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Best Buy Lays Off 5,000 Workers, Will Close More Stores (cnn.com) 141

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
Best Buy said it laid off 5,000 workers this month and is planning to close more stores this year as more consumers buy electronics online. From a report: The news comes at a time when big chains face growing competition from Amazon and other sites that sell items like TVs and laptops. Fry's Electronics said Wednesday that it would abruptly close all of its stores overnight, ending nearly four-decades in business. Best Buy expects 40% of its sales to come from online purchases this year, up from 19% two years ago, and the company said it needed to alter its workforce in response to this shift. CEO Corie Barry told analysts Thursday that starting earlier this month, Best Buy had been adjusting the mix of full-time and part-time employees in stores, due to "having too many full-time and not enough part-time employees." As a result of this reorganization, Best Buy laid off 5,000 employees, the majority of whom worked full-time. It also said it is adding approximately 2,000 new part-time positions. Best Buy has around 102,000 employees.
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Best Buy Lays Off 5,000 Workers, Will Close More Stores

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  • Best buy became redundant in 2005 (Score:5, Informative)

    by Revek ( 133289 ) on Friday February 26, 2021 @06:04PM (#61103818)
    They stopped carrying any kind of computer parts beyond some useless usb peripherals. They now are competing against amazon and of course they are losing. I can't remember the last time I went in a best buy but I do remember walking out thirty minutes later without what I needed.

    • Re:Best buy became redundant in 2005 (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Ostracus ( 1354233 ) on Friday February 26, 2021 @06:19PM (#61103880) Journal

      Who isn't competing against Amazon? Just waiting for Amazon to buy the US government then it will be Amazon vs the world.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by xystren ( 522982 )
        Sadly, I think the better question is, who can compete against amazon?

        • Re:Best buy became redundant in 2005 (Score:5, Insightful)

          by luis_a_espinal ( 1810296 ) on Friday February 26, 2021 @10:28PM (#61104604)

          Sadly, I think the better question is, who can compete against amazon?

          Costco, Target, Walmart. Apple stores. Chewy/PetSmart. It all depends on the type of market and customers you focus on. Best Buy hasn't done enough to differentiate itself beyond selling electronics.

          Store chains cannot be so one-dimensional, they need to provide a large variety of products or customer/user experience or provide other benefits. That's where Costco, Target, Walmart and Apple stores give Amazon a run for its money. They don't try to compete toe-to-toe with online shopping. They have their own spaces for their own customer bases, and they are excelling at it.

          Even B&N can compete against Amazon in the brick-and-mortar book store space. It is still a challenging domain, but it can be done. Hell, some small/independent book stores are doing fine by turning themselves into more than bookstores (as cafes, for instance.)

          The key here is adaptability and innovation. If you are competing, it means you are already in a position of disadvantage.

          In the general sense, regardless of your business, your aim is not to compete, but to find a domain where you out innovate and provide something valuable for someone that is not readily available somewhere else (which when executed well, it creates customer loyalty.)

          Like, there's customer loyalty among low-income Walmart shoppers, not because they don't have the cash to buy online on Amazon, but because the products are affordable and stores are ubiquitous (and thus such customers can simply go to one and grab what they need, just as if they were going to a supermarket around the corner.)

          That's just one example.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by dvice ( 6309704 )

            Remember that Amazon is a book store. It sells only books. Or that is what it used to do. Compare that to present and draw a line to predict the future. What does Wallmart have that Amazon could not sell? And remember that Amazon doubles its size every 3 years.

      • then again I'm old and don't buy that much period. But besides a few oddball things (like the spritzer bottles I use to cook stir fries with less oil and the little bottles I fill with isopropyl alcohol for sanitizing stuff) I steer clear of Amazon because it's such a pain to find stuff that isn't low quality bootlegs.

        I guess I did buy USB cables from them, but it took 3 different cables before finding one that doesn't suck (JS Aux). Their lack of quality control makes them a pain.
        • I typically will search something out on Amazon to get a price feel. Then I go to suppliers pages and check two things, the supplier is the manufacturer and they don't have a foreign address. Once found, I go to their web page if possible even if a tad more expensive. If not, I check eBay. Then if it can't be beat there, Amazon.

