Maybe if Best Buy actually had employees who were helpful and knowledgeable, and customer service that didn't leave people in tears more people would be willing to pay the premium.

You're going to get better information and better customer service from Amazon.com buying something like a camera or dvd player than you would at Best Buy AND the price is lower.

wow, thank goodness Goldman Sachs is here to share their wisdom with us. If only we had all been followers of the Goldman Sachs way for years now...

Don't forget the earlier death of CompUSA

/doesn't care, I have a fry's

@wrjohnston19283: Plus, I'll get 5 thank you points/dollar :).

This doesn't surprise me at all. I'm one of those folks who'll go into Best Buy to look around, but I rarely, if ever, buy anything there. Maybe they should change the name to Best Look Around and Buy it Elsewhere.

@lordargent: Not that Fry's is any better, but I do miss being able to walk into a brick and mortar store and purchase computer components when something takes a crap.

Sorry, Walmart, you're not getting my money - ever.

@wrjohnston19283: What gets me is this "class" business of describing large televisions. Tell me the actual dimensions, don't be deceptive. This turned me off from buying an otherwise excellent TV from BB earlier in the year.

I've been in Best Buy, browsing and then used my iPhone and Amazon app in the store to purchase something simply because Best Buy's price sucked huge amounts of ass.

...this is a bit conflicting for me. Firstly, BBY can suck it. But on the other hand...W-M can also suck it. Probably even more so than BBY.

Amazon, oddly enough, I don't really have a problem with. As far as I can tell, they're fine.

I guess selling $99 HDMI cables and $10 LCD TV's is not a good business plan.

I very rarely shop at Best Buy because of their prices, but I wouldn't be caught dead in a Walmart.

What are four companies that should go out of business?

@thereij: Isn't that marketing coming from the manufacturers?

@wrjohnston19283:

It must depend on where you live when it comes to Best Buy employees. The one near me which is the only one does very good business. The sales people are nice and for the most part pretty knowledgeable. One can always be found without a problem as well. If you tell them you are just browsing, they leave you alone but inform you if you have questions, please ask.

I have returned a few things and it has always been a simple thing to do. I've never seen anyone cry or get angry while dealing with their in store customer service but I do live in Maine and life truly is different in Maine. Most people are very friendly and nice that work in retail. Even the folks at McDonalds are pleasant.

I have spent over 1500 dollars in my local Best Buy within the past six months and never had a bad experience once.

The really savvy buyer knows that Best Buy is just the catalog showrooom for newegg.com ;^)

@I Love New Jersey: There is no mention of AIG in this post.

We just had a new super Walmart open where I live in Maine and it is very nice. They are also starting to carry a lot more upscale electronic products for a very good price. I purchased a Linksys gigabit wireless N router with built in firewall for a very good price last week.

I was very surprised to see them stocking that level of product for the price they carried it at. It was cheaper than Amazon and I didn't have to pay shipping. Tax yes, but I'm cool with that. If I also was not happy with it I could have returned it without any issues at all the same day.

Yeah but as much as I dislike Best Buy I hate Walmart. I choose to pay more than to go along with a company like Walmart that likes to use local Welfare agencies to use as "employee benefits" plus at least the people at my Best Buy are legally allowed to be in the US and can ignore me lawfully where at Walmart I can clear there employess out by yelling "I'm need to call INS".

@mariospants: That's a shame. I, on the other hand, don't fool myself into thinking that paying a higher price for the same goods is somehow more ethical or fulfilling.

RIP - BYE BYE BEST BUY < PLEASE GO AWAY .

@bigd7387: Wow, that was almost coherent.

@bigd7387: Really? Comon I used to work for Wal-Mart and even I know thats just not true. Now the company that used to clean the floors, WHOLE different story.

Only problem is your stuck with whatever crap brands Walmart carries.

@wrjohnston19283: I dunno, I tend to prefer the generally clueless associates at Best Buy to the somewhat knowledgeable but overly pushy salesmen at other retail places like hhgregg. Although I definitely do the shop at Best Buy, buy online thing.

@Megalomania: This. I almost stopped reading at "Goldman Sachs."

@I Love New Jersey: I have heard FashionBug, Rite Aid, Krispy Kreme, and Sirius Satellite. I will be sad about Krispy Kreme if that pans out to be true.

