Best Buy Closing 250 Small-Format Mobile Phone Stores

[Megalith]

All of Best Buy’s mobile phone stores will be closed by the end of May due to a lack of sales: according to the CEO, they represent only 1 percent of Best Buy’s overall revenue and 1 percent of its total square footage. Their services will merely be shifted to the big-box stores.

While small in their physical footprints, the store closings will be another setback for shopping malls that have been grappling with declining traffic and a rash of store closures in the last year as a number of chains have gone bankrupt or pared back their stores amid the rise in online shopping.

 

[acidrain97]

good... such a waste... shitty service from people who just don't give a fuck.

 

[cdabc123]

how would this hurt shopping malls? if no one wanted to go to the store in the first place these stores defenently didnt help foot traffic.

 

[DF-1]

there was a best buy mobile and a best buy within 200 feet of each other... didn't really make sense to me.

 

[XenIneX]

how would this hurt shopping malls? if no one wanted to go to the store in the first place these stores defenently didnt help foot traffic.

Foot traffic doesn't pay the bills. Rent pays the bills. Any storefront that's not pulling rent is losing money.

Now that storefront is free to fall another step down the mall hierarchy to bankruptcy:

• Department Superstore
• Clothing Store
• Premium Specialty (Actual carrier cellphone stores go here.)
• Housewares
• Junk Specialty (Bestbuy Mobile goes here. Also, Sprint. Right next to the "honestly, we're not a a head shop" shop.)
• Fake "Ethnic" Kitsch Store (Storefront's rent is no longer paying for itself; just stemming the bleeding.)
• Dingy Community Center
• Display Window / Boarded Up Storefront
• Tragic Ghost Town

---[edit: failure to english]---

 

[Twisted Kidney]

• Tragic Ghost Town

We prefer the term "Spray Bomb Calligrapher's Canvas".

That's the stage right before "Improvisational Homeless Shelter".

 

[That_Sound_Guy]

how would this hurt shopping malls? if no one wanted to go to the store in the first place these stores defenently didnt help foot traffic.

In addition to not paying rent. What foot traffic there is take more kindly to a store in business and not going into it versus an empty shell and a for rent sign. If that store front isn't rented in a short time frame, it signals to everyone (other vendors and customers) the mall is going down hill. They then go elsewhere.

 

[MRAB54]

I just waited an hour and 45 minutes to get my wife set up with a new phone at their big box store. Try keeping a 1 and 3 year old entertained for that long.

Phone service is worse than the DMV these days. I would almost rather have a swift kick in the nuts than sit through that again.

 

[Cranky1970]

ahhhhhh...........feel the warmth from the Best Buy dumpster fire........

 

[vegeta535]

I honestly don't see the value of all these little cell phone stores. There are like 5 Metro PCS stores in my town that always look empty when I drive by. They are staffed by people with no real knowledge and generally don't have much stock of any phones. They just loaded with accessories. It just easier to order from w/e cell providers site.

 

[collegeboy69us]

I just waited an hour and 45 minutes to get my wife set up with a new phone at their big box store. Try keeping a 1 and 3 year old entertained for that long.

Phone service is worse than the DMV these days. I would almost rather have a swift kick in the nuts than sit through that again.

Just like everything else these days it's easier/cheaper/faster/better to do it online. I bought my phone on google via ProjectFi - the bill is quite literally 15% of what I used to have with Verizon. Set it up at home in 10 minutes.

Same thing with going to the movies, I'm happy to wait a while and download/stream rather than risk getting some cold from a fat nasty loud stranger at the movies, not to mention paying outrageous theater prices.

 

[lostin3d]

there was a best buy mobile and a best buy within 200 feet of each other... didn't really make sense to me.

Where I live there's a verizon in the mall and then actual store across the street. Doesn't make sense either.

 

[lostin3d]

BB in general is such a PIA to me. I know this story is about mobile but all 'n' all its a pretty crappy experience with BB. I occasionally might encounter the useful person on the floor but it's pretty rare. Mostly just the usual 'have you checked online' or let me check the back since the computer says we have some in stock only to return empty handed. I've had a couple experiences that weren't like that, but only a couple.

A while back I had pre-ordered the guardians 2 4k/3d exclusive the day it was available online to order. Day before release and bb notified me it would be delayed. Read online this happened to many others but some said the local stores were getting them still. I ended up getting it that afternoon from the store since I had planned a dinner party with the family and my pre-order arrived a couple days later. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Decided to keep it, sealed, even though most online said they returned their orders. Like I said, generally they're a PIA.

 

[DF-1]

Where I live there's a verizon in the mall and then actual store across the street. Doesn't make sense either.

Oh, in that mall there is a gamestop and about 700? feet outside there is another gamestop.

It isn't even a big mall.

 

[lostin3d]

Oh, in that mall there is a gamestop and about 700? feet outside there is another gamestop.

It isn't even a big mall.

And stores wonder why there's a decrease in mall traffic.

 

[steakman1971]

Many years ago, I used to shop at Best Buy. I also used to go to Circuit City (think these two stores existed during the same time frame?) . I'd buy DVD's, software, and the occasional hardware purchase.
We all know Circuit City folded up shop. I also gradually stopped shopping at Best Buy - because it seemed every time I went to the store, I left empty handed and pissed off. Customer service is usually non-existent.
I have shopped for TV's, washers, dryers, refrigerators and likely other "hardware" in the last 5 years (I don't buy movies, music or software anymore - it's all streamed or a digital purchase for me.) . I run into several problems: out of stock, hard to find a sales person, aggressive extended warranty pushing, etc. We used to have a smaller appliance store across the street called HH GRegg. They had commissioned sales staff and aggressive pricing. I found they would beat BB's prices by 10% if you brought in an ad. They also wanted to help you - that's how they got paid!
Sadly, HH Gregg closed shop this past year. I am sure I'll make the mistake of going back to a BB when I have to - at least I can go do Home Depot/Lowes/others for appliance purchases.

 

[lostin3d]

I heard Circuit City might be making a comeback as an online entity.

Your experiences pretty much mirror my own in every way with BB.

 

[natos]

Where I live there's a verizon in the mall and then actual store across the street. Doesn't make sense either.

Or a Starbucks....across from a starbucks. (George Carlin joke) yea whoever does the planning or zoning....seriously they don't think these things through.

 

[lostin3d]

Or a Starbucks....across from a starbucks. (George Carlin joke) yea whoever does the planning or zoning....seriously they don't think these things through.

At one point I saw 2 Starbucks across the street from each other and inside the parking lot of one, the local grocery store and target both had starbucks satellites inside. Seriously, WTH.

 

[rgMekanic]

They didn't take the hint from Radio Shack? Turning your business into a shitty cell phone outlet doesn't work out well.