What Is Going On At Best Buy? | Retail Archaeology
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- čas přidán 20. 05. 2023
- In this episode we take a look at what is going on with Best Buy.
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Man, I'm still bummed about Fry's Electronics going under. It was so great knowing there was a store that was basically guaranteed to have whatever weird electronic thing I needed that didn't require me to pay extra shipping costs.
Being from the east coast, one time I was in San Diego for business and we needed a tech item and went to a Fry's and I was amazed by the store. Had anything electronic I could ever want, wished we had it back home. But one thing I did note was how void of life the store was and many sections had no items on the shelves. I knew its time was coming. Was happy to see it and sad to see it go, all in the same first time visit.
Tell me about it.
-- Sincerely, Radio Shack
Yeah, but Fry's heyday was a long time ago. With them and RadioShack gone along with Capital Electronics in Phoenix there aren't any places locally to pickup random components.
Loved the San Jose and Fremont stores, back in 2014-2016, couldn't believe what they turned into a few years later.
It's sad every time I drive by a closed location, knowing what it once was...
I worked at a Best Buy in the media department and loss prevention about 15 years ago, and recently stopped by my old store on a trip back visiting family. I was shocked at how empty it was. Empty shelves, no customers, no staff to be seen, expanding into cheap toys on clearance. It was sad to see such a bustling store back in the day that's now so dead. I remember at one of our morning meetings our store manager was making fun that the local Circuit City was closing for good. Karma's a B.
Because Best buy has shifted more to direct deliveries of online orders. No need to come in store if you can have it delivered same day.
I worked at best buy back in 2006 and hated it no hour's low pay no benefits no future employees always wanted to control you it was a happy day when I got fired for using discount to buy a game it only cost me 3 cents I sold the game and made a profit.
They don't sell anything good hardly any computers all are garbage hardly any games or movies.
If you like working at a retail store you are pathetic.
I didn’t think Best Buy was in trouble until this video. My local Best Buy is always busy and it was recently renovated, and very nicely I might add. It has a VERY extensive home appliance section in mock kitchens, the standard Apple Store (which is now much larger than the old one), a larger Windows store, a well organized TV section, and smaller module like sections for smart home, fitness, and camera equipment. Everything is more set up like a “store within a store” and it makes the shopping experience more interesting.
My local Best Buy is the same way. Every time I go there it has plenty of workers on staff and a nice flow of customers.
@@FreddyGameTime Same here..
Best Buy, the company, isn't necessarily "in trouble" but its retail side is. They have been shifting more and more to online market sales as time has gone on. I worked for them about 10 years ago, when they actually started implementing the online shift and got the inside dirt on it. They'll eventually have only a handful of stores open and you'll do almost any/all shopping with them online, that's their end goal and really the only way they'll be a sustainable business in the future.
My local store is pretty busy and has plenty of merchandise but there is one an extra 30 minute drive away that's less busy and smaller selection. I suppose that one and the one featured in the video are underperforming and might be closed in the near future.
My Best Buy is usually a ghost town. You generally have to wander around the store to find someone to help you. Often times what I want is in stock, but they have to go get it for me.
I'm a gen-x mall rat really bummed about the death of retail, especially Frys. I've been using Best Buy since Frys closed and have been happy to usually find exactly what I want, like RAM chips, hard drive, mechanical keyboard, videogame controller, and headphones. My closest store closed six months ago and it depresses me seeing it empty when I visit a store nextdoor to it. Sigh. The 90s really were the best.
They were great but I think if I time traveled back, slow internet and not being able to order or watch anything I want from my couch would make me come back to today within a week.
This is nothing compared to the UK.
The few bicks and mortar retailers left in the UK are homogenised beyond belief and are selling very, very little.
Case in point, all major UK supermarkets, including Asda that used to be owned by Walmart, have either no electric fans despite it being summer, or a choice of one, maybe two different types.
Go online though and you're spoilt for choice.
Can't argue with the observed facts
Fry's could have been NewEgg before NewEgg even got started, but like with ALL of these chains, management stubbornly believed clientele would always favor brick and mortar over online shopping and thus paid zero effort towards having e-stores.
@@2buxasliceYour just watching a device that displays colored lights. I trade asap!
I'm gen-x mall rat who's never heard of 'Frys' before. Must be a regional thing. I'm from NYC. When I was young, you bought music at Sam Goody, Tower Records, Virgin. You bought TV's, VCR's and stereo's at P.C. Richard & son, (Nobody beats) the Wiz or J&R. And you bought larger appliances, like refrigerators and washing machines at Sears. Then years later, Best Buy and Circuit City entered the mix. Of course there was Crazy Eddie's too, but something about them never did feel right...
"It's just kinda filled with expensive stuff nobody has money to buy it with now"
TBH that's a pretty good summation of all retail, entertainment and product now.
Death of the middle class
I worked at Best Buy around 2012, there’s still a few employees working at the same store that were there when I was, I went in to pick up Zelda and was chatting with one and he said it’s been nothing but cost cutting this past year. They’ve dropped a bunch of employees and even some of the more senior ones were laid off or forced to take a downgrade in position. I know for me one reason I frequent Best Buy less is they absolutely gutted the customer loyalty programs. I used to spend enough to get free two day shopping, 2x points, and other benefits. Now only purchases with Best Buy’s own credit card qualify for any rewards and even that has so many restrictions on what products qualify (Apple products for example are excluded) it’s a sure fire way to make people not want to shop with you.
They cut a couple times over the pandemic at least from what I heard I worked at bb from 07 -11
The axe to the loyalty program was it for me also. There's no reason to go when Micro Center is here. Their customer service and store is much better.
@@MrAP991well they tied it to the credit card but that's the stupidest thing they've done as I never dot eh rewards just the interest free finacnign
Best Buys in New Jersey are fully stocked and full of customers. I'm not sure why it's so quiet and poorly stocked there
I was there 2010-nov 2022, I can confirm all of this. BBY near me is rough.
Yeah call me old-fashioned, but I miss those days when I could go into a store like Best Buy and spend hours browsing the PC games, CDs and DVDs. The selection was mind-boggling, so it was easy to kill time there. I think it's the combination of streaming, downloading games versus owning a physical copy of the game, online shopping etc that's causing the demise of stores like these.
Yea pisses me off takes the damn joy right out of you
I think Best Buy was about to go bankrupt before the pandemic, but once everyone needed to work from home, they all ran to Best Buy to buy laptops and other office electronics. Now that we are past that, the stores are struggling again. Best Buy stores won’t last for long.
then where are we going to get our electronic fix.
@@garatobra2504: Sadly, online, like everyone else (who doesn't know what a landline is).
Once upon a time, the sales people could explain the product features to you.
That was a Long time ago.
It is probably going down because of inflation and economy. People need food rather than buying a new gadget. Some good marketing and change in store format like competitive online pricing to compete with amazon could keep if afloat and thriving.
@@garatobra2504Microcenter is a great option... if you have one near you.
Best Buy employee, here - actually, the opposite is true. Pre-pandemic we were still seeing growth quarter after quarter and share prices were pretty good. The CEO at the time, Hubert Jolie was the one responsible for preventing Best Buy from going bankrupt in 2012. We changed CEOs directly before the pandemic. The current CEO, Corie Barry then decided to make some massive, drastic changes leading to the layoffs mentioned in the video. Layoffs have kind of ruined the in-store experience for customers leading to less repeat business. It sucks, honestly. I used to love my job pre-pandemic, now it's just depressing.
Being a kid in the 90s I'll never forget when Best Buy had tube TVs stack together which formed a giant TV that would display N64 games that people could play. Over the past 20 years it always seemed like Best Buy electronics were overpriced.
Very sad to see.. I remember wandering through empty fry’s electronics or Sears, borders, radio shack, circuit city, Kmart.. so depressing they are vanishing so quickly. Now bed bath and beyond and buy buy baby. What’s next? Gasp 😮
FUTURESHOP!!!!!! The future is friendly 😊
They did that at my Best Buy back in the day. It TOWERED above the center of the store; you could see it from almost any angle. Even better, the giant screen was flanked on both sides by giant plastic Mario and Sonic statues/cut-outs.
Once you made your way to the center of the store, it was a SEA of video games and demo stations! They had demo stations for Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Gameboy, Playstation and even the Dreamcast!
It was pure magic.
... A magic, much like with Disney, is all but gone now.
A few months back I hit Google to try to find pictures of this and I can't find them anywhere. The Mario 64 on there during the 96 Christmas season is burned into my brain.
