Best Buy Musical Instrument Section: Really?

[gjbassist]

They closed the only Best Buy close to me that had a musical instrument department. The store was only a couple years old and located in a fast growing area that has many new retail stores being built. Not sure what prompted that decision but I have to agree the musical instrument section was not working out well for them.

[mjac28]

I heard they were getting killed by the online giants and most stores didn't dedicate much room for products and when you mention Best Buy musical instruments usually doesn't come to mind.

[mpdd]

if i remember correctly best buy also killed a lot of mom and pop record stores, before itunes and youtube

[jmattbassplaya]

Originally Posted by R Baer

Yes, and on the verge of bankruptcy, because they don't have a clue what customers want from a store of this type. I would be very surprised to see Best Buy still around a year from now. Their musical instrument experiment is just a glimpse into the ineptitude of the people running that company.

I actually had to do a marketing research analysis of Best Buy, their brand, and what ways they could potentially turn their company around and make it more attractive to potential customers for a class of mine. Let's just say the results of the survey I conducted didn't show them a lot of promise. I think they'll last longer than a year, but their days a definitely numbered unless they make some dramatic changes and quick.

[jmattbassplaya]

Originally Posted by mjac28

I heard they were getting killed by the online giants and most stores didn't dedicate much room for products and when you mention Best Buy musical instruments usually doesn't come to mind.

I don't have any figures from the company, but from the survey I conducted it actually seems like a lot of people do prefer shopping at Best Buy for products that could be considered 'big investments', such as TV's, computers, and larger housing appliances. Cell phones and cameras even popped up a bit, too.

What people aren't buying there are movies, CD's, DVD/Blu Ray players, video games, gaming consoles, and musical instruments. In other words, the fixed costs their incurring just to have shelf space to sell such items is a complete waste because people prefer Amazon and other retailers for that kind of stuff. They'd probably be off re-branding their store and changing their model to focus on the stuff I mentioned in the first paragraph. I think Best Buy, as we know it, is already dead and on its way out.

[lowfreq33]

Best buy became successful using music and movies as loss leaders to get people in the stores and buying the more profitable electronics and appliances. Music no longer works for that, and movies aren't going to work much longer. My guess is the instrument section was a weak attempt at finding another loss leader, and it failed.

[jmattbassplaya]

Originally Posted by lowfreq33

Best buy became successful using music and movies as loss leaders to get people in the stores and buying the more profitable electronics and appliances. Music no longer works for that, and movies aren't going to work much longer. My guess is the instrument section was a weak attempt at finding another loss leader, and it failed.

Odd you'd call them a loss leader. I can't recall a time BB ever had lower prices on movies and CD's than Walmart or Target.

[lowfreq33]

Originally Posted by jmattbassplaya

Odd you'd call them a loss leader. I can't recall a time BB ever had lower prices on movies and CD's than Walmart or Target.

Once upon a time. Pre-mp3/high speed Internet/ Napster days. I can remember a time when CDs took up half the store, and you could get new releases for $9.99 when most other places you'd pay $17.99. This was also when MTV played music videos.

[BlueTalon]

Originally Posted by lowfreq33

This was also when MTV played music videos.

Dang, you must be old! I sometimes get weird looks when I say I remember when MTV didn't exist.

[jet_king]

Originally Posted by IPA

I believe I know of both the GC and the Best Buy that you are talking about. I bought a bass at that GC a while back that was horribly set up. Most of the basses I played there were barely passable, but not even close to being properly set up.

The employees at that GC are not as good as at the other GC in town...

its incredible how uneducated some of those employees can be especially the managers. The one by me has severely lost its good taste and experienced employees. there's literally only like 2 out of the 20ish -28ish people that probably work there that know what their talking about, and the rest just nod and say "cool dude" i wanna try to apply to see if i can get a job just to see what really goes on there.

[jmattbassplaya]

Originally Posted by lowfreq33

Once upon a time. Pre-mp3/high speed Internet/ Napster days. I can remember a time when CDs took up half the store, and you could get new releases for $9.99 when most other places you'd pay $17.99. This was also when MTV played music videos.

So 'Best Buy' wasn't always just an ironic name for the company

[Munjibunga]

Originally Posted by Immigrant

I walked into the instrument department at Best Buy once. A sales kid came up to me and said "Dude. Do you play?" while doing the worst air guitar motion I'd ever seen.

I couldn't respond verbally.

You could always resort to interpretive dance.

[soulman969]

Originally Posted by Got2SadowskyNYC

If you order a bass on line that shipped from the GC/MF warehouse the last person to touch that was the final check at the factory. Usually the set up is pretty close to factory spec, but things can move durring shipping and climate changes.

And this is what it comes down to isn't it? Virtually every thread and post about the purchase of a lower cost Fender Bass like a Squier CV praises the condition and playability of that bass right out of the box. If it wasn't true I doubt we'd read it as often as we do. And IME for the most part I'd say that's correct.

The floor inventory in the big box stores isn't maintained like it should be and to honest a product like a guitar doesn't lend itself very well to that. Amps, pedals, and other stuff like that yes but a bass or a guitar? Probably not. Just the fact that they get played and handled as much as they do suggests that the inventory be rotated periodically which I doubt it ever is.

Things like this are one of the best reasons I can find for suggesting that players learn how to do basic setups and repairs on their instruments. At least that allows you to pick up a floor model cheap that just needs some adjustments and some TLC to make it every good as it was the day it left the factory when it was in spec.