@supercereal:

What you typed out.

@bigd7387:

Okay , I've seen enough. Shop at WalMart ,don't shop at Walmart , who gives a flying damn ? But please don't smear your moral virtue all over the place like dogshit until the companies that you DO grace with your presence are staffed by altruistic angels. I don't go in Walmart very much because I hate the whole parking/greeter/receipt hassle ,but I am damn glad that it's there if I want to. If Walmart didn't exist ,every one of their competitors prices would be higher. Cry all you want for the poor put upon Walmart workers (many of which are the fuck ups that didn't pay attention when they were being GIVEN a free education by the same taxpayers that are helping them now) , but you moralizing hypocrites would be the biggest complainers of all if Best Buy didn't have Wallyworld around to keep them somewhat honest.

Oh , BTW , judging by the mangled grammar and syntax , a little remedial education wouldn't hurt you ,either.

@bigd7387:

Come to my Walmart in Maine and shout this and people would look at you as if you where high on some sort of drug or drunk.

Sorry you reside in such a crappy part of the United States but please don't come to Maine. I do not desire your type in the state I reside.

I normally go in Best Buy to ogle at the HDTVs and laptops, but every last one of them is coated in this cheap glossy plastic. How they enjoy chapter 11!

I'm not a huge Wal-Mart fan - not because I have any ethical issues with the company, I just find shopping there unpleasant. But I decided it was time for a bigger flat panel, and when a deal cropped up on Slickdeals for a Vizio 42", 1080p lcd for $598, I couldn't say no, and bought it from Wal-Mart with free "ship-to-store" to the store near me.

The TV is great, but the Wal-Mart experience was typical wal-mart - I waited about 15 minutes, with numerous people asking if we were being helped and saying they would get someone, but nobody showing up.

@goodcow: You win at life.

@thereij:

I think that's actually best buy preventing a future lawsuit against them due to TV makers cutting down on screen sizes in order to cut down on materials cost.

Best Buy's website has Samsung PN50B550 as a 50in "class" and states it is 49 9/10 inches. Amazon says its 50inches. Samsung's website calls it a 50" but does mention that the diagonal is 49.9.

It's actually worse than the old CRT size issue, where a 15" CRT would only have a viewable size of 14". That was due to the tube being hidden being the plastic casing. In the case of "class" TVs it's just rounding up. Kind of like if Kia came out and said we have a "mercedes class" care cause we copied their look.
[latimesblogs.latimes.com]

Oh God, not Amazon.

Amazon = the end of real stores offering fair prices and decent return policies.

@jayphat: I won't. Their doughnut stink. Dunkin's all the way, man.

@supercereal: Dammit guys, you're nuts if you think I advocated that, too.

@jayphat:

I have a Rite Aid in my town that was a Brooks. I moved to town just as they were having a "Grand Reopening". The place is a dump - the shelves are half empty, they have about 10 aisle is a building the size of a walmart - i've been there only a handful of times and only when they had things REALLY cheap. It hasn't gotten better in the year since.

I won't miss them if they go.

@catnapped:

Walmart's beginning to sell better stuff as people have finally discover that a "Panaphonics" DVD player for a $29.99 isn't as great of a deal three months down the line when they've bought two replacements.

We just had a super Walmart open up here, its decent and the store is very roomy. I haven't checked out their electronics yet as I probably still won't buy from them in this department but rather stick to the popular Newegg + Amazon combo.

I would rather shop at Walmart than BB. BB just reeks with scam, at least WM doesn't try to upsell you extended warranties that they won't honor and try to automatically add magazine subscriptions to your bill at the checkout. WM's ethics may not be the best but what company is perfect? BB's prices are also horrific.

I think BB is becoming the official browse before you shop at Amazon or Newegg store. I don't use BB for this purpose, heck I don't even have a BB that close around here to bother to shop with them, which is a good thing but there are many other people that use them for this. Note that Walmart opened up a new store here but BB did not!

I do occasionally go to out of the way malls and the last time I walked in a BB just for kicks and the store reeked with god knows what and was probably about 95 degrees inside, needless to say I was in and out in a flash.