@@rtothe29 I remember it being a single tv that the person would use to play the N64 and the giant tube TVs forming one big tv that was like 10 feet in the air so anybody in the store could look up and see the person playing (this isn't just nostalgia goggles it was cool as hell what they did lol). for me they had golden eye 64.
I'm 50 and I miss the days of Best Buy, Circuit City, Fry's and Radio Shack.
I'm going on 42, and I miss Radio Shack the most being able to walk into a store, and pick up what I needed for a project like some caps to fix an audio receiver, a roll of solder, or 100ft RJ6 cable knowing they would have it, not having to order it, and wait a week to a month to get it because for most of my life I've lived in a small rural southern town where major shopping is 25 mins - 1hr away depending on the store. Now I have to hope Walmart, Lowe's, Harbor Freight, or Home Depot has it in stock in my area, or just order it online, and wait for everything to get stuck in Atlanta sometimes several days if it's shipped via USPS. 😞
@@CommodoreFan64 I use to have those large channel walkie talkies where you had to put in the channel chips inside of the unit. loved those. Plus short wave radios. Radio Shack was the best. Still have my old catalog from them. great stuff inside of it.
@@boskostoybox I remember those, and even in the early 2000's when my brother was still on our vol. fire department we would go to Radio Shack for parts, as I would vol. to help fix fire radios, and CB units for the guys when they broke down, even if it cost me more, as time was more important.
the late 90s to mid 2006 was the last of that era being top tier as well as toys r us video games too
I go to Best Buy pretty frequently, but only because it's attached to my local mall as one of the major stores that has a parking lot on the outside. One thing I notice that looks familiar to mine is you never EVER see an employee. They genuinely don't exist. No joke I once witnessed a woman walk out of the store with an Amiibo to trigger the anti theft alarm to get the employees to come out of hiding so she could ask one of them to grab her an iPad mini she was trying to buy
Last time I stepped foot inside of a Best Buy, it was the most depressing feeling ever. Devoid of people, and way too much stuff all over the place in different sections scattered throughout. I used to buy a ton of DVD’s and CD’s from this place back in the day when it was a thriving business. The problem with this place is they refuse to change with the times, just like all the others that went bankrupt. Bed Bath and Beyond, Sears, Kmart, etc.
Exactly! You probably have the most sensible comment on here. A lot of these businesses and companies are refusing to change with the times. Inventions as well as innovation used to be few and far up until recently where so much as an iPhone from three or four years ago could be the most obsolete thing you could have in your hands right now. It seems that a lot of these retail companies are refusing to make adjustments and some seem to purposely be out of touch with the general public as if they don’t care if their company fails because they have their own personal bail out package or something.
Considering for YEARS they've been pushing people to shop online I'm not really surprised they're not doing good, the last several times I've shopped at Best Buy they never have what I want BUT like always I'm told I can order it online and have it shipped to the store or to my home. I get online shopping is the norm nowadays but I really don't appreciate them keeping low stock and forcing us toward buying online.
not to mention if you keep doing that then everyone is gonna shop on Amazon and fuck your company over at that point.
Bought from them online a couple years back. They charged me for installation because I didn't purchase their rewards. I had to return one of the products to the physical store per their own installation people instructions. It was a pain. Then I had issues with the TV and because it was under warranty they couldn't help. I am not surprised they are struggling when they make it difficult to be a customer.
@@jay48538 Returning anything to a best buy is a nightmare. I stopped shopping there after they burned my car down to nothing with a stereo install they did. Then tried to say it was the spark plugs.
@@Ifixstuf You couldn't file a lawsuit over the botched installation?
In that case I'll just go home and find it myself. Possibly cheaper from another retailer.
Unfortunately I will have to wait for it which was the primary reason I'm HERE trying to purchase it NOW.
That sales strategy makes no sense.
The thing is I think this experience is based on a store to store bases. My local Best Buy is always full during normal peak hours. It's also well staffed, stocked, and overall a more welcoming place. I wouldn't have even imagined a Best Buy in that condition until I saw your video. From the experience I had at my local one I would've never questioned the company's health. Although I always had a nabbing thought in the back of my head saying "Why haven't they crumbled like the rest". I wonder what lead to such inconsistency?
I’ve had a similar experience with my local Best Buy still doing okay, but the next closest one to me is definitely on the decline.
Stores here in North county San Diego are pretty empty usually.
I shop at Best buy for unlocked phones and car stereo equipment
Same, my local store is always busy
@Kevin Brown I often view Best Buy staff in the same way as Ron Swanson viewed the associate at Home Depot. Stern look "I know more than you", Walk off. Hahaha. I'm always nice to the associates though. If they wanted real specialists they have to pay for it and Best Buy does have the budget for that.
I agree - it's location dependant. The ones in Burbank and Glendale CA I frequent are usually fairly crowded.
I worked for Best Buy for about 6 months selling home theater stuff. Every manager and supervisor I had was very obviously bullied in high school and relished at the thought of now being a manager where they were now able to wield some level of power over people. The shitty sales culture sucked. I remember one manager pointing at some frail old man and telling me to "go take a jackhammer to his wallet." They wanted us to sign as many people up for credit cards as possible. The high pressure sales culture was pretty gross and whenever I was a customer, being bothered by overzealous pickup artist-esque salesmen was always the worst part of going into a store like this.
they have had that toxic sales culture for a very long time and its what drove everyone away. they can blame online all they like but they did it to themselves.
Don't stores KNOW that stuff drives people away? Yesterday I'm in Home Depot and they had the "Solar Sales Squad" on patrol! Opening line: "Hi, excuse me...are you paying to much for your electric bill..."?
I was in the computer dept at Circuit City in '99. Everyone was just getting on the Internet then, and we had a lot of retired couples who only wanted emails from the grandkids. The dept mgr was furious that we kept selling them the cheapest pkgs, and had us do whatever it took to upsell them. Scare them, lie to them, the cheap ones wouldn't work or would break down, they needed the bells and whistles. We gave the hard sell and they begged and pleaded about their Social Security, but we'd no longer sell a cheap pkg lest the mgr came down on us again. That's why I got out. They went under a few years later. Good riddance to them.
I'm with you, namegoeshere. The staff at my local BB is definitely composed of individuals who seem to be social misfits. They are certainly not 'people persons'.
On top of that, on my last visit I couldn't find a staff member who was really a computer nerd. They were willing to sell me something, but they were not able to explain anything. I did feel pressured to buy and somewhat 'bullied'.
After I left, I felt like I had just left some sleazy used car lot.
A few years ago, I was at BB a lot. I'll never return. Visiting and shopping at BB is no longer a pleasant experience. This is too bad. BB used to be a positive place.
At my Best Buy they don’t even acknowledge you.
I work for Best Buy and I’m on my way out. You hit the nail on the coffin when you say it’s depressing. If you would ever want to speak to someone who’s been in the warzone I’m always open to chat. Great video 😊
Any good tips for consumers? I feel like if BB does go out of business or shrinks to only a few stores. Maybe a close one that closes will have a buyout sale. What would you recommend (depending on how long you have worked there)
I worked there both pre and post lockdown, because curbside pickup became a thing and became ultimately superior to shopping in store even after restrictions were lifted the stores have basically became hubs for people to pick up a quick convenient online order.
I was trying to think of a way to describe it, and referring to a b&m location as a hub to pick up your online purchases is kinda the way things feel right now.
I'm working at best buy as well doing product flow. I hate it here
I don’t want to resort to buying expensive electronics from Amazonand have the dbag throw it around. I’d rather go to Best Buy and bring it home myself. If Best Buy goes bye byes, guess I’ll be stuck with my 65” until it dies
It seems to be highly location dependent. Locations near me are good. I don't think Best Buy will completely disappear, but they will trim the fat and get rid of stores that don't perform. We will always need a store where we can physically see the items and test them.
Yea, they've closed some larger stores near me, in areas that I was actually surprised that they weren't do so well. I think they are doing what many companies are, and getting out of expensive leases if the purchases are coming from online more than in store. They also have a few were I live, so you are never more than 30 minutes away from one.
