4 ms·

But Best Buy is a shadow of its former self. I've stopped bothering to go there at all because they never have what I need. Even when I was shopping for a table

by JohnFen 8mo ago

But Best Buy is a shadow of its former self. I've stopped bothering to go there at all because they never have what I need. Even when I was shopping for a tablet.

stockresearcher 8mo ago
On the other hand, I can go to my local Best Buy and pick up an nvme drive. Look at the box, make sure it is factory sealed and not counterfeit. Only after I’ve decided it’s legit I can hand over approximately the same amount of money Amazon would have charged me.
- light_hue_1 8mo ago
  If by roughly the same you mean 10% to 100% more (think cables for high markup) and I have to go to the store instead of having it come to me. With much worse selection. Then yes. That's an amazing experience!
  - selimthegrim 8mo ago
    Wait until Sandisk compains you didn't buy through an authorized distributor when you go to register or take advantage of the warranty.
  - seattle_spring 8mo ago
    Best Buy price matches Amazon...
  - vel0city 8mo ago
    > think cables for high markup Nearly every time I've bought cheap USB-C cables off Amazon they didn't perform as advertised. The few times I bought name-brand ones they looked different from the ones I've bought at in-person stores and once again failed to perform as advertised (likely counterfeit). I avoid Amazon as much as possible these days.
  - intrikate 8mo ago
    I mean, yeah, sure if you view having to go to the store as a negative, then you would prefer to order online and have it brought to you. After years (my whole adolescent and adult life, more or less) of online shopping, I find that it's actually quite refreshing to go to the store, find the product I need, and purchase it. I have it immediately, I got to handle a demo unit and get a feel for it. If I need to return it, I go back to the same store and get my money back the same day. There are pros and cons to both, for sure, but these days I find I'm valuing the offline experience more and more.
    - light_hue_1 8mo ago
      That's so alien to me I can't even imagine it. I'd much rather drive somewhere fun with the kids, work on a hobby, read a book, or just frankly sit and do nothing than go to a store.
- js2 8mo ago
  > make sure it is factory sealed and not counterfeit Hah. I bought an Apple Pencil from BB. Shrink-wrapped in the box. I get home, the battery won't charge. I figured out from the S/N that someone had bought a new pencil, put their dead one in the box, shrink-wrapped it, returned it, BB put it back into stock, and I ended up with it. Fortunately, BB replaced it for me, but I've never had this issue with a single Amazon item I've purchased and I've done a lot more shopping from Amazon than BB.
  - entropicdrifter 8mo ago
    Counterpoint: People do this on Amazon all the time. One time I ordered a kick drum stand on Amazon. All I got was the foot of the stand and a brick in the box. It was supposed to be brand new, not a used item.
    - rincebrain 8mo ago
      I suspect the wildly differing experiences for this depend on the number of bad actors doing this in the pools feeding into whatever warehouses, versus total churn. For me, living first in Baltimore then NYC, places where there's quite a few people buying quite a few things up and down the cost scale, I never saw a counterfeit anything come up. That's not to say I think it doesn't happen, just that I think that's why some people have wildly different experiences here.
      - entropicdrifter 8mo ago
        I live in the Philly area, so IDK man, kinda just seems like you got lucky
  - stockresearcher 8mo ago
    > Apple Pencil from BB. Shrink-wrapped in the box Not for nothing, but I can’t remember the last time I purchased anything computer related that was shrink wrapped. It’s all single-use-obvious-if-opened tape
    - 8mo ago
kwertyoowiyop 8mo ago
It seems pretty good to me, or at least my local one is. Best Buy is in a solid niche between, say, Micro Center and Walmart.
- butlike 8mo ago
  <Falling down the age pit> "IT'S STILL NICE TO GO ANd browse video games in the physical store..... AAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......"
tootie 8mo ago
I've bought a few things from the in the last few years and their prices and service are pretty solid. You can even get some great deals on house brands or open box stuff.
MS90 8mo ago
I've noticed that there seems to be big inconsistencies from location to location, at least around me. One Best Buy never has anything on the shelves, doesn't have much of their higher-end stuff at all, and constantly looks like they just got robbed. But 15 minutes away there's another Best Buy that has a dedicated PC hardware section that almost reminds me of going to Fry's back in the day. I was flabbergasted the first time I walked in there, I almost thought I'd been mistaken and entered a different store.
- eitally 8mo ago
  Are you in the bay area, by chance? I suspect the opening of MicroCenter will mean almost no one around here even thinks to try BestBuy for component hardware. That said, I purchased some peripherals at BB a few months ago because they had what I needed in stock and the price was better than Logitech and the same as Amazon.
- ModernMech 8mo ago
  Probably don't need two Best Buys 15 minutes from one another.
SpicyLemonZest 8mo ago
I kinda feel like Best Buy is the same as it's always been and our baseline expectations of how much a store should have skyrocketed. In 2006 I didn't shop for electronics by doing intensive online research to find the specific brand and model I want; I drove to Best Buy and picked whatever made the most sense out of what they had.
- JohnFen 8mo ago
  At least the ones in my area are substantially worse than they used to be. They don't have a lot of items they used to carry, and the ones they do carry have a much more limited selection than they used to. But perhaps, as another commenter mentioned, this varies a lot depending on the store you're in? Regardless, at least for my needs, Best Buy has nearly nothing for me. That didn't used to be true.
- kevin_thibedeau 8mo ago
  Their stores have much more unused floorspace now. CDs and DVDs are mostly gone. Lots of dead space around the phone displays now.
  - bryanlarsen 8mo ago
    My Best Buy is far more crowded than it used to be. They use the aisles for boxed TV's etc.
  - vel0city 8mo ago
    The store closest to me repurposed about half of its floor space as pretty much warehouse space for online orders. They even repurposed half the doors for pickup/return lockers.
- expedition32 8mo ago
  There will always be people who don't want to shop online or want to pick something up immediately. Ofcourse most electronics stores will die or are already dead but a few will remain in business.
rincebrain 8mo ago
At the moment, I think a lot of Best Buy's survival is that Microcenter has very limited store count, and every other store that was primarily electronics has eaten shit and gone by the wayside, meaning it's effectively got a monopoly in certain areas for things like "Dad wants to go buy a new TV and stare at a display of 50 of them to decide between first".

