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Topic: Tech Industry

Best Buy announces list of 50 stores closing in 2012

Summary: The once high-flying electronics retailer Best Buy, reeling from online competition, discloses the 50 store locations it will shut down this year.

Sean Portnoy

By for Home Theater |

The once high-flying electronics retailer Best Buy is reeling from online competition, among other woes (such as its CEO's resignation last week), and is reducing the number of locations in an effort to cut costs. The company has just disclosed the list of retail locations it plans to close this year, which will come to a grand total of 50 stores in the U.S.

Two stores -- one in Kansas City, Missouri and the other in Scottsdale, Arizona -- are already closed, and five Minnesota stores and one in San Antonio have already been informed that they are shutting down. Of the remaining 42 locations, seven are in California, six are in Illinois, and three are in Virginia. Major cities like Boston, Cleveland, Tampa, and Vancouver are each losing one location.

You can find the full list of stores closing here. Do you frequent one of the stores on this list? Will you miss having a Best Buy nearby? Will fewer Best Buy locations ultimately help the company turn itself around? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below.

[Via Engadget]

Topic: Tech Industry

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33 comments
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  • "reeling from online competition"

    Sorry, but Best Buy is reeling from its own incompetence, high prices, and indifferent sales people. The competition that is killing Best Buy comes from Costco, Walmart, and the office supply chains who now fill half their stores with technology products.

    The Best Buy near me specializes in stocking brands and products that nobody wants, and what they do have that is interesting is priced 20-30 percent higher than Costco. I tried to do some Christmas shopping at the local Best Buy, only to find that they were invariably out of stock on anything that was interesting and decently priced. The sales tactics bordered on bait-and-switch.

    They can cry about Amazon all they want, but their problems are mostly internally generated. They continuously reward non-performing CEOs and top execs with lavish pay and incentives even as they fail to meet any of their goals. That's a going-out-of-business strategy all by itself.
    terry flores
    Reply 2 Votes

    • Exactly

      We have two Best Buys here in my area within 10 miles and one of them is in that list, Ellisville, MO. My sympathies to the employees there, but Best Buy is not Best Buy it is the "Worst Buy" throughout and they are most expensive. Good example, AT&T is selling Lumia 900 for $499 out of contract and you check at Best Buy (in store and online), they listed it for $549.
      Ram U
      Reply Vote

    • I concur

      The same here: Costco has WAY better deals than "Best"Buy. I go there to get all "Best"Bay carries: external hdd, monitors, notebooks, you name it. Their warranties and price cannot be beaten by Best Buy.
      nehopsa@...
      Reply Vote

      • depends

        Here in Canada, Best Buy also owns another electronics chain known as FutureShop. Their sales people are like vultures because they make a commission. I will drive by FutureShop to go to BestBuy as I appreciate their sales people don't bother me instore. That said, there's a TigerDirect store across the street from BestBuy, so I generally only shop for DVD's.
        spin498
        Reply Vote

    • Good Logo

      http://www.freelancer.com/marketplace/product/Online-Store-Logo.html
      Aeredgthy Ytutyu
      Reply Vote

  • Nothing closing near me, and I live close to three best buys

    KOP, Plymouth Meeting, and Collegeville PA.

    I wonder how much local demographics plays into retail vs online purchasing?
    John Zern
    Reply Vote

    • Who says this is the last?

      They may be closing more than just these 50 in the future.
      ScorpioBlack
      Reply Vote

  • All good here.

    I have a number of favorite stores in Washington, Utah and Virginia. The only one on the list that I recognized is in a mall that is being torn down.
    tomogden
    Reply Vote

  • Omaha

    The BB closing in the Omaha area is their newest store in the area, in a development that came online right in the middle of the 2008-09 economic downturn. There's still several vacancies in the development, so I suspect foot traffic through this store is lower than expected; additionally, the lease was probably negotiated at the peak of the bubble, increasing the overhead for that location. Still, that leaves four BB stores for a metro area of approximately 800,000 - still two too many IMHO.

    The company needs to embrace the "showroom" model - but instead of being Amazon's de facto showroom, they need to be their own. Reduce the overhead substantially, and pass those reductions to the customer in the form of lower prices to compete with Amazon. Slash the number of stores by half - or more; carry more models - but fewer quantities - in the showroom; and promise next-day (to the store) or two-day (to the customer's home) delivery in the event the item isn't in the store.
    jrf2027@...
    Reply Vote

    • In-store order kiosks maybe?

      That's one thing I wondered about. If Best Buy made it easy to order out-of-stock or variant models while you were still in the store, then it might help a little. Instead the process today is go to store; look for item; it is not carried or out of stock; go home and order from Amazon.
      terry flores
      Reply Vote

  • I guess I dodged a bullet

    Only two stores in Florida are slated for closure -- both on the West coast (I live on the East coast) -- all of my local stores will remain open :-).

    It's interesting: I recently bought a new house. This necessitated buying all new appliances, and two large LED TVs. I did all of my research on the internet, and then placed the orders locally in-store -- just the opposite of what most consumers are doing.

    At the local Best Buy I showed up with an internet-derived order list of what I wanted to buy. It turns out that the internet Best Buy prices were cheaper than the in-store prices, but Best Buy price matches -- including with itself -- so I got the lower internet pricing -- go figure :D
    eboyhan
    Reply Vote

  • They need help alright...

