They do not want to pay for that help and that's the problem. And, if they complain about people now they will complain even more. Is the corporate trying to make us even more hated and do they want to generate even more complaints. Anyhow, that's another reason I think this whole thing was poorly planned at the corporate level. Best Buy used to have great leaders and folks who think properly but this seems not to be the case any more. All things happening today are nothing more than a fiasco!
3 replies (most recent on top)
Went to my local Best Buy to purchase a phone. I haven't been in the stores for several years, and was shocked at what I saw. It was as if I was walking through a K-mart just before the end. I saw employees, but most of them were visible in back areas, and didn't come out. Finally found an employee that said he couldn't help with the phones, but would find one who could. I gave up after 20 minutes of waiting. Then I went to the Richfield BB next to the corporate HQ and was helped immediately. Do the executives see the Richfield store and think that all BB stores are like that? Sorry folks, I think BB will follow Circuit City into the abyss shortly.
Closing stores is negative to the stock price which is why they close a store down here and there. If they close too many at a time it spooks the investors and the stock tanks or they have less confidence in the c suite. They would rather keep a store open with 5 employees getting yelled at by customers having to wait than to make the hard decision. They are trying to buy their time hoping that the economy will be stable enough to get through the economy crunches we’re seeing with inflation hoping to ride out the storm. But, with demographics changing in shopping and Best Buy having products they can find anywhere and cheaper they are going to have to make decisions soon. It was different back in the day when people would come in weekly for new dvd releases, music and pc games. Now, it’s all on your phone. No need to come into the stores. And no one buys a tv or a new computer each year. They are selling led lighting, home security and now health components that don’t interest most customers. They are running out of things to sell that brings people into the stores. It’s been a slow bleed over the past decade or so and now they are being forced to respond.
Look at the postings on the bed bath and beyond links on this site. It could be much worse! There isn’t much left to trim at the stores. The new cuts will eventually have to start coming at mid managers and corporate staff. I just can’t see them paying the rents on so many buildings in larger markets and not have the foot traffic to support them unless online pick ups are the driver here. 30000+ square foot retail space for online pick ups is a costly fee that is and will continue to be addressed in the future in markets with several stores planted around it. They’re going to have to close some of them to stream line operations