DayAg! said:

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Yea, Micro center could do so much better with building more stores. Having one or two stores in the whole state is just idiotic. Specially a state the size of Texas. I guess their analysts don't get out much.

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There's only 25 stores in the country. California has one and it's not in Silicon Valley. With Fry's gone, maybe they'll swoop in.

FYI, MicroCenter sells their products on Amazon. I bought a 256GB Stick for $22.
https://www.amazon.com/s?me=A1UVTGP6WV0D1P&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER

ABATTBQ11 said:

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Bo Darville said:

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What's the point of them staying open like this?

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Keep paying executives from cash reserves until there's nothing left for creditors/investors? Only thing I can think of.

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There's no way this isn't some kind of scheme. Wonder if employees are getting paid correctly, orders going through, etc.

Didn't realize California only had one, I know Georgia has at least two.

Pman17 said:

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DayAg! said:

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Yea, Micro center could do so much better with building more stores. Having one or two stores in the whole state is just idiotic. Specially a state the size of Texas. I guess their analysts don't get out much.

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There's only 25 stores in the country. California has one and it's not in Silicon Valley. With Fry's gone, maybe they'll swoop in.

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IIRC Microcenter had one store in Houston for years before Fry's came into the state. That's not what has been keeping them from expanding their retail locations.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Is-Fry-s-Electronics-in-trouble-Company-denies-14945559.php

AggieChemE09 said:

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I had a 50 dollar gift card to frys so I went there today. I couldn't find any thing I was looking for or wanted so I bought a $50 Amazon gift card with my frys gift card

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Lol. Never even thought about doing something like that.

lt230 said:

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Microcenter probably recognized that less is more.

I think more stores would throw them in the same trouble as compusa, circuit city, radioshack, best buy, and frys

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Best Buy is actually thriving, I wouldn't lump them in with the others.

Bo Darville said:

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lt230 said:

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Microcenter probably recognized that less is more.

I think more stores would throw them in the same trouble as compusa, circuit city, radioshack, best buy, and frys

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Best Buy is actually thriving, I wouldn't lump them in with the others.

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Yep, and they're actually moving more into the PC components space as well. They've done a nice job of combining a solid online experience with complementary brick and mortar locations for same day pick up and super easy returns.

Probably one major brick-and-mortar electronics chain needs to survive. For the olds, same-day (or hour) needs, and people often still want to to address large items like TVs/Appliances in-person. Best Buy looks to be it.

SJEAg said:

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Probably one major brick-and-mortar electronics chain needs to survive. For the olds, same-day (or hour) needs, and people often still want to to address large items like TVs/Appliances in-person. Best Buy looks to be it.

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I can still see Amazon creating some kind of showroom concept for major purchases.

Decay said:

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ABATTBQ11 said:

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Bo Darville said:

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What's the point of them staying open like this?

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Keep paying executives from cash reserves until there's nothing left for creditors/investors? Only thing I can think of.

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There's no way this isn't some kind of scheme. Wonder if employees are getting paid correctly, orders going through, etc.

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They have to be, or they'd walk. Probably not a good idea to draw the ire of fed and state regulators if you're running a scheme either. Either they're sucking cash reserves somehow (after this long, you'd think they'd be dry), or they're money laundering (pure speculation), or something else is up. I just don't understand how they could be making money to keep employees inside with the lights on without stocking anything. Some part of the business, legal or not, must be generating cash flow.

Bo Darville said:

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SJEAg said:

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Probably one major brick-and-mortar electronics chain needs to survive. For the olds, same-day (or hour) needs, and people often still want to to address large items like TVs/Appliances in-person. Best Buy looks to be it.

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Two things have helped Best Buy in my opinion. 1. Amazon charging sales tax and 2. Price matching amazon. With those two polices there's no real reason for me to buy from amazon over Best Buy. Especially when I can see what I'm buying.

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Does BB provide free delivery?

AggieDruggist89 said:

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Bo Darville said:

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SJEAg said:

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Probably one major brick-and-mortar electronics chain needs to survive. For the olds, same-day (or hour) needs, and people often still want to to address large items like TVs/Appliances in-person. Best Buy looks to be it.

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Two things have helped Best Buy in my opinion. 1. Amazon charging sales tax and 2. Price matching amazon. With those two polices there's no real reason for me to buy from amazon over Best Buy. Especially when I can see what I'm buying.

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Does BB provide free delivery?

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On most stuff I've purchased from them recently they offer free shipping, though I usually do same day or next day pick up from the Best Buy that's between work and home for me.

AggieDruggist89 said:

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Bo Darville said:

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SJEAg said:

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Probably one major brick-and-mortar electronics chain needs to survive. For the olds, same-day (or hour) needs, and people often still want to to address large items like TVs/Appliances in-person. Best Buy looks to be it.

---

Two things have helped Best Buy in my opinion. 1. Amazon charging sales tax and 2. Price matching amazon. With those two polices there's no real reason for me to buy from amazon over Best Buy. Especially when I can see what I'm buying.

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Does BB provide free delivery?

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Yes, they have always either handed my bag directly to me or brought large items to the front and helped me load it the same day, often within seconds or minutes of the purchase.

Bo Darville said:

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AggieDruggist89 said:

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Bo Darville said:

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SJEAg said:

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Probably one major brick-and-mortar electronics chain needs to survive. For the olds, same-day (or hour) needs, and people often still want to to address large items like TVs/Appliances in-person. Best Buy looks to be it.