    Internally. I had to stop shopping there unless I knew exactly what I wanted and could get in and out fast. Overhearing the BS the pizza-faced "geek-wanna-be" was dishing out to poor unsuspecting customers just made me sick. More than once I stopped people in the parking lot and told them the truth. There were lots more though that took their over-priced junk home and wondered why it didn't fly around the room like the "salesperson" said it would. Then you have the geek-squad .... don't even get me started on those clowns....
    ccs9623
    Reply Vote

    • ditto

      exactly.
      minnarky1
      Reply Vote

  • Close what you like, but not mine

    Not one of the stores I like the best but I am glad I have one close by. That said I never send anyont there to make a PC purchase. I get sick when I am in the store and hear a sales person upsell some poor sap into spending $2K when a $400 machine will do what he or she needs. They deserve to be loosing money.
    pllamonica@...
    Reply Vote

  • No big deal...

    I live in Arizona, almost half way between two of them, one of which is closing (Lake Pleasant). The one that is closing is the newer of the two and is in a hard hit developing area. The remaining one is a good 10 years older and not is not well maintained, reminds me of a Kmart, the last time I was in there it looked like a bomb went off in it. The only saving grace is that it does have a Magnolia section in it.
    Darryl Duke
    Reply Vote

  • Best Buy needs to do something

    Because online stores are a portion of their business loss but so is their business model and service model. On some things their prices are competitive but most things are not so unless a person absolutely needs to see and touch a product before buying it or wants it right away there is little reason to go into best buy. I usually only buy my Movies and Games from there on release days because the prices on most other electronics they sell can be found somewhere else for a better deal.

    I also hate going into the store and listening to their salespeople speak. Occasionally you get someone that knows what they are talking about but most of them sound like pre-recorded robots repeating what they are told to say and often those sales pitches are not very truthful.

    Don't even get me started on their services. Most Geek Squad members are a joke and am always taking in people referred to me after being charged hundreds to have their computer set up or fixed or their home theater equipment serviced. I have literally watched them read through the steps without having a clue how to troubleshoot a problem or have any idea what they are doing. I sometimes feel bad for charging people to have the work redone but most are appreciative that is finally done right. I even know a few that have gone back to Geek Squad/Best Buy and demanded their money back for shoddy service.
    bobiroc
    Reply Vote

  • Best Buy, who cares?

    There was a time when I visited Best Buy as often as I could and sometimes just for fun. I bought my Sony TV there as well as automobile add-ons. There is a store relatively close to my home in Pittsburgh. Now, Best Buy isn't even on my list and I find no need for it. We have a local appliance store that is more than adequate. Home theater stuff can be purchased cheaper or as cheap elsewhere. We have a regional chain, hhgreg, that seems to be taking over Best Buy's space. For computers and accessories, there is Amazon, eBay and a local computer service store that is a Dell representative and who will put together whatever I need. It appears that there is no future for specialty big box stores like Best Buy. It was reported on CNBC recently that Best Buy is losing 2% of sales a year and that its increases in online sales are not a sufficient offset. The analyst further opined that these businesses typically disappear once they have lost 15% of sales.
    pghmike1
    Reply Vote

  • No shocker

    It's like one of the posters commented, stop giving away the company to these unproven CEO's and their VP buddies (even if they did run another company successfully, who's to say it was them that made the company successful-you may have been able to put a trained chimp in the CEO chair and get just as good results)! It's these money greedy CEO's that are runing some of these companies (some companies great and some not so great, but all could probably still survive with the right person at the helm) right in to the ground, with obviously no regret or conscience, as they move from one successful company to another, stripping it of any value, similar to the way a flock of locusts destroys a field of crops. New formula - CEO gets flat salary first year, (with a cap, say no more than $250,000). All contracts are for one(1) year and one(1) year only, all CEO's, VP's etc. are on the same type of contract. Every year, the company perfomance is evaluated, if good, bonuses can be set at a percentage of the salary or a percentage of the company profits (also within reason so as to not give the company away, and a cap on these bonuses would also be set, the latter being more of an incentive to 'drive' the CEO and others. The money that the companies would be saving would then be redirected in to things like improving the balance sheet, R&D to keep the company competitive and turning a profit, employee development and so on...things that help to make the company stronger and more profitable. In addition to the CEO and other top management fleecing the company, BestBuy has serious pricing and customer service problems, two things that will drive consumers running to the competition and BestBuy just doesn't seem to get it, because these problems aren't new...
    Cubbie
    Reply Vote

  • Typical

    To cut costs we're going to make it harder for potential customers to buy from us.

    Real Smart...

    I was looking for a new laptop, decided on the Asus G74sx.
    Best buy told me I could get it, but had to order it online and it would take at least 2 weeks. London drugs had it in stock at a better price, and I could have it immidiately.
    inkwell
    Reply Vote

  • Repoting from the FL West Coast

    The one closing in Fort Myers is one of 3 in the area- one of the two newer ones, with the oldest of the three remaining open. Of the two newer ones, both are in the only growing areas of the region, although the newer one remaining is in a faster-growing area and a better overall shopping location. Both the one closing, and the oldest store which will remain open, are about equally close to what one would consider the less-desirable demographic areas, so I doubt this is a factor in the closing of this particular store.

    I myself go to Best Buy only for small parts- USB cables, DVD blanks, and flash drives, for instance- and only get larger components when I can't wait for delivery time of an online purchase. I will occasionally drop in to window shop, if my wife is going to another retailer in the same complex, such as a clothing store, where I don't want to tag along & need to kill some time, when I'll first look over Blu-Ray disks for anything new I might wish to add to my collection- but I do the same when we're in Target together. If I'm looking for appliances, I go to a locally-owned chain that's well-known for selection and quality service (Bill Smith, if you live in the Ft. Myers area.) So I have little use for big-box electronic stores in general, not just Best Buy in particular, anymore
    WanderMouse
    Reply 1 Vote
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