by JohnFen 8mo ago

But Best Buy is a shadow of its former self. I've stopped bothering to go there at all because they never have what I need. Even when I was shopping for a tablet.

stockresearcher 8mo ago

On the other hand, I can go to my local Best Buy and pick up an nvme drive. Look at the box, make sure it is factory sealed and not counterfeit. Only after I’ve decided it’s legit I can hand over approximately the same amount of money Amazon would have charged me.

light_hue_1 8mo ago
If by roughly the same you mean 10% to 100% more (think cables for high markup) and I have to go to the store instead of having it come to me. With much worse selection. Then yes. That's an amazing experience!
- selimthegrim 8mo ago
  Wait until Sandisk compains you didn't buy through an authorized distributor when you go to register or take advantage of the warranty.
- seattle_spring 8mo ago
  Best Buy price matches Amazon...
- vel0city 8mo ago
  > think cables for high markup Nearly every time I've bought cheap USB-C cables off Amazon they didn't perform as advertised. The few times I bought name-brand ones they looked different from the ones I've bought at in-person stores and once again failed to perform as advertised (likely counterfeit). I avoid Amazon as much as possible these days.
- intrikate 8mo ago
  I mean, yeah, sure if you view having to go to the store as a negative, then you would prefer to order online and have it brought to you. After years (my whole adolescent and adult life, more or less) of online shopping, I find that it's actually quite refreshing to go to the store, find the product I need, and purchase it. I have it immediately, I got to handle a demo unit and get a feel for it. If I need to return it, I go back to the same store and get my money back the same day. There are pros and cons to both, for sure, but these days I find I'm valuing the offline experience more and more.
  - light_hue_1 8mo ago
    That's so alien to me I can't even imagine it. I'd much rather drive somewhere fun with the kids, work on a hobby, read a book, or just frankly sit and do nothing than go to a store.
js2 8mo ago
> make sure it is factory sealed and not counterfeit Hah. I bought an Apple Pencil from BB. Shrink-wrapped in the box. I get home, the battery won't charge. I figured out from the S/N that someone had bought a new pencil, put their dead one in the box, shrink-wrapped it, returned it, BB put it back into stock, and I ended up with it. Fortunately, BB replaced it for me, but I've never had this issue with a single Amazon item I've purchased and I've done a lot more shopping from Amazon than BB.
- entropicdrifter 8mo ago
  Counterpoint: People do this on Amazon all the time. One time I ordered a kick drum stand on Amazon. All I got was the foot of the stand and a brick in the box. It was supposed to be brand new, not a used item.
  - rincebrain 8mo ago
    I suspect the wildly differing experiences for this depend on the number of bad actors doing this in the pools feeding into whatever warehouses, versus total churn. For me, living first in Baltimore then NYC, places where there's quite a few people buying quite a few things up and down the cost scale, I never saw a counterfeit anything come up. That's not to say I think it doesn't happen, just that I think that's why some people have wildly different experiences here.
    - entropicdrifter 8mo ago
      I live in the Philly area, so IDK man, kinda just seems like you got lucky
- stockresearcher 8mo ago
  > Apple Pencil from BB. Shrink-wrapped in the box Not for nothing, but I can’t remember the last time I purchased anything computer related that was shrink wrapped. It’s all single-use-obvious-if-opened tape
  - 8mo ago