I agree. My store is very numbers focused and the managers/ leaders are good with pushing employees to perform, but not in an annoying or overbearing way. I’m relatively new but a leader explained how a different store nearby was shut down because they failed to pay attention to their numbers, and through the past couple months I’ve seen how hard they work on doing the best they can with the customers we do get. Locations with good management & employees will be fine
Wow. It definitely feels like it's going the way of Fry's. When I used to go to BB on a more regular basis about 20 years ago by the Mall of GA they had so many obscure boutique label DVDs and import CD's that are now long out of print. I don't know if they do this anymore but they used to have "Best Buy Exclusive" DVDs and CD's that would come with extras. I still occasionally purchase electronics from BB through their website and just have them ship it direct to my house or I drive over and pick it up. The one thing that always irked me about that place was if a customer needed help, NONE of the employees wanted to be bothered to help anyone. Thank you for doing this video, I'm really looking forward to your deep dive on BB in the future.
When I worked there in 2020, my supervisor literally told me not to help customers so I could focus on doing picks for online/pickup orders 😅
@@SalivatingSteve I barely drop into BB as much, as I used to. That said, they are getting worser if they have been telling employees to focus on pick up in store/drive up orders. Another commenter to this video said their customer rewards program got gutted, as of recently.
I recently bought a rather expensive computer monitor. Instead of buying it on Amazon and risking having it broken during delivery or stolen, I decided to buy it through Best Buy so I could pick it up myself. When I went to pickup the order, the store manager thanked me in person for buying it there. That definitely seemed odd to me. The store was totally empty though just like in this video. Maybe they’re headed in the same direction as Fry’s.
I used to work for Best Buy from 2009-2012 while in college. Worked in Magnolia for about a year before transitioning to geek squad because of my IT background and it was more flexible with my school schedule. Let me tell you what the idiots that run that company are vile and just plain ignorant (like used car salesmen). Never again will I set foot in one of their stores. Found a document from corporate making sure they had a 65% turnover rate in the managers office one day. They want to fire people so they don't have to give raises and just keep hiring the next group of gullible high school students. They want to quickly promote anyone that stays into management where they can exploit you with a salary (80-120 hour work weeks with no OT) and unobtainable bonus goals. The amount of crazy SA allegations that I saw while at the company were staggering and ALWAYS swept under the rug. The amount of backstabbing was just as huge. I even had a group of people that didn't like me because I refuse to bend the knee to their little BS clique and they basically accused me of being a pedo to one of the 17 year old cashiers at the time in response. She was so embarrassed she quit (they cornered her in the breakroom and harassed her while recording it) and I threatened to sue because it wasn't true. Knuckleheads even blasted it on youtube with thousands of views. All corporate did was slap them on the wrist and made them apologize to corporate. Nothing for me. I should have sued but I ended up just quitting. I knew one day karma would catch up and they would go under. Looks like its about to happen and I couldn't be happier. They deserve it. Let it die and go elsewhere. I hate to say it but most big chain electronic retail stores are just a bunch of morons who really can't do anything else. It IS a shame about Magnolia though. They were AWESOME and did alot of cool stuff. Before I went to Geek Squad I routinely had 30-60k sales in our area because of the rich retirees. However corporate would chew me to pieces and accuse me of not providing "world class customer service" because the customer didn't get their 40% interest rate credit card (the only thing best buy makes money on). I'm like you idiots you can't compete if the customers I am dealing with have freakn established American Express BLACK CARDS. FFS let me stop talking about them. Just file bankruptcy already, you've earned it.
Well thanks for the example of why so many American businesses fail. Patriotic Americans love to blame the economy, imports from China but one thing they never admit to is shitty and lazy American mgmt. Every office job I've had is similar. Politics, ass kissing or at least lazy mangers who do Nothing all day. Adios Best Buy. I will def miss the occassional window-shopping lol
Worked there from 05-10' and can confirm all of this. Store level management was best described as bro-culture hookups. One of our managers literally hired a hooters hostess from across the street... in home theater... with no experience..... at more pay than what they had told us the cap was for our department.... just so he could try to bang her.... even though he was engaged.
The stores aren't even open 120 hours a week, the stores are barely open 80 hours a week and none of the managers work even close to that even the general managers arent there that much. Pretty sure the cards are 30% which is pretty normal. You are exaggerating which is a different name for lying and if you are lying about anything then people probably shouldnt trust you on anything.
@@thomgizziz incorrect captain gaslighting. Worked there WAY too long, Nearly 7 years and you have to prep the stores and close them, plus inventory and restock and manage trucks and employees. I will admit that covid restricted hours but at the time they cut employee counts to nearly 75% of the original size. Another interesting note about electronics retail is that attracts ignorant people like you in DROVEs. It's aholes like you that allow these companies to continue exploiting people. My life has been incredibly peaceful since leaving and staying away from the company and I noticed that is pretty much the case with anyone that used to work there. In fact before I made this comment I went and checked in with a few of my coworkers and everyone single one had the same sentiment.
@@thomgizziz Yea, they are only about about 10 hours a day, and 8 on Sundays, which is not 120 hours. I worked there from 05-06 and it was definitely different, but that was because the Ops managers that were at the store I worked in were assholes. Not everyone was, and everyone loved the GM and he was a pretty ok dude.
Whenever you buy something at best buy they will try to set you up with their credit card, get you to buy their $200 total tech support and buy all the protection plans on every item you got.
Yep. I won’t go in there anymore. They never have what I need anyway
@@ToddAutry I worked there from 2016 to 2019ish and then I worked at a few as a Apple vender up til 2021. It was so cringe how the managers would push employees into getting customers to do credit card applications. They would turn it into competitions. And yeah they never had anything, as an employee I always always had to order something in or have the customer go and pick up the item from another best buy lol
as an employee, we're forced to pitch all that nonsense or we get our heads cut off lol
Don't forget all the BS fees they try to tack on if you need something delivered like a Dishwasher(happened to me in 2020 see my long comment) just because I'm just under a mile outside their 25 mile delivery zone. Lowe's, Home Depot, Walmart, Target, etc.. I've never had an issue getting something delivered to my house in a timely manner with polite service. and no extra BS fees.
Dont forget office! That’s a big one for me as a current employee. However I disagree, with total tech everything you buy at best buy gets a protection plan, and if youre buying a tv or appliance they will legit go out to your house for FREE take away the old dishwasher or whatever and install the new one. Kinda a bargain if you ask me. Just be glad totaltech is still an option. In a month they’re rolling out my best buy total for 179 a year and those geek squad services are not free anymore…. Also totaltech is great for old people trust me lol
I worked at Best Buy over 20 years ago and they were always busy. Might have had something to do with online shopping still being in its infancy. But comparing a modern store vs one from 20 years ago, they might as well be a different chain. They closed one down near me recently but whenever I would go, the store was small and was almost always empty. Keep an eye on them, I bet people didn't think they'd see the end of Bed Bath and Beyond 5 years ago either.
Yea I worked at a best buy and it was decently busy 3 years ago now the few times I went it was dead
When I was a kid Sears was king of the retail world. The mighty can and do fall.
Heh, as soon as the Bed Bath and Beyond nearest me started putting out signs that they copied keys, I knew they were finished.
I haven’t been into a Best Buy for probably 8-10 years. Once they stopped selling CDs and DVDs, I had zero reason to walk through the doors.
They...still sell those things?
It was always annoying having to find help when you’re in the store. There was either never enough employees or employees were just standing around. Games were never in stock. With theft, the shelves are a lot more emptier than before. It was the best place to get new games with their gamer club as it gave you a discount on new releases. But they took that off.
It’s a good place if you have an emergency and need a quick replacement or if you need to get something thing quick.
At least this doesn’t look as bad as one of my local ones. It was recently “renovated” so that only half the former floor space was still walkable, and only containing tiny islands across the entire store for every section but TVs in the back. Reminded me of an airport store.
The entire remainder of the former floor space was now seemingly a distribution center for online orders.
they lost 3-4 isles worth of Music Cd's.. nopthing to fill it with
the last sentence is correct. they are trying to compete with amazon by offering same day shipping, online order pickup, and a larger warehouse to facilitate both those things. it's also a byproduct of 2020, they had to do store pickups only to stay in business. I can understand why, I worked there for a bit and 80% of the store's revenue came from online orders. it stinks when you actually want to go and browse products in person but a sad necessity to deal with amazon undercutting the electronics market.
This is what happened to mine in north Nashville. It’s sad. It went in there back in January after not being in there for months. Anything electronic must be requested at the customer service desk and then they’ll go get it out of the warehouse area. The store space itself shrunk a lot and is now mostly just distribution/holing area for back stock that customers can’t see.
Same with our local store, it just feels like they have a lot less product than the square footage they have would require. They also made the check out lanes super weird and inconvenient. I don't get it at all.