@NotYou007: I refuse to apologize for shopping in a store where I can buy groceries, school supplies, baby clothes, a birthday gift for a 5 year old, makeup, a DVD, and potting soil, all while getting my oil changed. I have four kids, two of them under the age of three. That kind of convenience is too, well - convenient to pass up.

@changed my name:

I enjoy my local Walmarts. I never said anything negative about them. Not sure if you meant to direct your comment towards me or not but you did.

@Snarkysnake: Moreover, I wonder if people realize that Wal-Mart is the primary reason that many of them end up coming off of taxpayer assistanct. They usually have about a 5% rate of taxpayer assisted workers who start out. Within 18 months, that number drops to around 2%.

@lordargent: Fuck yeah for Frys. If I don't feel like perusing in-person, I just order online and pick up in-store. That is, if it's the best price. Otherwise, I hit up Newegg or Amazon.

Best Buy is eventually going to go down just like Circuit City did. The internet stores such as Tiger Direct, New Egg, and Amazon can provide better prices and a bigger selection than any physical store can. And companies like Best Buy just can't compete with that. I'd probably give them another 5 years before they are gone.

I hate Best Buy. Between the lying sleezy 20 something sales guys, the thug bouncers they have doing door security and being asked if I want a warranty - credit card - magazine subscription for a $9 CD just forget it. Being labeled "the enemy" by Best Buy corporate didn't help either. That was part of their categorizing their customers a few years ago. I would only buy something at Best Buy if I needed it in order to get work done, nobody else in town carried it and I could not wait for Newegg or Tiger Direct to ship it.

@supercereal: Same goods in relation to electronics? You mean speakers, receivers, decent and a reasonable selection of computers and T.V.s? I never really see a decent amount or really good HDTV's when I walk into Walmart or even more than 10 computers (And even in the one of the biggest in NY state). Sam's Club selection though is usually pretty good fortunately.

Granted, I would also shop online if I wanted to save money meaning I am even less likely to shop at Walmart aside from food. In their favor, for food I am fine with going there (also Sams Club).

Heck, in some ways it's cheaper to shop elsewhere than Walmart, even Best Buy (i.e. sales of blu-ray, video games etc ). I see very few sales on such things in Wal-mart (though the lack of sales could be a NY state thing.). Whereas recently I walked into Best Buy and saw a bunch of Blu-ray sale. A few months ago I got Soul Calibur 4 for the Ps3 for 10 dollars when normally it was 50.

I seldom see such sales in Wal-mart. Amazon is even better . So to "save money" argument doesn't really go that far if you really think about it (at least in the electronics category). In that case shop online which I am starting to do more myself.

Other than groceries, you could buy basically better products than mostly any electronic device Walmart sells (I could buy a decent Samsung T.V. online with free shipping on Amazon for possibly the same price than some bottom end Sanyo tv in Walmart).

However, I suppose like the way I go into best buy (just usually to look around. Sometimes I buy stuff there but I may buy it on New egg, Amazon, ebay or whomever) people do the same in Walmart and buy stuff. It being all in one place is good, but to claim that you are paying less for the same is quite a stretch to say the least.

@snoop_dizzle: If anything the one winner out of this I would say is Amazon and other online stores over Best Buy and Wal-mart for that matter.

I would probably use Best Buy though many times to look at the products I like then possibly buy them online. Going to Wal-mart wouldn't really help especially if you are looking at audio equipment. For food, fine, maybe clothes, but that's about it.

Goldman Sachs has done little of late to make its predictions worthy of respect. That said, I have no problem with Amazon. I've had nothing but good experiences and their return policies are fine. Walmart is like going into a Costco with more selection. If I was willing to pay Nordstrom's prices (and get Nordstrom quality and service) that would be one thing, but I don't expect that quality or price from Walmart and I'm rarely disappointed with what I buy there. I agree that the greeter thing is asinine. Best Buy, not a bad selection, not very good prices and a return policy written by Kafka. They have to be the absolute worst at customer service when it comes to returns. Still, I will buy things there occasionally, as long as I know their price is in line with what I would pay at Amazon. As far as knowledgeable salespeople, I gave up on that a long time ago at any big box store. Being a floor person at any one of these stores is not a lifetime career and they don't hang around long enough to really learn the merchandise.