Bose Is Closing All of Its Retail Stores In North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia (theverge.com) 78
Bose plans to close its entire retail store footprint in North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia. The company announced the decision earlier today and pointed to the fact that its headphones, speakers, and other products "are increasingly purchased through e-commerce" as the reasoning. Hundreds of employees will be laid off as a result. The Verge reports: Bose opened its first physical retail store in 1993 and currently has locations in many shopping centers and the remaining malls scattered across the US. The stores are used to showcase the company's product lineup, which has grown beyond Bose's signature noise-canceling headphones in recent years to include smart speakers and sunglasses that double as earbuds. There are often similar demo areas at retailers like Best Buy, though Bose has plenty of competition to worry about in that environment.
The Framingham, Massachusetts-based company is privately held and is not revealing exactly how many workers are being impacted by its decision to pull out of physical retail. Bose is shuttering its retail presence in North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia "over the next few months." That adds up to a total of 119 stores, according to a spokesperson. "In other parts of the world, Bose stores will remain open, including approximately 130 stores located in Greater China and the United Arab Emirates; and additional stores in India, Southeast Asia, and South Korea," the company told The Verge by email. Bose says it's offering outplacement assistance and severance to employees that are being laid off.
The Framingham, Massachusetts-based company is privately held and is not revealing exactly how many workers are being impacted by its decision to pull out of physical retail. Bose is shuttering its retail presence in North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia "over the next few months." That adds up to a total of 119 stores, according to a spokesperson. "In other parts of the world, Bose stores will remain open, including approximately 130 stores located in Greater China and the United Arab Emirates; and additional stores in India, Southeast Asia, and South Korea," the company told The Verge by email. Bose says it's offering outplacement assistance and severance to employees that are being laid off.
Ah yes, Bose. (Score:1)
The Dyson of audio.
Re:Ah yes, Bose. (Score:5, Insightful)
No Highs, No Lows, (Score:2)
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They're still the kings of active noise cancelling.
Re:No Highs, No Lows, (Score:4, Funny)
Yes! They do cancel good audio fidelity quite well.
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I've ocassionly wondered if they are any good. So many of their past products and practices were so bad I haven't been able to bring myself to try them. But I'm not interested in noise canceling headphones either.
The only time I would consider them is on flights. How well do noise cancellation head phones work for that? I have Klipsch earbuds with foam surrounds made of the same material earplugs are made of. They claimed a 28 or 30db reduction.
Re:No Highs, No Lows, (Score:5, Interesting)
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This. I am a self proclaimed audiophile. I have spent many thousands on headphones. I would definitely buy another set of QC35s if my current ones broke. Their noise cancelling is simply phenomenal. The remainder of their audio quality ... has room for improvement.
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As a general rule, I have disliked Bose products for decades. When I had to start flying a lot for work, I tried a number of competing headphones; some bought at those airport stores, and returned just as fast on the return trip. I finally gave in and bought a pair of the Bose QC 35s at the Bose store at the mall. I have been flying in comfort ever since. I use them at work a lot now, since the robotics and machine shop is right next door. I would also have zero issue buying them again.
Re:No Highs, No Lows, (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:No Highs, No Lows, (Score:5, Insightful)
Having both I have to disagree. My IEMs may make things quieter (more so than 25dB) but they are far from comfortable. I gave up on using IEMs and switched to QC35s with ANC. I don't need perfect silence to sleep, but I do need something not pressing the insides of my ears. After a good 10 hour flight with IEMs on I have a headache and earache that no amount of drugs could resolve.
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Huge cans! (Score:3)
Also, trying to rest on the side of your head with IEMs is like jamming a knife in your ear, so it's not like it's any better.
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Then you had poor fitting IEMs, and probably the ear tips as well (lots of memory foam tips are too stiff - same with most silicones; it's why I tool and make my own). Most folks can wear them for 10+ hours a day, every day - if they fit you right. Not all shapes will fit everyone but when they do - they are super comfortable. And they won't slip around when you twist your head, AND they won't make your ears sweat.
My own brand of IEMs gets rave reviews from the press for the comfort and audio quality, an
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Would you mind sharing a link to your store? I'm in the market for a decent pair of earphones at the moment.
Re:No Highs, No Lows, (Score:4, Informative)
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Sometimes it had more to do with fit. Some popular headphones, including expensive studio monitors, mash against my earlobes after 30-60 minutes, and end up being quite painful to use. I have some aftermarket pads on one pair, but they've crushed down after a while. I can say that the Bose QC35s have lasted a full flight to Japan, and not caused problems. The Sony might, but the large diaphragm Sony's I have for music work, sorry, I forget the number, are not comfortable for the long haul.