@@PM-xc8oo Gosh. So it’s gonna be everywhere then. Sucks for them because part of the fun going was just seeing the tons of product they had to offer. It’s a much more “sterile”/“cut and dry” model now.
The Best Buy near me has been renovated drastically as well. I talked to the manager and he said that the store is mostly a fulfillment center for online orders. People order stuff online and they ship it out all over the country. I actually went there for a coffee maker that the web site said was in stock there. It wasn't on the floor, but it was in the fulfillment warehouse. The manager said most of the stuff they have isn't on the floor anymore as it is saved for order fulfillment. I guess it makes sense, but it pretty much ends the days of walking in a store and having something catch your eye.
Everything is online. Reviews are online. You can buy the product online and have it shipped.. Best Buy will survive because the store are warehouses that can ship product quickly or for the convenance of picking something up on the same day. The internet and Amazon has destroyed the experience of walking into a store and seeing the product and having a salesperson sell you something. Those days are over. They also use the stores as tech support and total tech and extended warranty service. They will still exist in some form but it will never be the same. The pandemic and the recession also had something to do with it.
I went to Best Buy about a year ago and literally half the store was cell phone stuff. They had a big appliance section, TV section, and all the other sections like games, music, and computers were very small. It's way different than it was 10+ years ago and quite depressing actually.
That's what happened to Radio Shack at the end.
They just focus on the money making stuff.....
@@johnl2727 Yup...As a independent electronic engineer RS was handy knowing there was one nearby if I ran out of solder or fuses or wire....no more!
I was recently at a Best Buy location in Colorado and while I was there, noted several of the observations you made. It was desolate. 30 minutes passed until an employee asked me if I needed assistance. This was actually fine because I hate the opposite of absent customer service…the Bath and Body works style of basically hopping on your back and endlessly commenting 🤮. Anyways I asked this rouge employee about a product and they read their answer off of the plackard under the product. Thanks buddy .
I went into Best Buy a few months ago. It's in a busy shopping plaza and tends to have at least some consistent foot traffic. But they literally closed the registers! They are all roped off and the signs say to go to guest service. Except there's only one person there handling returns, and the phone, and sales and it makes checking out 3 people into a 20 minute process!!
I hate it!
Same here at my local Best Buy here in Michigan.
Do they have Mobile Checkout available? You can literally checkout on your phone and just show an employee when you walk out. There is a spot in the app home screen and there may even be a QR code in the store.
Have a friend who works at Best Buy and they’re jerking employees around badly too. The death of physical media has hurt them, and Amazon can out price them 90% of the time. Sucks too, they’re pretty much the last national chain you can walk out with a laptop or computer that day even if the people aren’t super helpful. Don’t blame the ground employees either if half the stories I’ve heard are true.
The record selection is just sad though, even my local Walmart has a better selection.
Walmart(I'm surprised by their selection, and their ONN tablets are decent enough for a super budget Android Tablet), Target(really poor prices/selection but they have them), and Staples(they have one hr pickup) still sell Laptops, Chromebooks, and tablets, you just have to make sure they are in stock, and have what you want via their websites before you go though.
Right, and everyone just buys Apple products at Apple stores if they want to buy it at a physical store
I still remember the chain stores killing the small electronics ic stores back in the 90s...
@@ogs_Boga1900 Yep even stores like CompUSA were not immune to the big box stores.
@@ogs_Boga1900 Yes, it's just big fish eating smaller fish. Now the big box chain stores are small fish to giant fish.
It's truly sad to see stores we grow up going to slowly going out of business as we get older. The retail landscape is noticeable changing while ecommerce is divouring everything in its path.
I only blame ecommerce for 50% of this. Stores like Best Buy had horrible customer service even in the 1990s, and their products were always overpriced. I'd go in there, look at cables, or a network router, and positively laugh at the outrageous prices. Nevermind the high prices on low-grade-fancy-packaged stereo equipment. Nothing in there was ever a "best" buy. The internet came down hardest on the places that had nothing of value to offer a face-to-face customer.
My local Best Buy in the day had 10 employees standing around and 3 working. It was possible one of them knew something about the products but usually not that much. I always thought that model will never last and now we will watch evolution play out!
I used to go to my local Best Buy all the time to browse CDs, DVDs, and games, and the store would be packed on weekends. These days, it seems like their business model is "either come buy a phone, order a large appliance and have us deliver it, or order a moderately expensive consumer electronics item (computer, TV) and pick it up curbside".
The latter is pretty much every BB purchase I've made in the last 3 or 4 years - buy electronics that I want today and that don't have to get manhandled during shipping.
I remember working at Best Buy in the late 90's and early 2000's. It was always so busy. Especially in the media department. I remember all the kids coming in on Friday and Saturday nights playing video games and trying to steal CDs (I worked in Loss Prevention, so that was a lot of fun!). Everyone that worked there took pride in what they did. It was a big deal to work at Best Buy, especially if you were still in high school. You were like a celebrity at school. Haha! Now I go in there and I will most likely be the only person in the store. No employees interact with me whatsoever, which is fine because I usually know what I am buying. I can't imagine them being around in ten years. So sad.
🥺
I grew up in the 2000s and early 2010s and I remember Best Buy being the place to be to get all your tech, computer and TV needs along with video games. Now the only reason people go to the Best Buy in my area is for Geek Squad to help with a tech problem or to buy cheap stuff as I had to buy a cheap $200 camera for a college project I needed. I agree, I don't expect them to be around by the end of the 2020s.
@@quinnjohnson9750 Yeah, we were so excited for all the cool tech back then, and now we have younger generations who don't go to places to hang out. They just sit on their phones and consume. I am just happy we lived in the generation we did.
@@DavidMatthewC fast times at ridgemont high era. ;)
@DavidMatthewC
Half the reason many people went to BB back during their heyday was to hang out with fellow geeks and talk about all the tech, and products, along with the videos , records, and CDs.....they were often times very crowded any time of the day or week, now very few people are going.
Same story, here. When I was a kid in the 90's, there was no place in the world cooler than Best Buy, and I loved going there and being surrounded by all that neat stuff and getting to try it out. The one nearest to my childhood hometown had a HUGE screen showing the latest Nintendo or Sega demo which someone below was playing, live. My family bought our first PC there in '95. It was always a special place to go.
I worked in a different one for maybe a year and a half, back in 2010-2011, and it was still a pretty cool place, even then (though a lot less cool to be there as an employee than to be there as a customer). And while that particular store still exists, for now, it's a shell of its former self. On the rare occasion I do go in there (always just to pick up something I ordered on their website), it's always just as barren and empty as shown in your video.
It's sad how the times have changed, but you can clearly see why they have, and I don't think there's any avoiding the inevitable.
As someone who worked at Best Buy as of a month ago, it’s totally going under. There are restructuring right now. Almost every leader in the store has been let go, all of sales floor want to leave, and their HR team doesn’t do shit. They have a variety of store sizes, this one is in the mid range as size goes. It’s sad that everything is going down hill so quickly
Lol yeah I work at one and they've been hiring all the managers and long time workers
@@Alfredo_Saucesounds like op was lying
I go to my local BestBuy stores from time to time, they are well maintained and have quite decent foot traffic, sometimes I have to wait little bit to pay or pick up. The deliveries are all in very good condition. Maybe my neighborhood just gets lucky.
It was sad to see them stop carrying CDs because they always seemed to have the best selection of them!
They stopped carrying them, because only 0.0001% of the population uses them though- perhaps you are just sad that CD’s are no longer a thing in general?
@@everyhandletaken It’s probably more like 1%. Don’t get me wrong, I get it, it just sucks.
@@Tristin471 they sell more records then cds now.
@@gogereaver349 Correct
Same! Although that was a major overall with almost any retail electronics store i can imagine. I miss the days where id walk into a best buy, find the cd, buy it and quickly open it up to listen to in my car lol like going there with an intent to buy something I had been looking forward to!
I went to Micro Center on a Saturday a couple of months ago. Had a particular clearance item in mind. I expected the store to be empty given so much shopping is done online now. It was busy--struck me as being crowded like a store before Christmas might be years ago.
I remember our Best Buy in the late 80's or early 90's was always bustling with customers and products. All the time I was working in the IT field I went there often. In 2000 or so I went back and was surprised by what wasn't in the store. The last time I was there, around 2012, it has really changed. I haven't had the need to go since then. But I may go back to see what shape it's in. A lot of retail malls and the like are just sad now.