      • Re:Best buy became redundant in 2005 (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Voyager529 ( 1363959 ) <voyager529@ya[ ].com ['hoo' in gap]> on Friday February 26, 2021 @09:04PM (#61104400)

        Who isn't competing against Amazon? Just waiting for Amazon to buy the US government then it will be Amazon vs the world.

        There are ways to compete with Amazon, and then there's "What Best Buy Did".

        Best Buy: "We can't price match this particular thing on Amazon...even though it's sold-and-shipped through them...because potato."
        Microcenter: "Sure, we'll price match that item for you!" *proceeds to buy that one thing along with a cart full of other merchandise*

        Best Buy: "Want the warranty? You need the warranty. Puppies will die if you don't buy the warranty."
        Microcenter: "Plan?" "No." "K."

        Best Buy: "We don't sell processors...or motherboards...or cases. We have maybe five RAM SKUs, maybe 5 internal hard drives / SSDs, maybe 2 GPUs, maybe 2 PSUs. We do have lots of phone cases and chargers, though."
        Microcenter: "We have over 200 feet of shelf space dedicated to having dozens of each component you could possibly want to make your gaming rig, bitcoin mining rig, or DIY NAS."

        Best Buy: "We have these plastic, retailer-exclusive Inspirons and Pavilions in pretty colors...and an Alienware so we look edgy, and Macs, because those are cool."
        Microcenter: "At least 80 different models are available from half a dozen vendors. We also sell business-grade computers if you need an Optiplex or a T-Series Thinkpad."

        Best Buy: "We can't afford good staff...we'll keep the bare minimum, give them no training and all the pressure to sell warranties."
        Microcenter: "We can't afford *not* to have good staff. Everyone who works there knows what the hell they're talking about, and if there's a deal they can give you, they'll hook you up."

        Best Buy: "Your warranty doesn't cover that...I'm sorry the guy misled you, but the warranty doesn't cover this."
        Microcenter: "As long as we don't find Nemo in here and we can read the serial number, we got you."

        Best Buy: "You, Voyager529, bought one thing from us in 2020...a TV that you waited 15 minutes for an associate, who never came. Total sales, about $250."
        Microcenter: "There's over $15,000 of purchases from you in 2020, Voyager529...and that's just on your personal card. Don't you pass four Best Buys on your drive here?"

        So yeah, it's entirely possible to compete with Amazon. It helps to figure out the sorts of things that a person would need right now, and sell those things, and sell them at a sane price. Yes, I can get HDMI cables for $3 on Amazon. $8 to walk out of the store with one is a markup I'm willing to pay. For $49.99...I'll wait.
        Similarly, my local microcenter has about 60 feet of shelf space dedicated to variants of display cables. [VGA|DVI|HDMI|Mini-HDMI|DP|Mini-DP] to [VGA|DVI|HDMI|Mini-HDMI|DP|Mini-DP] in pretty much every permutation...it's a lot of shelf space, but I know I can find what I need. Best buy sells HDMI cables in three variants: needlessly-expensive, ludicrously-expensive, and kept-in-a-safe-expensive.

        I feel no remorse for Best Buy. They chased the fads and the high margins, carrying the sort of stuff that everyone else sells, charging 20% more than everyone else was selling it for, and getting a surprised pikachu face when eventually there was no reason to go into a best buy.

        In summary:
        Best Buy: "We're going to do what Amazon does!"
        Microcenter: "We're doing to do what Amazon *can't* do."
        One of those stores has foot traffic.

        • newegg ad showed how clueless bestbuy staff is 10 years ago
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

        • Best Buy: "We can't price match this particular thing on Amazon...even though it's sold-and-shipped through them...because potato."

          hmm, I know Best Buy price matches because most of the HP systems they sell have oddball ram configurations to avoid triggering the match. Example, 12GB ram in a system that anywhere else has 16GB or 8GB. This actually costs them nothing (swap modules between systems) but severely reduces the performance of the system of course (single channel memory mode.)