---

Two things have helped Best Buy in my opinion. 1. Amazon charging sales tax and 2. Price matching amazon. With those two polices there's no real reason for me to buy from amazon over Best Buy. Especially when I can see what I'm buying.

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Does BB provide free delivery?

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Yes, they have always either handed my bag directly to me or brought large items to the front and helped me load it the same day, often within seconds or minutes of the purchase.

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That's still wholly different from at-your-door delivery. I've got a Best Buy near me and I'm in there enough just browsing that even if they did offer free delivery I probably wouldn't use it -- but there's definitely a large percentage of people that doorstep delivery is a big factor.

Best Buy has thrived because of their displays/showrooms. More-so than any other brick and mortar store, BB has made themselves the place to try out new technology. Before people were trying it out there and then buying on Amazon where it was $50-$100 cheaper, but now with the price-matching people just buy it at BB.

The question will be how long will the "don't know any better and just buy retail price" crowd offset the reduced margins they are generating due to price-matching. Amazon can handle those kind of margins on every sale, Best Buy can't.

I think accessories have to be something that's affecting BB. Large appliances and electronics are relatively low margin. Accessories are the items that are marked up 400-500% sometimes.

Amazon offering one day shipping on things like that make it easier for me to justify waiting a day instead of going to Best Buy (or Fry's) for small things.

I sometimes wonder if fry's has an issue of too much dead weight... The ones in Irving and Dallas had tons of employees just wandering around. Like if half the store is empty I would expect them to cut jobs, not add jobs (One in Irving was hiring a year ago).

Proposition Joe said:

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Bo Darville said:

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AggieDruggist89 said:

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Bo Darville said:

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SJEAg said:

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Probably one major brick-and-mortar electronics chain needs to survive. For the olds, same-day (or hour) needs, and people often still want to to address large items like TVs/Appliances in-person. Best Buy looks to be it.

---

Two things have helped Best Buy in my opinion. 1. Amazon charging sales tax and 2. Price matching amazon. With those two polices there's no real reason for me to buy from amazon over Best Buy. Especially when I can see what I'm buying.

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Does BB provide free delivery?

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Yes, they have always either handed my bag directly to me or brought large items to the front and helped me load it the same day, often within seconds or minutes of the purchase.

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That's still wholly different from at-your-door delivery. I've got a Best Buy near me and I'm in there enough just browsing that even if they did offer free delivery I probably wouldn't use it -- but there's definitely a large percentage of people that doorstep delivery is a big factor.

Best Buy has thrived because of their displays/showrooms. More-so than any other brick and mortar store, BB has made themselves the place to try out new technology. Before people were trying it out there and then buying on Amazon where it was $50-$100 cheaper, but now with the price-matching people just buy it at BB.

The question will be how long will the "don't know any better and just buy retail price" crowd offset the reduced margins they are generating due to price-matching. Amazon can handle those kind of margins on every sale, Best Buy can't.

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Has Best Buy's Amazon price matching got any better? Last time I tried was a few years ago when my sister wanted me to go with her to buy a laptop. She checked out all the laptops, talked to an employee and finally picked one. I pulled it up on Amazon and I want to say it was $150 cheaper. I don't remember exactly as this was several years ago, but the price difference was significant. They wouldn't price match because it wasn't one of like 5 Amazon sellers they price matched so we bought it on Amazon right there then walked out.

it used to be that best buy would only price match the exact model number. and they had a racket going with manufacturers that they had their own model numbers unique to best buy.

That's not Best buy specific, all retailers are like that for the most part.
The Best Buy did actually struggle for a while, but they have adapted the best to Amazon and the emergence of e-commerce. They also closed a lot of stores.
They generate a lot of profit from their services, (geek squad and so on) which is one thing not many retail competitors did.

We'll see if Amazon ever introduces any brick and mortar location, they have a version of that going through testing for grocery and produce, separate from Whole Foods and Fresh.

There's a new Amazon B&M store at Stonebriar Mall where the Apple Store used to be, and it's basically a showroom for stuff you can buy online.

lb3 said:

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Bo Darville said:

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SJEAg said:

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Probably one major brick-and-mortar electronics chain needs to survive. For the olds, same-day (or hour) needs, and people often still want to to address large items like TVs/Appliances in-person. Best Buy looks to be it.

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Two things have helped Best Buy in my opinion. 1. Amazon charging sales tax and 2. Price matching amazon. With those two polices there's no real reason for me to buy from amazon over Best Buy. Especially when I can see what I'm buying.

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The problem with price matching is that Best Buy gets exclusive models (mostly only part number changes) from many major vendors so the price match doesn't exist in reality.

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That's been a strategy for a very long time to discourage cross shopping between retailers.

Mattresses are the biggest offender. Appliances, major electronics and tires do it too.

lb3 said:

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Bo Darville said:

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SJEAg said:

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Probably one major brick-and-mortar electronics chain needs to survive. For the olds, same-day (or hour) needs, and people often still want to to address large items like TVs/Appliances in-person. Best Buy looks to be it.

---

Two things have helped Best Buy in my opinion. 1. Amazon charging sales tax and 2. Price matching amazon. With those two polices there's no real reason for me to buy from amazon over Best Buy. Especially when I can see what I'm buying.

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The problem with price matching is that Best Buy gets exclusive models (mostly only part number changes) from many major vendors so the price match doesn't exist in reality.

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I haven't noticed this near as much as in the past, at least on the last two TV's I bought from them in the past year.

Sine poena nulla lex.

They... bought expensive plane tickets to fly to Las Vegas when they could have driven there in the same amount of time. :|