Best Buy is hemorrhaging cash and closing stores - and looking to be the next Circuit City. Oh, we can only pray!
Best Buy is on the rocks, and is trying to restructure as a "Mobile" outlet. Good luck with that!
This comes as good news to the legions of consumers who have gotten bad bargains, crappy service, poor car stereo installs, and rip-offs like "extended warranties" at the store. No one loves Best Buy - no one!
It is not hard to figure out why Best Buy and Circuit City foundered. Neither were pleasant places to go to. Stereo stores in the 1970's always had the reputation of having oily salesman with feathered and blow-dried disco-doo's, selling you a $200 stereo on time for $1000.
Best Buy and Circuit City just took this concept to a national stage. There were really no "Best Buys" at Best Buy, and yes, when I was younger, I was dumb enough to read the sign and assume there were.
As computers become a commodity item, best bought from a discount store or online, it makes no sense to go to these overwrought stores, which are painted black inside, dimly lit, and manned by zit-faced teens hawking extended warranties.
The vaunted "advantage" of going to a "store" was that knowledgeable salespeople would help you make a selection - and that the selection was greater. But despite large displays of products, the actual selection was small, once you waded through the "that's out of stock" crapola. And the salesperson? Generally a clueless kid who knew nothing about the products. You are better off researching and shopping online.
The other vaunted advantage was that if your e-toy broke, you could take it there to get it fixed. But of course, they can't fix squat, so either they exchange it, or they mail it in to somewhere to be repaired, both of which are things you can do with an online purchase or a Wal-Mart or wholesale club purchase.
When the prices are higher, the sales experience is miserable, and there is no real advantage to patronizing your store, what then is your business model?
Answer: You ain't got one, other than to liquidate and go live in a cardboard box.
And you know, it couldn't happen to a nicer company! I hope they rot. No, really.
And please, Obama, don't bail them out!