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by antdude ( 79039 )

          I wished there were more MicroCenter physical stores. The closest one is too far. :(

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Megane ( 129182 )
            I would be happy if they built one in Austin, which is still an hour's drive away. That's right, "tech city" Austin does not have a MicroCenter. They had a Fry's, but it's been basically useless since 2017.

        • I remember MicroCenter. I didn't even know they were still in business. I haven't lived near one for a couple of decades. Maybe they pursued a strategy of sustainable stores instead of more stores, I'm not sure. I don't remember their staff being particularly useful though.

    • Over a decade ago I had a friend refer to them as a showroom for Amazon. I chuckled at the time, but I can't say that he was wrong.

      • The last time I went to a Best Buy was about 2012 when my DSL modem died the death. Not only couldn't I see Amazon, but I needed something the same day.

      • Re:Best buy became redundant in 2005 (Score:5, Interesting)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 ) <slashdot.worf@net> on Friday February 26, 2021 @08:57PM (#61104380)

        Over a decade ago I had a friend refer to them as a showroom for Amazon. I chuckled at the time, but I can't say that he was wrong.

        And if you think Best Buy is a store, you would have missed the fact that Best Buy is less a store and more a micro real estate mogul doing just that.

        All the big companies - Best Buy, Walmart, Target, etc., have reinvented themselves and the amount of product actually sold by Best Buy is very very small.

        Most of the products you see on Best Buy's shelves today are provided by the manufacturer pretty much as consignment - the manufacturer is responsible for maintaining the store inventory, providing a demo display for the store and renting out a bit of the store.

        Shelf space is what Best Buy leases out to manufacturers. This way it doesn't matter if Best Buy doesn't make the sale - you're not the customer anymore. People come to Best Buy, see the item, and buy it online and it's perfectly fine.

        The only products Best Buy actually holds are their own branded products - all those Insignia things are owned by Best Buy. But if you wonder why they have racks and racks of empty shelves - well the manufacturer leased the space and failed to populate it with product. If the store actually worked like a traditional store, an empty shelf is quickly filled with other product to sell while the original product is backordered.

        The big advantage Best Buy offers is returns that are environmentally friendly - it's well known if you return something to Amazon, chances are it's not restocked on the shelf, but goes into the landfill. So if you buy a whole bunch of clothes to figure out which ones fit you, the ones you return are simply tossed in the trash. Whereas chances are through Best Buy, the product can be returned to the manufacturer when the manufacturer cycles their product on the shelf.

        This is slowly changing - there are companies that Amazon contracts returns to where if you use them, they will check the item and put it back on the shelf as a returned new item, or as a used item or as parts to repair to have a used item that can be resold. Better than tossed in the trash. The amount of e-waste generated this way by people buying stuff and returning it where it's trashed, even though it's perfectly usable dwarfs any amount a right to repair policy can hope. Because the returned goods are usually perfectly functional, often brand new - the only problem is it wasn't the right color, for example.

      • If I think I'm going to buy something from Amazon, I will usually go to Best Buy and look at it. If I can't find it locally at a price point like Amazon, then I get it from Amazon.
    • Yeah. I ordered a game controller from them, to be picked up from my local store, which listed the controller as "in stock".

      The pickup date? Fourteen days away. That's B.S., and I cancelled the order. What it probably meant is that they could get it "in stock" from somewhere else in fourteen days.

      In the case of that controller, I think I found the same item at Target, ordered it, and picked it up a day later. Target won, Best Buy lost.