I hate how they restricted their stores during covid,I dont mean limiting number of people in the store,I mean you couldn't enter the store and the only way to buy anything was online with the option to pick up at the entrance,and even today they're closing at 8pm.Once you make your store that restrictive you sink in my book and if your sales plunge that's on you.
Yeah a lot of businesses were doing similar actions during the COVID period. I think they were just following protocol to keep employees and customers safe.
@@tafb94force29 But I don’t mean 3-6 months after Covid started in 2020,this went on at my Best Buy for like two years and they still can’t even close at 9pm
@@Art_V101 Oh ok. Were COVID cases still high in your area? Maybe that store was underperforming before COVID? They never brought up back up to full service as it may have been slowly dying over the years? Just a thought.
@@tafb94force29 Dont think so,very busy store in a good area,in fact it was recently refurbished.All I can think of is lack of employees but all I know is I couldn't go into the store for a very long time and even if you have few employees all you need are people to stock and at the checkout so lack of employees doesnt work for me,and like I said their new closing time of 8pm is just too early.
There are many retail and restaurant businesses that have never returned to their pre-pandemic business hours or staffing levels.
So, I went to the Mesa and Gilbert locations in the last 6 months and they weren't this drab. That said, in the last few weeks (maybe a month ago at this point), there was a big change at BB that isn't really being talked about. If you call any of the stores, you can no longer get a live rep at the store. Everything from Customer Service, specific departments, to product availability is now handled from a call center and a bunch of store associates have since been laid off...the store is empty not just due to lack of customers, but is devoid of employees as well. I hate to agree with you on this, but I can definitely sense the Fry's Electronics vibes inside BB.
Is the call center in Pakistan
@@RubOneOutRosie No, one hub store in a district handles all the calls, or at least that's what it was a couple years ago.
This sounds like a great idea. Keep all calls to a central location and allow the limited physical employees to actually assist customers instead of being constantly distracted by ringing phones or problems that are unsolvable by phone. It also ensures a consistent experience across stores.
@@transportationOkbutisit but also cutting out contact from stores physically means, no real way to check on product inventory, and customers getting misinformed over the phone by unqualified customer service people. plenty of times customers come into store with misinformation from calling into the call center. they got rid of phone operators in 2020.
I worked at Sears while it was sinking. Best Buy's strategy of closing stores, reimaging, and mass layoffs is exactly what Sears did (I was lucky enough to be part of the layoffs; the guys that stayed didn't get a severance). From the sounds of it, Best Buy is probably doomed to meet the same fate.
I’m in Canada, the Best Buy stores in my area significantly cut hours, open 11:30am -7:00pm now, they drastically cut product selection and I’ve noticed the bulk of product offered online is just marketplace sellers not BB such is the case with many other large retailers. The stores aren’t completely dead attendance wise but there’s a lot of signs the end is near. Depressing to see. I used to enjoy visiting the stores, and when shopping for big ticket items like TV’s it’s nice to be able to assess and compare picture quality with other brands and models. Same with trying our speakers etc.
I stopped going to best buy when the kept telling me to go to their online store to get the stuff they used to sell in store. If you want me to go online, okay, it won’t be to your store.
The Best Buy in my area was remodeled last year. When I finally went in to see the remodel. Waste of money came to mind. And they really cut in store selection. I still order a few things online, but super rare to actually go to physical location.
I worked for Best Buy for 15 years and was one of the thousands that were laid off in the last few years. From what I hear things have only gotten worse as time goes on. It seems like they are circling the drain.
Man I love my local best buy. I remember my dad got my first GameCube there and when the disc laser broke, we walked in and just instantly picked out a new one thanks to the warranty. They just renovated late last year and it's soooo nice now. My store still gets lots of traffic whenever I stop by so I hope that's a good sign. I'll be just as sad as when Fry's shut down if Best Buy really does go under... Tbh idk where to get a new tv locally that's not a supermarket like Target or Walmart, so that's a new fear unlocked lol.
This is my all time favorite store. So many memories buying games and music CD's growing up.
I still sometimes shop at my local Best Buy. It's in central Florida and looks better than this one. Say what you will about Best Buy, but I don't want it to go under like other electronics stores have done. I still want something local where I can actually see products - touch them and interact with them. I bought my last couple laptops there because I want to hold them in my hands and try out the keyboards and see the screens before buying. I want to be able to purchase products today and have them today, without dealing with shipping and possibly having to ship it back if there is a problem.
I worked for BBY in 2005 to 2014. The Tacoma WA was the first store with Magnolia the company bought it, it was another store here in town. The day they told us they were getting rid of the DVD and movie suction, I was completely shocked. Anytime I go into Best Buy, now any location, they look like this. I enjoyed your video!💙💙
The past few years looking for something online with Best Buy and others. Lack of selection and higher prices has kept me out of the Best Buy stores, even though one is across the road from a retailer I usually go to. Thanks for this update.
I think its more of a location thing. Several of the Best Buys around the Baltimore area are doing extremely well. The have pivoted more towards appliances since the chains known for that went away. Even the Best Buys that aren't crowded, the pickup desks always has lines.
The one near me in western Arkansas stays busy too. Who knew they sold washing machines? Lol. Maybe they always did and I just went to the video games section as a kid.
@@ominousbiscuitthey.sold big appliances when I worked there from 07 to 11 though looking at MD stores as well the appliances are.a bigger footprint now then during my time working there
@@ominousbiscuitThey hardly ever seem to promote appliances..the section always felt like an afterthought.
Best Buy is doing fine, just not great as they were decades ago! But at least they’re financially stable and aren’t bankrupt like Circuit City and Fry’s Electronics that didn’t put much effort into making their stores Amazon proof! We still need Best Buy a little bit more, since big box stores don’t offer like Walmart and Target don’t offer big appliances nor mid-high range computers!
@@joseph011296 the CEO Corie Barry has stagnant the numbers. Her predecessor Hurbert Joly helped turnaround the company brought in more sales and combated showrooming effect, company man did a video on Best Buy’s rise and fall and rise again!
Our Best Buy at my location is always booming! I don't think I've ever seen a Best Buy that quiet! I have a feeling they're doing okay at many locations, but wow, it's like there wasn't a person in the store when you were filming! That's crazy!
I was wondering where that Best Buy is also. Then nearest one to me is always busy even on week days. I resentley bought my daughter an apple laptop, beats headphones, and a mid range Acer chromebook for myself. Best prices for all those items at the time of purchase.
Several years ago Best Buy bought a chain named Media Play, and it didn't take them long to run it into the ground. Fast forward to just before the pandemic, and I could see signs that the Best Buy stores were following the same path: Reduced selection, wider aisles set at an angle to try and hide how empty the store had become. I can't blame it on on their management, as online retail has already killed several of their competitors, but I don't see much hope for them.
i needed a new microsd card a few months ago. Would have preferred getting one same day, so i decided to swing by best buy. It seemed like a simple enough purchase. I found a 256 gb for 10 dollars more than i was able to order a 512 gb version on amazon. That has been my general experience of everything I've needed to make my way down to best buy for. Overpriced everyday products, and no good selection for higher end products. I've pretty much given up and dont even consider it for electronics purchases any more.
I know channels like this love to harp on Amazon not being the main reason retail stores are going under but I just can't see why that wouldn't be the case. If need to buy something, ANYTHING, that isn't food or clothing I first look up reviews on line, then find the best model I can afford then inevitably order it from Amazon when none of the big box retailers gave that exact model. Why would I settle for whatever best buy has on the shelf when I want the most value I can get for the lowest price? Who are these weirdos setting for sub par products just because it's there on the shelf
I used to love Best Buy but I ran into the exact same problem, everything was overpriced compared to Amazon, I haven't been in one for years as a result.
At least with best buy you know it's real. Amazon has alot of fake SD cards
@@Code7Unltd VWestlife just did a video on this. Lots of SD cards lie about their capacity.
@@spiritvanished its just important to check reviews and for electronics to be sure the seller is Amazon and not a 3rd party.
You're lucky they had any movies at your location. My nearest Best Buy has done away with that section entirely. That's been my main reason for shopping there in recent years so it's a shame. They've moved to free shipping for all orders on their website which is cool, but then their media prices have gone a bit crazy, occasionally hitting very silly Barnes&Noble MSRP levels.
The last time I went to my nearby store was on a weekend in late January and it was pretty busy. I hope they do well enough to stay open but I also wish I could still buy the things I liked to buy from them.
