Caption Contest: Best Buy FTW
By Laura June 
posted February 4th 2009 1:09PM
posted February 4th 2009 1:09PM
A Twitterer documents the demise of one big box via the burn of another.
Tim: "And thus the 2009 FatWallet suicide craze began."
Josh F: "First!"
Joe: "Yeah, but what about the Palm store?"
Laura: "So, you're telling me I have to pay full price for this copy of Final Destination IV? FINE."
Richard: "...And we finally have proof you never actually shopped there anyway."
Paul: "We've also stopped matching Buy More prices ever since that silly 3D episode."
Jacob: "...And we're therefore rebranding to Kinda the Best Buy.'"
Ross: "For $100, the Geek Squad has offered to read these aloud to you. For an extra $50, they'll stop themselves from giggling through the word 'unfortunate.'"
Nilay: "Also, it's okay to start liking 'Just What I Needed' again."
Sean: "We will, however, attempt to make the Circuit City faithful feel right at home with some new bait and switch tactics of our own."
Don: "Circuit City employees will be hired based on their technical knowledge, communication skills, and rapping ability."
[Thanks, Adam]
Josh F: "First!"
Joe: "Yeah, but what about the Palm store?"
Laura: "So, you're telling me I have to pay full price for this copy of Final Destination IV? FINE."
Richard: "...And we finally have proof you never actually shopped there anyway."
Paul: "We've also stopped matching Buy More prices ever since that silly 3D episode."
Jacob: "...And we're therefore rebranding to Kinda the Best Buy.'"
Ross: "For $100, the Geek Squad has offered to read these aloud to you. For an extra $50, they'll stop themselves from giggling through the word 'unfortunate.'"
Nilay: "Also, it's okay to start liking 'Just What I Needed' again."
Sean: "We will, however, attempt to make the Circuit City faithful feel right at home with some new bait and switch tactics of our own."
Don: "Circuit City employees will be hired based on their technical knowledge, communication skills, and rapping ability."
[Thanks, Adam]
Further reading:
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Circuit City fails to be wanted, will now be liquidated Even Circuit City's CEO admitted that liquidation was a very real possibility if a sale of the company didn't occur by January 16th, and needless to say, time's up. |
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Circuit City closings begin, lines form, bargains await If you were waiting to get some fliers in the mail announcing the beginning of clearances at your local Circuit City, we're sorry to report you've probably already missed the best deals. |
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RIP, CompUSA: 1984 - 2008 Days after we first reported that CompUSA could be shutting down for good very, very soon, everybody is reporting that the beleaguered big box retailer has been sold to Gordon Brothers Group for liquidation. |
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Best Buy snaps up 17 CompUSA leases Apparently, not only is CompUSA rising from the dead like a horrific, zombified corpse, but now its guts are getting bought up and replaced by another retail behemoth. |
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Circuit City's Black Friday deals leak, no word on if it'll be open to sell things Okay, so maybe Circuit City only formally closed 155 of its retail locations, but let's put it this way -- if we're up at 3:00AM and looking at which store to camp in front of, we're picking the one that, um, isn't bankrupt. |
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Best Buy's "doorbuster" Black Friday deals probably won't result in the literal busting of doors We apologize for the cloying headline, but just wanted to point out to Best Buy that the whole point of insane deals and "doorbuster" savings is, well, those things. |
Also, your wallet will no longer be able to match our prices anymore. Would you like to apply for a Best Buy credit card?
ON SALE: Monopoly! $900.
What's your social?
And the winner goes to...
"Due to the unfortunate liquidation of Circuit City, we will no longer care to match their prices."
Monopoly's a bitch.
We Won. You Lose.
@elroy
. . . because he could have later chopped the 15' one into five shorter cables? What could he possibly do with a cable that long if he only needed a short length? I bet your dumb ass would buy a 50' cable if it was only $5 a foot, and you'd brag about what a "great deal" it was to your friends while they tried not to laugh.
Hopefully every single brick and mortar stores goes out of business so all of you good for nothing "cheapos" have to wait 2 to 7 days for your product. Hopefully you run into a huge emergency where you need a product, but because you were too cheap to pay a premium on a product, all the stores in your area went out of business.
Hopefully Wal-Mart becomes the last standing retailer because of it's "great prices" but now where are you going to buy your Western Digital Media Player and show the sales person you know more than them because you read pointless tech blogs.
How the hell do you guys expect brick and mortar stores to stay in business if you are too cheap to pay for the convenience (or the accessories to make up for lost margin on selling laptops $200 below cost). Stupid know-it-all-cheap-asses are the demise of the economy. Just wait.