    • Re:Best buy became redundant in 2005 (Score:4, Informative)

      by skam240 ( 789197 ) on Friday February 26, 2021 @07:29PM (#61104100)

      I'm not saying their business model will be successful or anything but enthusiast level
      PC users haven't been catered to by Best Buy in over a decade.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by realmolo ( 574068 )

      I don't think Best Buy is competing with Amazon so much as they are competing with advances in technology. People don't buy CDs, or DVDs anymore. And most video/computer games are downloaded. AND...everyone just bought a giant TV in the last ten years (or less), and has no interest in replacing it anytime soon. AND...most of the population has replaced their computer with a smartphone. AND...the people that still use computers regularly aren't upgrading as much as they used to.

      So...what does that leave for

      • They don't sell many things that anybody wants.

        Most of what they do sell you can pick up at Walmart cheaper, or for appliances, Home Depot for about the same.

      • Best Buy reminds me of Sears, and they are making Sears-like decisions. Office Depot/Office Max are starting to carry computer stuff.

        Best Buy can find a niche. With Fry's gone, there is a place for a place that stocks CPUs, motherboards, RAM, and other desktop supplies, especially in cities without a Microcenter. What Best Buy can do is also provide services. Car stereo installations need to be done right, and ironically, some of the best installs I've seen were from Best Buy, and some of the worst came

      • I don't think Best Buy is competing with Amazon so much as they are competing with advances in technology.

        You mean like online sales? Dominated by Amazon?

        The truth though is that Best Buy always sucked. For those of us who had a Fry's (RIP) or a Micro Center nearby this was always obvious. Best Buy had incompetent employees who knew nothing selling you stuff at ridiculously inflated prices. At least Fry's was cheap :D

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Dadoo ( 899435 )

      While Best Buy certainly is certainly going downhill, I can't imagine why Amazon is doing so well. Their search is terrible. Seriously, I've never seen a worse search on a web page. It's actually easier to use Google to search Amazon's site. Then, of course, there's the fact that Amazon is run by a bunch of scumbags.

      I don't get online shopping, in general, unless it's something you can't get locally. When I want to buy something, I generally want it now; I don't want to have to wait for three days to have i

      • The reason Amazon is doing so well is because their search is more than good enough for most people. There are a lot of people who sign up for Prime because it's no different than any of the other things they sign up for: Costco, Cable, Cellular, etc. Maybe most people can plan to wait a day or two or three for the item they want. Most aren't ordering fresh kale or such. Sure their worker treatment is a problem but it can and is being worked on while we continue to shop. A historic example is: Nike sweat s

    • I hadn't been there for ages but went about a month ago...

      + They had no power strips with USB plugs. Nor did they have any powered USB Hubs.
      + The movie section was greatly reduced and replaced with "smart home" appliances like doorbells, lights, etc.
      + Looked for a television mount stand. "We've never carried those." ("Uh, yeah you did when I bought my TV here three years ago.")

      Oh, but they did have several types of electric shavers, popcorn makers, blenders and air fryers if anyone is interested.

    • Second hand goods dealing often better in person, especially larger items, since inspection takes time and sending back forth adds to costs. Just bought a microwave at local CE store , not quite as cheap as online but they offered a convenient trade in discount, saving me time on disposal. Online shopping otherwise often cheaper and easier with delivery in a day or few. Recycle centers though far fewer could offer something online not able to match. It is however a limited niche.

    • That maybe in some areas but in my area the local BestBuy carries a nice selection of mother boards, power supplies, and cpu's. Not cheap crap ether. ASUS ROG, Cosar power supplies and memory, both intel and amd cpu's. Of course that was before 2020. I've not set foot in the place in over a year. For all I know they might have converted the place to whorehouse for furies.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by slazzy ( 864185 )
      Yeah I try to support local stores or at least small chain stores instead now. They have more parts and better advice and service, sometimes lower prices than "best buy" too.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by xlsior ( 524145 )
      There isn't much money in selling random computer parts anymore - stock ages out very quickly, and it's all low margin, not exactly the growth market Best Buy should be looking at.

      Most people don't built their own PC's... Probably the largest store that still carried a ton of computer parts was Fry's Electronics, and they literally announced two days ago that after 36 years in business they are closing up shop. All 31 stores in 9 states are shutting down right now.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by nnull ( 1148259 )

      I do remember walking out thirty minutes later without what I needed.