My Best Buy store removed its movie and CD sections. I still go there to buy video games but I miss the movies.
I can’t imagine going into Best Buy to purchase a movie. I can buy a better selection on my couch. I’m not even sure my DVD player is still hooked up
@@drdrew3 I always looked at the older movies as new movies don't do much for me.
@@drdrew3 People still enjoy to collect and choose physical media, as the vinyl music sections at Best Buy and other stores can attest.
The video and audio quality is usually better when comparing the same transfer on an uncompressed blu-ray or 4K disc to streaming. You get to actually own the movie rather than depend on companies to keep it, or all the extra features, available on their servers and in your digital library.
And oftentimes it's fun to pick up a movie you love at the store that you get to own in a nice package.
And thankfully the disc drives on XBox and Playstation consoles help blu-ray and 4K from becoming even more niche.
Best Buy sells the newest televisions with stunning picture quality, and disc players - either standalone or in game consoles - at these stores. They have a whole sub-brand and separated section of the store devoted to home theater audio. To me it makes sense they should keep selling media formats that makes the best use of all these things.
It surprises me alittle when people still buy physical copies of movies and cds. But then again I still go to gamestop and buy a hard copy of games
Never really had reason to shop at BB unless I wanted a specific electronic item. One thing that does stand out to me, is that every shopping experience I have ever had at BB is that the Staff always seemed to be annoyed that You, the customer, need help. The last time I shopped at my local store was about 9 months ago. I did get a good deal for a Lenovo Chromebook, but had to return the originally purchased one after the screen died weeks after I bought it. I was able to even exchange it for another one, which AGAIN had the same screen issue. This time however, I looked up the issue online and was able to resolve the problem without going back to the store.
Speaking of Fry's, it was sad seeing even the Fry's in the tech center of the US, the SF Bay area close down recently, but it was even sadder going into them. Half the lights were off, half the shelves empty, and it took a 10 minute search to find someone to do a return. I used to love the themed stores around LA, the Burbank "alien invasion" store was where I built many PCs and bought most of my DVD collection. Their sketchy consignment business model is what did them in though. My Best Buy is still keeping the lights on, but it's usually only a few people inside....it sucks seeing the retail apocalypse.
Despite being recently remodeled, our local Best Buy has the stink of failure on it. It isn't quite late stage Fry's sad but it is clearly headed that direction. Poor service, super random product stock, and picked over shelves (especially their video game section) all seem to be the norm now. The last several times I've left with nothing despite coming for something that they should have had or actually carried in the past. On the last trip I actually checked their website to see if they had what I wanted, confirmed the store in question had it, and then the store didn't have it when I showed up. And of course I couldn't get any of the employees to acknowledge my existence so I walked out and I'm not entirely sure I'll be back. Unlike Fry's I'm not even sure I'm going to miss these guys.
If you saw it was online why didn't you make an order for it?
@@midnightsukotto: Why wait and pay shipping, when you can pick it up locally?
Home Depot pulls this cr*p, too! So does LOWE'S! Bad site info will kill you and you deserve to die.
Best Buy is kind of amazing in how it has reduced its product selection over the last decade, they are now mostly empty space. My local Best Buy stopped using its regular registers during Covid, and simply never re-opened them. Instead, you check out at the Customer Service desk, which often doesn't even have a stationed employee. I asked an employee about it, and they said they'd temporarily re-open the regular registers for the holidays. However, my local Best Buy does still have a handful of customers walking around inside whenever I go (despite being a fraction of the size of the one in this video). I don't know how many actually buy anything.
Interesting. I assumed it was just my best buy that uses the customer service desk for checkout.
I had to scroll down too far to see this. The BB store here has no one at the registers either... so you have to go to the Customer Service line which has people doing returns and things, meaning it's going to take several minutes of sitting there instead of just checking out like a normal person. Super weird.
I remember when BB had THE greatest selection of DVDs ON HAND. Literal ROWs of every movie and show imaginable. Then, a few years ago, it was suddenly down to a handful of wire racks tucked away in the back of the store...
Went into my local Best Buy last year and it was pretty empty and then I noticed a toy section in the back of the store…same thing I noticed when Fry’s started to circle the drain. Kind of a bummer…
BB has been playing the 'inventory reduction' game for at least five years. They do this by only stocking merch at selected stores; if you want something it will be transferred to the store of choice. Too bad, I was hoping to touch and feel more products on occasion.
Personally I treat BB as an appliance store. I make one major purchase there once every few years. Usually things that they will take the old crap away for me like dishwashers, TVs, etc.
It is very difficult to just kill time there.
This year were a pair of Cyberpower PCs for my kids. Sure they weren't Alienware, but because they weren't I was able to bump the specs considerably. Plus, no interest financing for 24 months helped seal the deal.
I'm mainly sad about their movies and games sections being cut down a size, every time id go i always spent most of that time looking at dvds and games
It depressed me when i went recently to a location i knew well after they remodeled and a third of the store is walled off for managing store pickup
There wasnt even a single aisle of dvds/blurays, only a couple small displays promoting morbius
I also still get sad remembering that Frye's is just.. gone. I have really lovely memories of going there and checking their great variety of toys, games, tvs, and dvds
I think one of the last times i went to Frye's was when i got the case for my current pc.
i remember going into a best buy i had regularly gone to when i was alot younger and being shocked on just how empty it was. nobody else to be seen and an overreliance on cheap pop culture junk you would see crowding some modern-day gamestop. not too long after the store suddenly closed. i have fond memories of coming to that exact store every other weekend to be met with a huge crowd of people there. sad.
Best Buy even 10 years ago was jam packed with a huge selection. Their movies section and video games section was massive. Now they barely have anything. Back in the day I could spend hours browsing through the store. Now if I even make my way there, i just grab what a want and leave. Amazon is way more convenient. These retail stores are killing themselves.
These stores have to start providing some kind of experience if they wanna stay in business. The apple store near me is always busy and the reason is because people can go in there and try things and have their electronics repaired and it’s just a place that people go to for the experience they get. I’d even say Best Buy should team up with some of the companies who’s products they sell and make areas in their store where people go to try things and potentially buy them. Another thing they could do is make it easy for people to place an order in the store for products they don’t have in stock. Then they’re still getting a sale. People have gotten used to ordering things and not having to leave their homes so they have to come up with ways to get people out. A boring store that likely doesn’t even have what I want is not gonna make me leave home. But a store has things set up that I want to try would bring me in and I’d be more likely to spend money. I’d like to try out a racing wheel before I buy one but they don’t have a way for me to do that. So why even go to the store when I can order it and have it delivered in a few days?
I worked for Best Buy for 6 years, through last fall. The local store gets credit for the online sales in their assigned geographic area. And they used to "team up" with companies by having what they called Vendor Paid Labor from the big companies (think Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Sony, etc.). The VPLs were Best Buy employees tasked with selling products from the company they represented; those companies paid the VPL's salary through Best Buy's payroll system. They discontinued VPLs almost completely about 3 or so years ago. This current mess has been coming for a while.
@@nancy4don the VPL system must have been the driver behind the Apple ‘boutique’ store in Best Buy. Now there is an Apple section within the computer section, but it doesn’t feel quite so distinct. The overhead signage that set the boundaries for that area are gone.
Apple is different, it's like Scientology, they sell overpriced products but the people keep coming back for more.
I noticed the same almost a decade ago. I was really disappointed to see they had 1080p video on their 4k monitors (so it looked worse than a 720p monitor next to it), it was like purposely sabotaging their high end products because they couldn't bother hooking up a good display. Meanwhile I can go to microcenter and try out 120 Hz 4k monitors (I have to plug in all the cables myself and find a keyboard and mouse, but they'll let you test out stuff there), and you can even go online with their gaming computer displays to use tools for testing monitors for high frequency effects like ghosting, or overdrive artifacts, or dynamic ranges or grey-to-grey response. At least they have the hardware there and let you mess around with it. Best Buy I was ready to spend some money, but they didn't have anything that could output what the monitor was capable of...
It is easy to make an order in the store. Just tell a cashier you want to order and they can let you know if it can ship to your home or the store or if another location has it in stock nearby and make an order for you.
Their car audio section used to be amazing back in the early-mid 2000s. I remember playing all the different subwoofers and dreaming about what I would do once I got a car.
Best Buy will forever be my favorite retailer.
They really did have a fantastic car audio section. I bought all kinds of car audio stuff from them during that time period.
