work.

1) When you arrive to pick up your order, how are you supposed to indicate to the employees that you are there without going into the store? Are they just going to have a bunch of employees standing at the door waiting for customers to drive up? Or are you expected to call the store when you get there?

2) It says that if you haven't reserved the item for pickup already, the employee will go get it if you tell them what you want and sell it to you while you remain in your car.

What if you need to buy something where you don't know exactly like you want, like you know you need a computer but aren't sure what to get? And how can they sell it to you from inside the car? Presumably they won't want to actually handle cash or credit cards because the idea is to reduce human contact.

Pretty much all the items I buy from Best Buy personally here are their exclusive steelbooks, so this shouldn't be a problem for me. The next one I have reserved is Onward, and they should just be able to bring that out (if its release even happens before the coronavirus is contained.). But I know a lot of people use Best Buy for other, more complex purchases, and it's not clear how those would be handled.

It will be interesting to hear how this works when it is put into practice.
 
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Robert Crawford

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They'll figure it out. One thing for sure though, you won't be able to shop for an item like you're used to doing. In short, you're going to have to know exactly what you want before ordering it. If you don't know what you want then you're out of luck until this crisis has abated. This is going to be an inconvenience for all of us and we just have to deal with it, the best way we can. Peace and good health!
 

Wayne_j

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And yes, this does sound a bit extreme, not to mention extremely time consuming for the employees who will have to run all over the place.
 

EricSchulz

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And yes, this does sound a bit extreme, not to mention extremely time consuming for the employees who will have to run all over the place.

I live in Chicago. There was a picture of a local Best Buy with a line of people waiting to get in that looked like it was from Black Friday. WAY too many people in a close proximity. Too many people are ignoring the "social distancing" recommendations. At least they are open. The next several weeks are going to be fraught with inconveniences.
 

Wayne_j

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I see this as the schedule for the Albany store: Looks like this is temporary. The Saratoga store is also still open.

ThuAug. 27Closed
FriAug. 28Closed
SatAug. 29Closed
SunAug. 30Closed
MonAug. 3110:00 AM - 7:00 PM
TueSep. 110:00 AM - 7:00 PM
WedSep. 210:00 AM - 7:00 PM
 

Wayne_j

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The Best Buy location talked about last week is now back in operation although they didn't have any copies of the UHD Goonies.
 

Jake Lipson

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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.
 

David Norman

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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.

Most of them are, but I still think there is some regional variation
 

Malcolm R

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Stopped at my nearest Best Buy yesterday for the first time in months. Noticed the media section has changed to all electronic price tags. I wondered if that's an attempt to match Amazon or other online retailers pricing changes in-store, on the fly? I know I purchased the 3-movie set of Beverly Hills Cop that was the same price being offered on Amazon.

Still several aisles of discs in this store, but not really fully-stocked.
 

Wayne_j

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1 aisle of discs in my store along with a new release rack. No electronic price tags.
 

The Obsolete Man

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I think the Best Buy closest to me had switched to that format as early as last year when Ken Burns' Country Music was released on Blu and I ordered online and picked it up there.

That was the last time I thought about going in that Best Buy.


And the closest Target switched to that format just before COVID, during a remodel. Last visit to Target, even without the spectre of Corona.
 

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