      I couldn't describe Bestbuy right now any better than this.

    • I went there once last year. I needed a monitor right away. Well, I wanted one right then and I figured they might have a better selection than Walmart or Target.

      I look all over the display models and pick one out and of course I have to get someone to pull one out of stock for me, but there are customers lined up while one of their employees chats to another customer about the new cell phone they already bought for 20 minutes. Finally it's my turn. No, we don't have that in stock. What about this othe

    • They are still doing very well, their stock is still near all time highs.

  • Missing from the summary (Score:4, Informative)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Friday February 26, 2021 @06:04PM (#61103822)
    is that their sales are up substantially. Just a reminder that companies don't hire because they've got more money coming in, they hire as needed to meet demand.
    • Are their sales up because they're doing more business online or in stores? Even if we hadn't been going through a pandemic for roughly the past year, what would your answer be?

      Just a reminder that companies don't hire because they've got more money coming in, they hire as needed to meet demand.

      Was this something anyone needed to be reminded of? Do you usually hire people to do work that you don't need done?

      • The curbside pickup was a steady stream for them. I shop at Best Buy on occasion and during the "lock down" I always had to wait in a line of at least a few cars to pick up my stuff.

      • I buy things from Best Buy regularly, and almost always use store pickup. It's very competitively priced, and has a good website and processes. (Fry's couldn't compete in any of these areas) Occasionally I go further in to see a product in person, but I don't need the sales people. There are plenty of people working in those stores that really don't need to be there.

    • Re:Missing from the summary (Score:4, Insightful)

      by sjames ( 1099 ) on Friday February 26, 2021 @08:51PM (#61104366) Homepage Journal

      THIS^^^

      Many of the arguments for corporate tax cuts or not raising the minimum wage assume that companies hire workers because they can rather than the truth which is they hire them because they have to. They fire them when they can.

  • BestBuy was competitive, but... (Score:3)

    by dattaway ( 3088 ) on Friday February 26, 2021 @06:06PM (#61103828) Homepage Journal

    BestBuy simply doesn't sell anything like 12 core laptops with 64GB of RAM or anything like what I got last month from another supplier. They only sell what everyone else has...

    • That's a bit of a niche purchase as far as laptops go and Best Buy really doesn't have a reputation for providing that kind of product. I wouldn't show up to a Ferrari dealership if I wanted a vehicle with an 8 foot flatbed on it.

    • They got on that mentality of offering "exclusive" products. An HP/Dell/whatever you couldn't get anywhere else in that SPECIFIC configuration and they used that to avoid competing in price. Toys R Us did this too and looked what happened to them.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Megane ( 129182 )

        Toys R Us did this too and looked what happened to them.

        Are you implying that Best Buy will get gutted by corporate raiders? Not that I'd really care...

      • I remember looking at ads for Packard Bell PCs in a physical newspaper and noticing stores were promising to match prices left and right, but NONE of the configurations were exactly the same so there was no way they were going to have to ever actually do that. I guess that would have been the early '90s.

  • Changing with the times. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ostracus ( 1354233 ) on Friday February 26, 2021 @06:07PM (#61103830) Journal

    Best Buy expects 40% of its sales to come from online purchases this year, up from 19% two years ago, and the company said it needed to alter its workforce in response to this shift.

    There's your answer there, and unlike Fry's at least they're doing something instead of fossilizing in place.

    • Few customers realize that the 800 dollar laptop they're buying is a loss leader. In terms of net profit, store salespeople exist to sell extended service plans and add-ons. Guess who is most likely to bite? The elderly. And that is basically impossible right now. This is why they're being fired.