kwertyoowiyop 8mo ago

It seems pretty good to me, or at least my local one is. Best Buy is in a solid niche between, say, Micro Center and Walmart.

butlike 8mo ago
<Falling down the age pit> "IT'S STILL NICE TO GO ANd browse video games in the physical store..... AAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......"

tootie 8mo ago

I've bought a few things from the in the last few years and their prices and service are pretty solid. You can even get some great deals on house brands or open box stuff.

MS90 8mo ago

I've noticed that there seems to be big inconsistencies from location to location, at least around me. One Best Buy never has anything on the shelves, doesn't have much of their higher-end stuff at all, and constantly looks like they just got robbed. But 15 minutes away there's another Best Buy that has a dedicated PC hardware section that almost reminds me of going to Fry's back in the day. I was flabbergasted the first time I walked in there, I almost thought I'd been mistaken and entered a different store.

eitally 8mo ago
Are you in the bay area, by chance? I suspect the opening of MicroCenter will mean almost no one around here even thinks to try BestBuy for component hardware. That said, I purchased some peripherals at BB a few months ago because they had what I needed in stock and the price was better than Logitech and the same as Amazon.
ModernMech 8mo ago
Probably don't need two Best Buys 15 minutes from one another.

SpicyLemonZest 8mo ago

I kinda feel like Best Buy is the same as it's always been and our baseline expectations of how much a store should have skyrocketed. In 2006 I didn't shop for electronics by doing intensive online research to find the specific brand and model I want; I drove to Best Buy and picked whatever made the most sense out of what they had.

JohnFen 8mo ago
At least the ones in my area are substantially worse than they used to be. They don't have a lot of items they used to carry, and the ones they do carry have a much more limited selection than they used to. But perhaps, as another commenter mentioned, this varies a lot depending on the store you're in? Regardless, at least for my needs, Best Buy has nearly nothing for me. That didn't used to be true.
kevin_thibedeau 8mo ago
Their stores have much more unused floorspace now. CDs and DVDs are mostly gone. Lots of dead space around the phone displays now.
- bryanlarsen 8mo ago
  My Best Buy is far more crowded than it used to be. They use the aisles for boxed TV's etc.
- vel0city 8mo ago
  The store closest to me repurposed about half of its floor space as pretty much warehouse space for online orders. They even repurposed half the doors for pickup/return lockers.
expedition32 8mo ago
There will always be people who don't want to shop online or want to pick something up immediately. Ofcourse most electronics stores will die or are already dead but a few will remain in business.

rincebrain 8mo ago

At the moment, I think a lot of Best Buy's survival is that Microcenter has very limited store count, and every other store that was primarily electronics has eaten shit and gone by the wayside, meaning it's effectively got a monopoly in certain areas for things like "Dad wants to go buy a new TV and stare at a display of 50 of them to decide between first".