Fun fact from old guy. Magnolia Hi Fi was a small store that a started in a relatively wealthy suburb of Seattle WA USA. I used to go in there and drool over the cutting edge and hi end speaker systems. Magnepan, Adcom, Carver, B&W bang and olufsen. Still have my B&O turntable from 1986. Still plays great.
I am surprised they are not doing well Best Buy is usually pretty busy when I go in and I go almost weekly. There is also not much of an alternative brick and mortar retailer for electronics left. I am in Oregon however and we do not have a sales tax so that really helps.
Y'all don't have Walmart, Target, or Staples out that way? they all sell electronics to some degree, or another. There is Lowe's and Home Depot for things like Dishwashers, Fridges, washing machines, etc..
@@CommodoreFan64 Walmart target and staples don’t carry the high end electronics that Best Buy has you would have to go to a specialty store or Costco
@@CommodoreFan64 Wal-Mart and Target have a more limited selection, and you're not going to find higher end stuff. Plus they're less likely to have employees who are familiar with the products.
@@StarlightPrism Maybe, but places like Walmart, and Target are still an option for the more common stuff, plus if you do your research before going to the store which I always do, then you really don't need an employee other than to unlock the item, or go get it out the stockroom, and ring it up for you.
@@hotcarbon69 staples is another doom store.
Best Buy is really trying to move to more of a online retailer, The brick and mortar stores don't have much but the online store is actually pretty good
I agree, their online presence is pretty good and sometimes very competitive with Amazon. I’ll usually make at least a few big Best Buy purchases online each year. I also like the added of convenience of…if I need it the same day, I can order online and go pick it up within an hour (or if it’s an item I don’t quite trust being shipped to me directly). There’s definitely still a place for Best Buy, especially with hardly any brick and mortar competition remaining. Trim the fat by closing lesser performing stores, and they’ll probably be fine. Now if it wasn’t for their strong online store, they probably would have folded years ago.
@@theweatherdude It’s getting less and less common for Best Buy to have online purchases available locally then same day. Their latest cost cutting strategy has been to trim local inventory. If you are in a big city this is less apparent because your local store serves as a warehouse or hub. The outlying stores are empty inside and the only vehicles in the parking lot are Geek Squad vans covered in dust
@@drdrew3 it's even bad in large metro areas like DFW where there are 20 stores, but hardly anything is in stock at the stores themselves. I used to go to Best Buy for camera accessories, lenses, and large appliances (I used to get my PC components at Fry's, but now I have to trek across town to the Micro Center that we have), but for those items I have started returning to mom & pop camera and appliance shops now.
@@xandersnyder7214 Thank goodness we have Micro Center and the locations are very busy. Plus, they take feedback all the time. I once complained to a manager about the lack of power supplies for mid size towers and next time I went in, they had every power supply you could think of. Its like they took the time to look into it and realized the demand for different size power supplies. Not always the cheapest but worth it due to good service.
Actually the brick and mortar stores are using a new queuing system that pairs everyone with advisors that make the shopping experience more personal
I saw this video and since I needed a new TV, I went to my local Best Buy. I haven't been there in many months but as I was driving into the shopping center, I noticed they had done some stealth renovations. They bricked up the section of the store that installed car audio. The renovated store seems to be the polar opposite of the other posts about remodeled stores. The interior space was expanded. The interior update was modern and fresh. It was quite nice and an upgrade over the previous layout which did give Fry's vibes.They enlarged the TV section and the computer section. The computer section seems to have been patterned after an Apple store. The old media section is gone but other areas were improved. There was an enlarged camera section that looked really nice. The old Magnolia section was removed to make room for more TVs. The old car audio section was removed for a new audio room.
The store had traffic and there was a steady stream of people out front loading big TVs. They have a new register area by the TV section and I actually had to wait for a register to free up to pay for a new TV. They had what I wanted and the inventory seemed to agree with the website although I did have to search for the TV I wanted. They seemed to be doing a brisk business selling out of 2022 TV models and most were already sold out with empty display areas where the old models were on display.
I can't say the traffic was as heavy back in the glory years but there were customers who were buying things. The rest of the shopping center has problems. A whole section was anchored by stores that have gone bankrupt including a now liquidating Beds, Baths, and Beyond. The other major anchor is a large movie theater and I suppose that is under duress too. This shopping center is in the East Bay section of the SF Bay area in an affluent area so that might be a factor. People here still have money and seem willing to spend it.
As an Aussie, I'm not really familiar with the US retail landscape (apart from hearing about the "dead mall" plague over there), but it does surprise me to hear about Best Buy. Even with e-commerce taking over, there are some things such as TVs that really are better to buy in a physical store. I went to my local JB Hi-Fi (basically our equivalent of Best Buy) a couple of weeks ago to pick up a dashcam I'd ordered online. Since the last time I'd been in they'd rearranged the store. Previously they had a massive CD/DVD/Blu-Ray/4K Blu-Ray collection that took up a good quarter of the store, that whole section has now been replaced with kitchen appliances, and reduced to a few sad looking shelves of CDs and Blu-Rays down the back. Quite strangely for an electronics store, they now have a ton of board games and Funko Pops and stuff, even disposable cameras, and obviously thats working for them as the place was fairly busy. Still I remember when they used to sell a lot of CDs, DVDs, car audio and home theatre stuff, I'd go there regularly to either buy stuff or just have a look around. It was only 10 - 15 years ago that I used to be excited to go to a shopping centre and have a look around all the interesting shops that they used to have, sadly most of them (such as record shops) have either closed down or (like electronics shops) adapted to focus on home appliances and other stuff to keep up with the times (such as electronics stores)
Last year I finally disposed of my old Sony R2400 stereo, which I bought at Circuit City in 1994. CC went out of business, but I can't even find stereos in Best Buy. How do you know you are going to like something that makes sound if you can't hear it? Just another thing I let go. What do I care if BB goes the way of CC, they don't offering anything worth keeping around.
Honestly I didn't know that best buy still sold music because my local one hasn't sold music in probably over 15 years. I've said this before but the "problem" is that modern Americans don't have the urge for huge shopping that past generations had. It's going to be a hard time for a lot of companies even big places like Walmart has been getting hit hard and is closing tons of stores.
It shows that the era of Consumerism has been long gone and might be a good thing after all....
Last time I was at a Best Buy about a month ago, it looked like CDs no longer were sold there. Someone else later confirmed on a retail Discord I am a member of, that they got rid of their CD selection, and drastically reduced their DVD selection. Both these things were indeed true at the Best Buy outlet I visited, not long ago. And the first BB store I had visited, in a number of years. For sure I hadn't revisited BB since before COVID, and while shelves weren't Fry's level empty, it is still less than it used to be.
So i work for a 3rd party who does delivery/installs on behalf of best buy because geek squad can't do anything outside TV and speaker set up. Any security cameras, appliances, as well as your TVs (if GS is booked too far out) will go to third party who are in most cases better than official GS teams.
Back in June, they did away with the Total tech program which essentially means that if you paid $200/year, you would get free delivery and install of your products. Long story short, they were losing money, and discontinued it. A good portion of business went away as a result of customers having to pay for delivery/install.
Last year, Best Buy hired too many Best Buy and Geek Squad employees during the holidays, and then they laid off 5000 employees across the US and closed down store locations.
Best Buy also had a new corporate leadership change, and the plan is to compete with Amazon, and close down more store locations (with the exception of some retail locations in the major metro areas) and focus on online sales.
Best Buy by my guess only has maybe 10-15 years of life in it before they file for bankruptcy or get absorbed by another company (more than likely Amazon).
Here in Auburn, Maine our Auburn Mall is on the dead mall list. When I went into the Navy in 1977 it wasn't built yet. It was built in 1979. It was beautiful place. Had a Sears on one end and J.C.Penney's on the other. Now there are still stores, but large areas on one end is now back offices for a paycheck processing and a call center for TD Bank.
No joke: Best Buy in the 1990s and 2000s had the LARGEST selection of video games, anime, movies, and music cds. It was legendary! The PC game selections was also the best. Thats all i shopped for in my day. Also was really nice just ro browse at their enormous selections of computers and TVs. Too bad. Another great retail down the drain! Inflation and lower wages of pay have made people shop at AMAZON and Dollar Tree for everything.
Getting a job at Best Buy in the mid 90's-Early '00s was a goal of a lot of friends of mine in high school/college. I applied all the time but never got in. IT was the place to work and had great discounts for employees.