  • In related news ... (Score:4, Funny)

    by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Friday February 26, 2021 @06:09PM (#61103836)

    Best Buy Lays Off 5,000 Workers, Will Close More Stores

    Will also rename company to "Better Buy" to save on hyperbole costs.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sjames ( 1099 )

      That's still going to be pretty expensive. Perhaps they should go with "Meh"

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Megane ( 129182 )
        Changing their name to "Buy" will save the cost of having to entirely replace their signs.
  • Loved the quote "having too many full-time [employees]"... wonder if they even looked at trimming the fat at corporate first, or just went for this right at the get-go. What a horrible excuse of leadership. The whole lot should resign in shame.
    • Especially when we all know "too many full-time" means "too many to pay benefits" for.
      • Benefits aren't free and companies that can't pass along their costs to their customers don't stay in business very long and customers by and large buy at the lowest price all else equal. Since Best Buy is just selling the same consumer electronics as every other retailer, people will gravitate towards whichever retailer sells them least expensively.

        This is why people blabbing on about an $x minimum wage aren't really going to help anyone. If it were that easy, why not just propose a $2x minimum wage so

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cusco ( 717999 )

      That they just noticed they had 5000 more people than they need seems like a serious deficit at the management level. They should have been adjusting staff as needed all along.

    • When a store ditches a good portion of the full-time staff only to replace them with part time workers you know the company is circling the drain. You almost always end up the a bunch of new folks that don't know squat about the product. The full-timers that were downgraded to part-time are now only motivated to find a full-time job somewhere else. See Barnes & Noble.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Megane ( 129182 )
        It worked so well for JC Penney too. They got rid of long-term sales employees back in the mid '00s. It made them take of like a rocket, except for the "et" part.
  • I have to wonder if the gamemasters at Reddit will push their followers to buy Best Buy stock, vastly inflating it's value in the short term. This could turn into a drinking game where you make a shit ton of money - every time a retailer closes stores, take a drink and make an investment.

  • Useless store (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Arthur, KBE ( 6444066 ) on Friday February 26, 2021 @06:55PM (#61103994)
    Yeah, I'm not paying $40.00 for a USB cable.
    • Not even if it is "cryogenically sintered for higher bandwidth"?

    • Yeah, I'm not paying $40.00 for a USB cable.

      Of course. That would be insane. Instead you could go to Bestbuy and buy one for $5 like the many they offer on their website, and if they didn't just ask them to prie match it.

      I'm impressed. Literally every stupid thing I've read on Slashdot today came from you. Are you trying to steal BAReFO0t's Slashdot's dumbest poster crown or something?

    • I DID buy a pricey USB cable from Best Buy once. I spent hours and hours setting up my uncle's new computer. He was going blind and ran his tax business on it, so in addition to the typical new-computer nonsense, everything needed to be working and "just so" before I left. All was done except the expensive HP laser printer didn't come with a USB cable. Drat! Since a Best Buy was only a few miles away, I gladly paid the convenience fee so that I didn't have to spend more gas and hours of time coming bac

      • That's why parts stores, gas stations and mortuaries will not be replaced by Amazon (et al.).

        Hey, that actually sounds like a great idea for these times of pestilence. Pick out a coffin and urn, and then the Amazon delivery undertaker and his pals come by and put the stiff into the coffin. Back at the Amazon hub, a short privat service is held (nobody wants to attend funeral services these days because of social distancing), then the coffin is burned and the ashes returned to you in the urn of your choice.

        A sort of end-to-end full "one click" solution to "Bring out your dead!"

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Megane ( 129182 )
        That must have been before WalMart sold USB cables.

      • I'm ashamed to say it, but I bought a Monster HDMI cable with a TV once. The connector was messed up so I took it back to....Ultimate Electronics.

        This one guy started giving me grief and told me I was to blame for it being bad. Another employee overheard this and walked up and said "It's a Monster cable, give him a new one."

        In my defense, I was paying more attention to how much I was paying for my first large screen TV than the cable I got with it. The TV broke last year, but the cable still works. Won

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by kackle ( 910159 )
          I envy the times of my parents where one could rely on a "brand" and get longevity out of things. Although I've repaired it a couple of times, they still have and use the toaster they got as a wedding gift over a half century ago, for example.