Boy, people are becoming so cheap with things. Next thing you know, all big-chain car mechanics will go out of business because they are "overpriced" for something the customer can learn to do themselves.
Next thing you know, people are going to talk crap on online retailers.
"Man, you are over-paying for that motherboard. I can manufacture one in my garage. People are suckers"
@Jim
So when's your last day at Circuit City?
best buy sucks they ego is def inflated they are rude and my dads comp dropped them from thier business plan cause they got so cocky
I work at best Buy and yes most customer service sucks balls. But please please do not say all the employess are dumb. I work in the camera dept. I know a decent amount about photography and the diff. between cameras. Again, a lot of us are dumb haha but not all. And for the guy that was talking about the D90 and the D80 that is kinda funny though.
Fine print at the bottom of the AD reads
"....Although with our current pricing strategies and shady business practices, we will be following Circuit City close behind."
Best Buy will stay around even during the economic downturn because they have costumer service and technical expertise. I know 90% of the people on Engadget think they know more than Best Buy employees, but to the lay person, they are leaps and bounds above anyone else. Differentiation will keep them afloat.
I'm glad the employees at Best Buy can service costumes. I don't see how it is relevant, though...
@ ironman, you are absolutely right. btw, can you please tell me what isle i can find the most expensive monster cable HDMI cable. i hear they really improve picture quality.
lol@brian
When i went to buy my PS3 Hdmi cord, they tried to cell me one that was 15 feet and cost +100 bucks.
I went to abc warehouse and asked if there were other options and he said "With digital feeds, as long as the signal is carried, the quality of the cord doesnt matter" and then he showed me a 3 foot cord that cost about 25 bucks... it was exactly what i was looking for. I even read later that there are cord that go for less than ten that do the same.
Best Buy employees are trained to know more than the average consume, but even better trained at convincing them that they are getting a deal...
@ironman, are you on crack? Technical expertise in the same post as best buy employees? me to a Best Buy employee
"Can you tell me why I should get the Nikon d90 over the d80?"
"It's newer and better...er. That's why it's more expensive."
@ironman:
Since I was already beaten to the "costume" bit I was going to nag on, I'll simply humbly suggest that they don't have any "technical expertise" and offer that they have "I-read-the-box expertise". Honestly, asking these guys about anything that has to do with what's actually inside the box and they freeze up or try to rattle off some BS. To prove my point to a friend of mine we went in to a store in Huntington Beach, CA and asked an associate what the "p" and the "i" indicated at the end of 1080 meant. His answer: "Oh, I is for integrated, and P is for perfect."
Technical experts, indeed.
cheap cables = MonoPrice
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024007&p_id=5214&seq=1&format=2
For that price you can afford to get half a dozen and just replace it if they break. I've only had one break, but that's cause a box fell on top of the connector and bent it out. They also have a bunch of different colors and sizes to make it easier to keep things organized.
Ray wouldn't buy a 15 foot HDMI cord for 100 bucks ($6.66/foot) but was cool with buying a 3 foot cord for 25 bucks ($8.33 per foot).
Yes...that is the MUCH more intelligent buy!
No wonder our economy is in a nose dive!
@Ray
http://www.monoprice.com/
@ironman
Have you shopped at a best buy? I've been to many....
The employees are complete idiots.
I work in retail....
I go into places like best buy not to shop, but to observe. I see what they do. I see what management at a store like best buy does. It's just show up to earn your crappy hourly wage. That kind of pay will never produce a knowledgeable and helpful sales associate.
I've seen homeless people on the street with more selling ability than your average best buy employee....
@ironman
Expertise huh?
After searching extensively, me at BB: "I'm looking for a BluRay version of this new release today."
BB dude: "Let me check the computer. Yup, says we have 4" He looks on shelf. "Not here. I'll look out back".
10 minutes later, BB dude: "Yeah, I guess they're not here yet. They might be on another truck or something. You can come back later in the week..."
I ordered it on Amazon.
I can't imagine what would have happened if I asked them a technical question...maybe the store would have imploded...hey, I should try that!
@Elroy....
You're an idiot.
The point is that Best Buy tried to sell him a 15' cable in the first place when all he needed was a 3'. Regardless of the price/foot, paying for 12' more than you need is a rip off.
@ ironman
so u make your costume at best buy?
Dang (Ironman), Learn to spell.
Price matching from circuit city was never that good anyways *shrugs*
Well maybe TVs...
Thank God...people are so idiotic.
There's a reason why they're going out of business and Best Buy is NOT. Look forward to seeing this when I get to work later this week.
Thank you, dear commentor. Your 67 cent check is in the mail.