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Portable bluetooth speakers too. I checked out many different brands and models before settling on the Soundlink Mini 2 (now discontinued). Best speakers in that category with nice bass that doesnt muddy the music.
My only complaint is the battery is difficult to replace after opening the case and the device needs a hard reset if you dont use it for a month or two. I'm not sure if it's crashing or it's a way to save power by not powering the power button but they have a FAQ for rebooting the device so it mus
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*if you dont use it every month or two
Bluetooth speakers: Logitech UE vs Bose (Score:2)
Portable bluetooth speakers too.
My favourite are Logitech UE Boom serires (Mega Boom, Boom 2, etc. I have a couple of Mega Boom) :-/ )
- cheaper than Bose
- still decent sound quality, including bass on the Mega Boom sub-serie.
- decent battery times (unless you turn the "Always on BLE", but come on, is it so difficult to push a button)
- can also be linked together (just like Bose) either for multiple output or for stereo, either with the app or with button presses. (Update is still pending for wonderboom
- good waterproofing (IPX7 or IP67, a
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True.. only they have mastered the art of cancelling the Noise Cancellation via just OTA
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Buy :p
Other
Sound
Equipment
Re:Ah yes, Bose. (Score:5, Insightful)
Buy
Other
Sound
Equipment
All the highs,
none of the lows,
must be Blows!
When a company intentionally REFUSES to list their technical specifications you know they are selling over-priced shit.
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When a company intentionally REFUSES to list their technical specifications you know they are selling over-priced shit.
Given the sheer uselessness of technical specifications in the audio industry, I can't fault them for this. Woow 20-35kHz amazing right? Am I talking about top of the line Grados or $5 garbage from China? You can't tell.
At least the industry mostly got away from listing PMPO as a rated power output.
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When a company intentionally REFUSES to list their technical specifications you know they are selling over-priced shit.
Given the sheer uselessness of technical specifications in the audio industry, I can't fault them for this. Woow 20-35kHz amazing right? Am I talking about top of the line Grados or $5 garbage from China? You can't tell.
At least the industry mostly got away from listing PMPO as a rated power output.
This! I know guys who can design speakers that run on 1000 watts (never mind if that's peak (which it is, but the specs don't say that), RMS, continual, or program) and output 137 dB at 1 meter, but then there's people that design speakers that run on 1300 watts (I happen to know they're using peak as well), but happen to output 134 dB at 1 meter. But we only care about watts.
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Some specs are better then no specs.
Frequency range is only a starting point.
What was the THD?
Where is the THD+N graph?
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Many of the Bose speakers require the companion processor box for optimal fidelity. I speak from experience with the 802 speakers.
In the used market these processor boxes are often sold separately or lost. So someone buys used Bose speakers then complains that it is "over-priced shit", and they don't even operate them correctly without the box. That's user error.
A poor craftsman al
Re:Ah yes, Bose. (Score:4, Funny)
Until they offer headphones with cryogenically treated cables and a built-in valve amplifier I'm not interested. We audiophools have our standards you know! :-)
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Yes. They suck.
More like Beats by Dr Dre 1.0 (Score:2)
The proof that with the right marketing you can sell anything.
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Don't forget the weights.
Remember the line from Jurassic Park: "Donald Gennaro : Are they heavy? Tim : Yeah. Donald Gennaro : Then they're expensive, put 'em back."
https://www.techtimes.com/arti... [techtimes.com]
Re:Ah yes, Bose. (Score:5, Informative)
The Dyson of audio.
The Beats of speakers.
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This is unfair. Beats have a specific sound that they're meant to have. They might not sound good to you—and that's fair, they don’t sound good to me either—but at least they have a specific personality that they aim for and hit. I'm not going to claim that most of their appeal isn't fashion and hype, but at least they sound like SOMETHING.
Bose? Man, just get anything else cheaper, and it will probably sound just as good. ANC aside, I’ve never met a Bose speaker that didn’t sou
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This is unfair. Beats have a specific sound that they're meant to have. They might not sound good to you—and that's fair, they don’t sound good to me either—but at least they have a specific personality that they aim for and hit. I'm not going to claim that most of their appeal isn't fashion and hype, but at least they sound like SOMETHING.
Bose? Man, just get anything else cheaper, and it will probably sound just as good. ANC aside, I’ve never met a Bose speaker that didn’t sound like just any random thing off the shelf.
Beats "enhances" the bass by distorting the audio, Bose "enhances" the bass by distorting the audio. They are both distorting the input in the same way, and are both CRAP.
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I disagree, my Dyson vacuum actually sucks well, whereas Bose sound quality just plain sucks.