  • Mostly Killed by China Trade War Chip Shortage (Score:3)

    by Somervillain ( 4719341 ) on Friday February 26, 2021 @07:14PM (#61104050)
    Best Buy was doing well pre-pandemic and would still be doing relatively well post-pandemic....if we could actually buy what we wanted there. I would have bought an XBox Series S and lots of peripherals, maybe even a PS5 when my wife wasn't looking...if they could sell it to me. So yeah, that Chinese Trade War...haven't won it from what I could see, but here's what I could see:

    Couldn't buy an XBox due to chip shortage exacerbated by trade war.
    Couldn't buy a PS5, same reason
    Couldn't buy the new Canon 50mm lens last christmas, probably the same reason...could just be high demand
    Did buy an Canon R6 (expensive camera) there because they had the best price after holiday discounts...but couldn't get any new lenses for it due to shortage.

    Fry's and Best Buy are as much victims of the, from what I can tell, failed Chinese Trade War from the previous administration as well as the Pandemic, which we found out in January the previous administration had no plan to vaccinate people, nor am I impressed by how the previous administration handled it...as they are of retail's general demise at the hand of changing habits and Amazon's competition.

    LOTS of people love Best Buy. My local one is packed. It's a great place to buy a TV or anything else electronic. I don't view them as competing with Amazon, but Target. It's not where you go to get the new AMD chip or your favorite motherboard. It's a place where casual customers buy things and their TV selection is much better than Wal Mart or Target. It's a great place for gaming stuff. I won some gift cards and spent them there. I liked how they had a more thorough selection than Target.

    Yeah, the techies on slashdot may not be into it, but the parking lot of my local one was always full and there were always customers in it.

    There are many reasons for the layoffs, but I would strongly place blame on the fact that so many of us want a PS5 or XBox but cannot buy one. I place some of the blame on the previous administration. We're learning more and more each day that the trade war really contributed to the global chip shortage we're facing. No one knows....maybe in the long run we will "win" this trade war, but right now, it's painful, I looks like it accomplished nothing, and we're finding many unexpected casualties, including retailers who were supposed to be selling a ton of new consoles and games, but cannot.

    If we could buy consoles as well as we could for the PS4 and XBox One, I would guess Best Buy would be doing really really well, at least in affluent neighborhoods. If you're stuck at home, great time to buy a TV, update your aging appliances, buy some games, etc, ensure you have office accessories, mice, keyboards, even chairs.
    • I think Fry's failure is very different from Best Buy, the latter of which might very well be impacted from global chip shortage. I've been in Fry's where the only thing on shelves in a 50K foot store were 24-packs of generic cola and razor blades, for the past two years. I almost think Fry's might have been some type of front for a mafia or crime operation. You can't pay rent for that type of space without having *something* to sell.

      • and sears owns alot of the land there stores are in.
        and that land is more then the what the stores make.

      • Fry's sort of did it to themselves. For years, the store wasn't maintained with little in the way of stuff there. Ironically, the one in Austin had a fantastic deli, even towards the end. However, with nothing to really buy there, I just wound up going elsewhere. If I need computer parts, I wind up either at Altex Electronics, Discount Electronics, or somewhere like that.

        Fry's could have reinvented themselves and took a similar tack that Microcenter did. However because higher-ups paid no attention to

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Megane ( 129182 )
          It started when they cheated on the consignment sales model back in '08 or so by being slow to pay back manufacturers. Fry's was trying to reinvent themselves. Their decline in inventory was intentional. A few years ago, they got tired having to buy merchandise in advance and held their breath to get that status back. I lived five miles from that Fry's when I moved back to San Antonio in late 2016, just in time for them to start sucking. At least I have an Altex less than five miles away now, but they don't

    • Fry's has been operating on consignment for the past year prior to covid. This changed the kind of merchandise they could get. Apparently they were not able to secure enough credit to buy and then sell the stuff like they use to do. Fry's also had some executive scandal that wasn't helpful in the least.

