3 ms·

B&H - Knowledgeable sales people. Honest business practices. Lowest prices or competitive prices. Circuit City - Clueless sales people, (I was once told that

B&H - Knowledgeable sales people. Honest business practices. Lowest prices or competitive prices. Circuit City - Clueless sales people, (I was once told that a laptop I was looking at "has to run vista because of the drivers that are installed"), dishonest business practices and prices that are guaranteed to be significantly higher than what you see in other places. The question is will B&H become a victim of its own success? As Joel says in the article, he doesn't even comparison shop anymore. I've been using B&H for years, and while I don't comparison shop, I almost always go with B&H because of their terrific customer service and I always know what I'm getting (none of that annoying "well, you know this model doesn't come with a battery" bullshit). My experience tells me that eventually something will change in the mindset of the org, either the guy calling the shots will start to cash in on those years of trust, or his son will take over and he will cash in, or they become a publicly traded company where the board members care more about next quarters profits than a long term sustainable business. I would wager Joel's article will accelerate that process. That makes me wonder...perhaps the publicly traded corporate structure is not conducive to a company that wants to win on price, quality and customer experience.

redrobot5050 17y ago
Tell that theory to Apple's board. They seem to be doing alright.
- jimbokun 17y ago
  The key, I think, is that Jobs is a strong enough leader to ignore his shareholders and the Street. Had they heeded the "conventional wisdom" of the financial press, Apple would have ceased as a going concern long ago.
siculars 17y ago
i wager dollars to donuts that this outfit never goes public. most jewish orthodox businesses are closely held private entities. this is primarily due to jewish laws prohibiting monetary exchanges on the sabbath. hence the store being closed on sabbath (and other jewish holidays) even extending to the website. if b&h were to go public the number of non observant owners would outnumber orthodox owners and they would eventually want to make money 24/7. i actually recently introduced someone to b&h in person for the first time and it was like watching a kid in a toy store for the first time. b&h is everything most people in this thread make it out to be - an electronic equivalent of willy wonkas chocolate factory. and it is also true that the staff there really know their stuff. they have no problem telling you whats shit and whats not.

redrobot5050 17y ago

Tell that theory to Apple's board. They seem to be doing alright.

jimbokun 17y ago
The key, I think, is that Jobs is a strong enough leader to ignore his shareholders and the Street. Had they heeded the "conventional wisdom" of the financial press, Apple would have ceased as a going concern long ago.

siculars 17y ago

i wager dollars to donuts that this outfit never goes public. most jewish orthodox businesses are closely held private entities. this is primarily due to jewish laws prohibiting monetary exchanges on the sabbath. hence the store being closed on sabbath (and other jewish holidays) even extending to the website. if b&h were to go public the number of non observant owners would outnumber orthodox owners and they would eventually want to make money 24/7. i actually recently introduced someone to b&h in person for the first time and it was like watching a kid in a toy store for the first time. b&h is everything most people in this thread make it out to be - an electronic equivalent of willy wonkas chocolate factory. and it is also true that the staff there really know their stuff. they have no problem telling you whats shit and whats not.