You know why they aren't out of business? its NOT because they do better business or have better prices or even because of Geek Squad (which can shit out glass shards they are so fucking dumb), its because CC's stock was ALREADY in the shitter, and a recession like squall sent them the final axe. If you actually PAID attention to the stock market, BB's stock has fall CONSIDERABLY, its just it didnt fall enough for them to get scarred. You are a collosal fucking idiot.
What? Circuit City's liquidation prices have finally become a value? When was this?
They are not. I went into cc looking for a 24" monitor and the only ones they had were the display models left. And those were going for 50-100 more than brand new prices!
20% off $20 camera cases, baby!
I browsed through my local CC today, the deals still suck.
The major difference I saw was every employee, with the exception of one manager, were just standing around completely ignoring legitimate customer questions, waiting to be laid off.
Exactly what I was thinking. I went in there to get a nice P&S digicam with my girlfriend. After looking at all the cameras, I couldn't even find a single one in-store I couldn't get for at least more than 20% cheaper online at either Amazon or Newegg.
So sad, and exactly the reason they're going out of business.
Best Lie is even more terrifying. You know it's awful when someone gives you a $50.00 gift card there, and all you can find that you can readily purchase with that amount are two CDs and some screen wipes. Awful. The one where I live smells like pure, ripe, unmitigated ass as soon as you walk in. I honestly think they've never vacuumed, much less shampooed, the entryway carpet. I wish Best Lie was closing; honestly, I hate that place so much. The employees are lazy; I once (like an idiot) asked whether they knew if they had anymore Battlestar Galactica Razor DVDs, and the employee shrugged and told me they were at the end of their shift. After about 20 minutes of browsing and searching, the same idiot was right where he was, chatting it up with another employee.
Die, Best Lie. Die.
@Evolution
My experience in CC yesterday and everyday in my local CC was entirely different. I was greeted when I walked in and offered assistance in each department I entered. And that speaks well for them since I visit about once a week and usually don't end up buying anything.
@nerdtalker
HAHa. Someone got me a $50 gift card to Best Buy once. It was the a painful experience. Even though anything I wanted was technically free, I still couldn't bring myself to purchase things at such high prices. Upgrade my RAM? errr, maybe not. Finally get that HDMI cable? AHH, F$#K NO! Always good to have more blank CD's, right? Shit, its 70% cheaper online. I ended up getting Attack of the Clone and Revenge of the Sith even though I didn't even want them, but the prices were at least on par. Even the "rounding off the balance" Snickers bar was a rip off at $1.70!
The problem was that Circuit City was still sending out fliers for several weeks after the announcement. Best Buy doesn't have to match store that are closed (especially when the local branch RAISES it's prices like the liquidators do)
As far as prices, Best Buy isn't bad. It's RETAIL... not mail order! They pay to buy it first, and ship it, and build a nice store (some are nice and retail rent is outrageous... thanks zoning laws) for you to browse, and a lot to park your car. Newegg is a garage in the low-rent warehouse district with nothing but shelves where retail shopping is not allowed.
Best Buy usually is cheaper than MSRP. Several online places my work forces us to use are actually HIGHER than MSRP.. for online!! To compare Best Buy prices with Newegg you have to use the $40 overnight/10am shipping option, if you use the default 3 day/ground (to make it cheaper) you are "paying" for the low price with time for shipping. After all, when you buy it at a retail store, they already paid shipping and you get the product immediately... even faster than FedEx. There is an opportunity cost to consider. Also returns are much easier at retail stores... even though newegg is pretty good (never had to return anything) it's still several days in transit to get approval.. yet the same people will complain about 30 minutes at the BB counter while the decision is being made!
I'm not defending bad service.. and I've seen poor service even at the ones I shop. But Best Buy is a different business than Newegg... even though they sell a lot of the same items.
@EV0LUTION
Hmm.. reminds me of before they went out of business...
@nerd
Circuit City is going out of business because no one spent any money last holiday season. Agreed the company made its fair share of mistakes and was creating its own problems. The thing that annoys me now is the "That's why they're going out of business." EVERYTHING happening in the store now is direction of the liquidation companies.
Yes - I worked at CCity as a firedog In-Home tech. No, I don't anymore, I found a new job and moved on.
One of us! One of us!
Hahaha Ross is funny
Richards is the best imo....followed very closely by Ross.
We've done it! We've won...wait, where's everyone?
AKBlade13
Everyone is partying at your signature.
Our goal of becoming a monopoly is getting closer!
(MWUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!)
(Imperial March plays on a Zune behind the sign, hell no ones buying them, they may as well put them to good use!)
Haha. "Kinda the Best Buy" xD
Did they seriously put this up?
Circuit City's Twitter update:
"Time to finally catch up on Gossip Girl."
And for the record, FireDog? Seriously?
"Where service is state of the art." ;)