      Best Buy has just been horrible for a long time. Overpriced stuff to say the least. I would occasionally poke my head in their to look at stuff but they were never the best price. They are actually being smar

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Megane ( 129182 )

        Fry's has been operating on consignment for the past year prior to covid.

        Who did you hear that from, a white-shirter? The way I hear it, they lost consignment back in '08 or so, and had been trying to get it back since around 2017. Their lack of stock may have been lack of money to buy new stock, or an attempt to get consignment back. I didn't actually go to a Fry's last year, but I didn't see any sign of consignment back in 2019. At least Best Buy seems to have figured it out, apparently they make their money selling shelf space, maybe even entire gondolas.

    • We're learning more and more each day that the trade war really contributed to the global chip shortage we're facing.

      Do TSMC, Samsung, Intel and Global Foundries even have a single cutting-edge fab in mainland China or are you just talking completely out of your ass?

    • The trade war has little if anything to do with the chip shortage. Actually it's probably pandemic induced: People are staying in, so they want things that use chips. Xboxes, playstations, ryzen, gpus, laptops, etc. The limiter here is fab capacity, and the fabs that produce these are owned by one company: TSMC. You previously had intel somewhere in that mix, but they've fallen behind technologically, and even they are going to be buying from TSMC.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Megane ( 129182 )
        Part of it is automotive sales had a big pause, which caused a pause in their specialty chip orders, which are scheduled months in advance. Now that they've caught up, the manufacturing of automotive-specific parts will take months to catch up. But Intel's failure to "get it up" hasn't helped either. There's also Samsung in addition to TSMC, they're about to build another fab in Austin.
    • Best Buy is still doing very well, their stock is still near all time highs.

  • Went to a Best Buy a couple years ago to buy a JBL Charge 3, they wanted $20 more than what they were charging for it on Amazon, but I asked if they would price match and they said yes they would. But low and behold, since it was sold on Amazon but the "selling party" wasn't Amazon proper they wouldn't honor a price match

    I walked out, ordered off Amazon while still in the parking lot and low and behold, I not only got the lower price but had the product first thing in the morning the very next day, on a Sat

    • It's been quite a few years, but I stopped at Best Buy to buy a camera for my kid and they wouldn't honor their own BestBuy.com price in store. They wanted me to buy it online and have it "free" shipped to the store I was already standing in. I told them they had to be joking. I ordered it on Amazon.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Megane ( 129182 )
      I'm quite happy to give Amazon a week to ship me things for free. Truly free, as in no Prime subscription. I presume they leverage their internal logistics shipping for much of that.
  • Between October 2019 and now I have been to Best Buy maybe 4 times. In the 2019 holiday sales period, I noticed on two successive visits that the front stock of TVs was decreasing after initial holiday stocking. I then saw that numbers of TVs were stacked near a stockroom door with ordered-for-pickup tags taped on. By March or April, I was looking for a specific laptop that had given good results, and ended up buying a discounted customer return, because very little that was comparable in price/performan
  • Best Buy handed Amazon all its business on a silver platter.
    As mentioned by others, they have very little computer parts, outside of the common mass used stuff.
    What really started to push me towards Amazon was them removing CDs, then DVD/Blu-rays.
    (Yes, I know they sell DVD and Blu-rays again)
    I used to go there to buy more than 1 thing at a time. They changed it so that there was usually only 1 thing to buy, and it was just easier to get it on Amazon. Also, with how they started jacking up the prices, it

  • I haven't been inside a Best Buy since the '90's.

    • I haven't been inside a Best Buy since the '90's.

      You're not missing anything.

      • Yes you are missing something. I had router die with a *poof*, ran to Best Buy and was back up in less than an hour making money again. Love to have real store to go to in emergency, don't have to wait for amazon to ship

  • Circuit City was once the retail paradise of buying computers, TVs, stereos, music, and videos. Then came the Internet and stores like Best Buy.

    Best Buy is often called the "Amazon showroom" for many years. They had to resort to price-matching to Amazon to stay alive.

    Then a global pandemic comes along and closes or discourages physical retail activity. The death blow.

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