Best Buy Becomes Boring, Bland, and Badgering

I was just in Best Buy this past weekend. I had a holiday gift card that had some value left over and I wanted to find something to use it up on. I decided on a 256MB Flash Memory thingy, because I had just bought a computer for $19 and it had no floppy drive, no hard drive, and no CDROM. I figured I would put some kind of OS on the Flash Fob and use that.

 

Anyway, I was struck by the subtle changes that I saw at the Big Best Buy in Richfield, Minnesota, about a BB gunshot away from the Best Buy corporate headquarters. The first thing I noticed is that every time I moved into a different area and there was a sales person there, they came up to me and asked me if I needed help. I started to wish that there was a thing like "human cookies" so the staff could read whether or not I had been asked this already. I was in about four areas and was asked each time. I though about going around to all the different areas so I would have more to write about, but didn't have the time. Note to Best Buy staff: Look for sustained eye contact before approaching customers unless they have one of those white canes...!

 

The second thing is that all the computer books are gone. Well, almost all. Guess they were not a money-maker? Gee, what a surprise. I love computer books, but who can afford $20-50 to buy all the things you love (not need)? I love the clearance book racks and they did not even have that. Note to Best Buy: Sell electronic versions. You can charge just a little and make very good margin. People can read them on their computer or print them out if they want. This will also drive sales of your DUPLEX laser printers and paper.

 

And the third thing was that the product lines seemed to be much more refined and boring. There's much less difference between them and Circuit City, which I used to dislike quite a bit. It's less "computer store" and more "consumer electronics" these days. Which I think I warned Schultz about many, many years ago... oh well, I still have CompUSA and Midwest Electronics. THEY know how to treat a geek!!!

 

(hris