As a sidebar to this: Virtual Store? (Score:5, Interesting)
So I had an interesting thought: VR is becoming more and more of a Thing now; why not have Virtual Stores? Store employees could literally work remotely from home, in their pajamas if they really wanted to, because their avatars in the Store would look however they want them to look. People visiting the Store: likewise; no need to even get dressed if you don't want to. Perhaps a better overall expererience for the customer than just visiting a website, and the company doesn't have the expense of a physical retail location and all the trappings that go with it.
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Re:As a sidebar to this: Virtual Store? (Score:4, Funny)
You're missing the point of the idea.
What was the point exactly? To simulate doing something that people have already demonstrated they'd rather not do in real life?
Perhaps in your VR store you get stuck behind old people, or the fellow shoppers who know each other and insist that having a conversation in the middle of the virtual aisle is a great idea. This would be an immersive experience.
You could even include virtual lines where you have to stand there while the cashier's avatar argues with the virtual belligerent customer in front of you.
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A Virtual Store wouldn't have any size constraints. You wouldn't get stuck behind anyone, or smell their B.O. or bad breath, or even listen to them if you didn't want to; you could Mute other visitors to the Virtual Store if you didn't care to listen to them; by the same token you could have complete privacy speaking with a Virtual Store employee. You could even potentially walk right through other people. Go read Snow Crash or Ready, P
Re:As a sidebar to this: Virtual Store? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not that we can't visualize this idea. It's that it's a stupid fucking idea. How is a virtual store with some paid VR employee of the company harassing you to buy the wrong product better than a web page where you just order what you want? What benefit does a VR store offer over a brick and mortar that a web page does not offer even more of?
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All that time wasted, scanning the shelves for the product you are interested in?
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I clearly lack the imagination to come up with whatever fantastical value proposition you have in your head because of a bunch of fiction you though sounded cool.
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You do get that it's boomers who are all hyped up about VR, right? The rest of us see it as the trash it is.
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The only benefit of the physical store is that you can actually try the headsets, physically.
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So much for that level of customer service.
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Maybe that works for the cheap kind of in-app purchases that get peddled en masse where no one really bats an eye at getting nickel and dimed.
I see the exact opposite. I'll go to a local store if I don't give a damn about quality; I know I'm going to find whatever bottom shelf SKU they can afford to keep in stock, and that's good enough in some cases.
But when I care I go online. Had a set of mounted and balanced wheels and tires delivered two weeks ago. If I had tried a local shop they would have pushed their brands at me, try to make whatever they had in stock work and behave like ordering anything would involve an act of Congress. All the
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I think some eager beavers tried to do something like this on Second Life back in the day. It went really well, which is why you spend a lot of time thinking about Second Life these days. Way back in the 90s I worked a bit with VRML, which was also supposed to do this. I'm sure you hear about as much about VRML as you do Second Life.
It's not a completely dumb idea, but it's hard to see how it works for either customers or the businesses. You still have to pay and train human beings, which is the really expe
Doesn't work (Score:2)
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People just buy stuff with good reviews and if it's bad return it. Retail has come to terms with this and started designing products to be easily re-packaged and sold as "new" again, and factoring the return costs into the price.
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Jesus, that sounds exhausting. Ugh.
And nothing of value was lost. (Score:3)
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Good Riddance (Score:1)
Form FOLLOWS funtion (Score:2)
Proof that nobody auditions before purchase (Score:1)
No problem! (Score:2)
They can all learn to code!
If I can't even hear them... (Score:2)
There headphones are not cheap and I need to understand why I would pay that much for them. I only bought the Q35s online because I was able to listen to them in a Bose store. I heard their sunglasses headphones last week. I probably won't buy them but they sounded amazingly good for what they are.
Bose are shooting themselves in the foot if they think that the number products sold over the shop counter is the only sales generated by their physical presence on the hig
Bose Sports favorite for exercise (Score:2)
Keeping stores open in the only growth countries. (Score:2)
The naive interpretation is that this is somehow due to the internet killing retail stores. This is actually just incidental.
The true reason for the closure of stores? Those countries have totally stagnated sales, and very little growth in the future. The Bose retail stores are not there to sell boxes and supply direct revenue (even if, incidentally, they do). They are just brick and mortar mechanisms of advertising, the real life version of a TV commercial. They are there to accelerate growth. Once the mar
Mowing the lawn (Score:2)
When looking for noise cancelling headphones I figured I would use mowing the lawn as a good test.
I found out that any noice cancelling headphone that I tried did squat on suppressing the noise a mower makes.
This surprised me since it should have worked.
Not sure why but for real noise suppression it's the foam inserts for me.
Huh (Score:2)
I didn't even know Bose had stores.