Games, music, movies/TV, and software are mostly not sold as physical objects anymore, very little a company like Best Buy could do about that other than to stop stocking what people weren't buying in physical form anymore. They still have a lot of TVs and computers in store (though mostly laptops as that's what sells these days). We may all complain about the lack of in store selection but I doubt many would give up services like Steam and digital downloads to go back to those days when it comes down to it
@@apotheases That's cool. I would've definitely taken advantage of their employee discount.
@@St0rmcrash Having a wall to wall library of dvds; mostly movies, shows, and anime was quite the "awe" moment of fandom back in the day. Kinda like having a library of cool books. That the feeling of yesterday and even today. A collection worthy of greatness. The same went for video games such as PS1, PS2, N64, and PC (all with boxes).
@@herohunted85 I certainly don't disagree, but it seems to be the minority view these days sadly. Fandom/Collectors is only ever a small portion of the buying public, and the trend seems to be towards the "convenience" of digital (at least convenient to buy, we're starting to get the heartburn of the "digital does not mean forever" of store and service shutdowns)
At least in the near term best buy is facing some tight times due to the hangover of everyone stocking up on home electronics when we were all stuck in lock down, and the inflation shifts in consumer spending categories after that. That said at least the stores in m area seem well stocked and busy on the weekends, and I had a great experience ordering a new TV from them during their early black Friday sale for a good price with home delivery.
They did close two of their stores near my parents during the pandemic though. From what I last saw their balance sheet was pretty healthy so a couple years of retrenchment won't put them at dire risk if they can turn it around. I remember in 2010/11 people thinking best buy was going to die and they turned it around massively a few years after that. I feel like the shift in media sales is more reflective of how those industries are moving than anything else, more and more games are being bought online so it's probably not worth dedicating as much space as they used to
I lived in Mesa 1995 to 2014, did all of Junior High, HS (2001) and MCC , thanks for filming here, brings back memories
A lot of other retail brick and mortar stores are in similar position. In general a lot of stores are just dead. I don't know if it's due to summer break, inflation cost, changing of consumer habits, or just general consumer apathy, but personally a lot of grocery stores feel the same way.
Difference being, shelves are stocked (at least for the time being) but I just don't see as many people in the stores as I used to.
The last time I visited a Best Buy, I was thinking "Wow, how are they still open?" the whole time. I feel like this was in like 2019 (seems like I was looking to purchase a DSLR camera at the time, and that was one of the places I stopped to look). I had simply stopped going there over time because their selections started to dwindle, as did my general interest in physical media; back in the early 2000s, BB was one of my go-to stops every time we went to the mall (it's like a 2 hour trip for us).
Been with best buy since 2015 and i can tell you on the employee side things haven't been going well either. especially post covid. a majority of the workforce you described that got laid off tended to be the long tenured full-time employees that have since been replaced with part time high schoolers that are given 0 sales/customer service training. We used to get small bonuses every month if we hit our store budget that would multiply the better, we performed (went away post covid). Our raises used to be performance based that could be up to 1$ a year (was replaced with a flat 30-40cent raise at the end of the year regardless of performance). And corporate is currently running under the "Renew Blue" strategy which when broken down can be summarized as having less employees on the floor at a time (my store sometimes has only 2 salespeople on the floor at a time) but still expected to be as efficient as back when we had 2-3 people per department. I can go on even more but that's just some changes that have happened post covid that are really brining the company down. I've worked at 3 stores since i started and they're all like this to a degree. I get it the company is struggling but all this cutting back is just making what few customers we still have want to come in less and less.
Ah I worked from 2007 to 2011 . I think what started the issues is when Brian dunn was outed as ceo. Though even back during my time they were stingy with hours unless it was holiday season closer to the end i would be lucky to get 8hrs a week. I was up front cashier.
@@animeshock2006 Ive worked at BB for the past 7 years. Hubert was the best CEO BB has ever had. He was very employee centric. Our new CEO Corrie Berry is TERRIBLE. I think more people have gotten laid off and stores closed under her, than all previous CEOs combined.
I worked for Magnolia. They were a high end retailer before Best Buy bought them. In April 2023 they let all of the magnolia employees go.
I bought a nice TV at that exact Best buy 2 months ago lol. Store felt very outdated but there was actually a decent amount of people on a Saturday morning.
I was just at a Best Buy for the first time in several years; I brought my laptop to the Geek Squad for an upgrade, plus I got a couple other items as well. The location I went to in Chicago seemed fairly busy, but I probably would have gotten those couple items elsewhere if it weren't for my Geek Squad appointment.
I went to a Best Buy recently and I was also a little sad to see how gutted it looked now. I used to stop at my old neighborhood Best Buy all the time (2008-2014, sadly closed a few years back). It was always a fun weekend afternoon to spend time messing with the PSP Go demos and hunting for anime dvd's. The absolute peak of Best Buy I feel was during the amiibo craze, wild times for sure.
I used to love going into best buy on a weekend and browsing all the PSP games and movies and deciding what I wanted to get with my 20 dollar gift card. I also would look at all the cell phones wishing I had the Sony Walkman Phone I would see all the time.
Two things: (1) The games aisles at Best Buy are bleak because of shoplifing - Best Buys have moved video games to behind the customer service counter or behind the "pick up your online orders" counter; (2) Some Best Buy locations that aren't closing are remodeling in ways that reduce their shelf space and available in-store products. Locally we lost one of our two Best Buy locations, the remaining location remodeled, and I swear that the store's inventory shrunk to the point where they keep less than half of the display units actually in stock (i.e. see 10 laptops on display, only 3 or 4 are actually in stock).
I was at my local Best Buy last Thursday around 6pm. It was very busy. Lots of employees but most all helping someone with something. The checkout lines were not long but I noticed they now have the whole checkout with an app thing. I don’t shop there often but maybe a couple times a year. Usually when it’s something I need to pick up rather that wait for Amazon. Or when I need to see or touch a product. Like a new computer mouse.
I worked directly for Best Buy from 1997 until 2004. It was such an awesome time to work in retail. I worked in and around Best Buy as a brand rep from about 2006 until 2018. The decline was so sad to watch in real time, but we all know the how's & why's. It really is sad to think that the end is very near for them.
Well it was choppy during my time there 06 to 11 I think what got the ball rolling was when Brian dunn was outed as ceo
Sadly I only think of them when I want a peripheral and want to get it quickly. Last time I went for some lightning to usb cables. There were so few employees, but when I got up to the customer service desk, they were really great. But they just didn’t have much to do with the store being so empty.
There is a a Best Buy store that's right down the street from my house and everytime that I go in to shop, there's always a lot of foot traffic there and even during the weekdays too.
I'm in Canada. Best buy is a zoo every time I have gone to one over the last year or so. It is so busy it can take about 20 to 30 min in to check out and buy something. That is with 6 cashiers. I very rarely shop there too.
But for small items like usb keys and some other minor things I buy it there. Too many i have bought online and then tested and found out they were 64MB SD cards plugged into an IC with a usb controller. That happened 10 times before I finally learned my lesson and stopped buying usb keys from amazon. but I digress my local best buy is always super busy.
Oh their stock is apparently very different from what is shown on yours. It is mostly TV's, Computers/tablets/phones etc. They even have a major appliance and small appliance section. Lots of home automation stuff too like lights, doorbell and security cameras. I have not seen any music, dvd's, or blurays. I'm pretty sure they had some bin's with them but they were parked against walls and it was like they were just there to fill up space.
I grew up going to that Best Buy location as well. I bought my first computer part there. It was a Zoom 14.4 modem. I'm not sure if you know this, but that particular location was originally a Phar-Mor before they went bankrupt. I think it only lasted a year before Best Buy moved in. I remember that because you could rent NES games there and had cheap soda.
Definitely getting Frys vibes. It's not quite that depressing yet (when Frys had like zero name brand stuff and loads of empty sections), but it's certainly on the way. In Best Buy, the video game section and blu ray sections are so oddly bare. It truly feels like the store is only open for selling TVs and appliances.
Reminds me the death of my local Super Kmart. It was one of the nice ones in a small town. I was really little when it had the food court. Later on that food court was shutdown and used for old storage, and then over time. It just quieter and empty in that place until its last moments doing inventory sellout before closing the doors up forever. Now sits there as a massive empty husk of what it once was. The decline of Kmart in that town began when Walmart moved in, then when the massive shopping centers were built behind it including a Target, really felt like the final nail in the coffin.
You need to do a update on Bed Bath And Beyond and Tuesday Morning.