3 ms·

I may be an outlier— but I live in Manhattan and have two Best Buys each roughly a ~20 min walk away. A few times a year I’ll need a cable or an external hard

I may be an outlier— but I live in Manhattan and have two Best Buys each roughly a ~20 min walk away. A few times a year I’ll need a cable or an external hard drive, or a new controller, mouse etc, and want it right now and I’ll just walk to whichever Best Buy has it in stock. When I do I still have the same feelings I got as a kid when I’d go to circuit city and the impulse to browse is hard to resist. They have a lot of fun gadgets, the connected home category keeps growing and growing… doorbells, smart speakers, VR, wearables, theraguns, peloton, e-bikes; not to mention gaming has never been bigger. My anecdotal point is: there’s lots of techy things to sell besides commoditized content like CDs and Blu-ray’s. Personally I’m never going to Best Buy for media. But it’s certainly fun to browse all the new tech and get a more hands-on view. I don’t blame them for this change, assuming the numbers make sense.

ramesh31 3y ago
It's honestly the best place to buy electronics at this point if you don't have a Microcenter nearby. I buy all my laptops and TVs there now. Once upon a time, retail was the more expensive option, as they marked up prices and couldn't compete with the low overhead of online sellers. Now that equation has completely flipped, and anything sold online will rapidly inflate in price due to dropshippers and scalpers. The only way to get a fair deal anymore is brick and mortar, and they often have (real) discounts and 0% financing.
- glimshe 3y ago
  Microcenter is king, though. It's the legitimate heir of Fry's, which in its heyday was a geek's paradise. PS: I miss Radio Shack badly :(
  - taylodl 3y ago
    Best Buy has better TVs and Microcenter doesn't even touch home theater, home stereo, or photography. Microcenter is great for the DIY crowd and for getting cables. I prefer Best Buy for most anything else.
- cvhashim04 3y ago
  Also quality control of tech at places like Amazon and others like it is so poor. I’m not spending a $100+ to get fake or broken products. Rather get my electronics at Best Buy, Target, or Apple Store whether in store or online.
jareklupinski 3y ago
> I live in Manhattan "you go tah BNH!"

ramesh31 3y ago

It's honestly the best place to buy electronics at this point if you don't have a Microcenter nearby. I buy all my laptops and TVs there now. Once upon a time, retail was the more expensive option, as they marked up prices and couldn't compete with the low overhead of online sellers. Now that equation has completely flipped, and anything sold online will rapidly inflate in price due to dropshippers and scalpers. The only way to get a fair deal anymore is brick and mortar, and they often have (real) discounts and 0% financing.

glimshe 3y ago
Microcenter is king, though. It's the legitimate heir of Fry's, which in its heyday was a geek's paradise. PS: I miss Radio Shack badly :(
- taylodl 3y ago
  Best Buy has better TVs and Microcenter doesn't even touch home theater, home stereo, or photography. Microcenter is great for the DIY crowd and for getting cables. I prefer Best Buy for most anything else.
cvhashim04 3y ago
Also quality control of tech at places like Amazon and others like it is so poor. I’m not spending a $100+ to get fake or broken products. Rather get my electronics at Best Buy, Target, or Apple Store whether in store or online.

jareklupinski 3y ago

> I live in Manhattan "you go tah BNH!"