AfterDawn: News

Best Buy to mimic Apple Stores

According to new reports, Best Buy is looking to convert some of their stores in Apple Store look-a-likes.

Best Buy is looking to change 60 of their 1100 branches in the United States into outlets that look and feel like the popular Apple retail shops.



Dubbed 'Best Buy 2.0,' the new converted stores will have a large help desk similar to the Genius Bar, focus mainly on mobile devices like tablets/smartphones/e-readers and let shoppers pay from multiple locations around the store.

Best Buy's version of the Genius Bar is called 'Solution Central' and will be occupied by Geek Squad. The desk will have chairs for customers, allowing for a better connection between employees and customers.

Finally, the stores will be 20 percent smaller than the average size of a Best Buy location, and will move away from the standard yellow and blue color scheme to a blue and white one.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 7 Jul 2012 0:27

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• 16 comments

• Notcow

  Inb4 lawsuits.
  

  7.7.2012 06:36 #1

• Hrdrk20

  Same business model and lousy customer support only now on a larger scale to attract more unsuspecting victims. lol

  7.7.2012 11:21 #2

• JST1946

  I'm not going to shop there no matter what they do.I even have a Grandson that works there that can get me a discount,but do my shopping at Compusa which is right next door.
  They have better prices and the sales people are more friendly and have better customer support.
  

  7.7.2012 12:22 #3

• Mrguss

  This article must be old; Geek Squad is gone!
  

  +5000

  7.7.2012 16:31 #4

• JST1946

  Yeah they still have geeks but the just stand there and do nothing.
  

  7.7.2012 16:34 #5

• bobiroc

  Dear Best Buy,
  
  It is not the look of your stores that is hurting your business. It is the idiot staff that are usually a bunch of kids that do not know squat. Oh that and the fact that better prices can often be found at other stores online. You are no Apple and you cannot sell overpriced products like they can because people buy Apple's overpriced stuff because they are idiots that believe that the Apple logo will make others think they are part of an elite club or something.
  
  
  

  AMD Phenom II 965 @ 3.67Ghz, 8GB DDR3, ATI Radeon 5770HD, 240GB OCZ Vertex 3, 2TB Additional HDD, Windows 7 Ultimate.
  
  http://www.facebook.com/BlueLightningTechnicalServices

  7.7.2012 19:19 #6

• Hyasuma

  Originally posted by bobiroc: Dear Best Buy,
  
  It is not the look of your stores that is hurting your business. It is the idiot staff that are usually a bunch of kids that do not know squat. Oh that and the fact that better prices can often be found at other stores online. You are no Apple and you cannot sell overpriced products like they can because people buy Apple's overpriced stuff because they are idiots that believe that the Apple logo will make others think they are part of an elite club or something.
  
  +1
  
  

  Being nice always has its own consequences

  8.7.2012 02:01 #7

• Bozobub

  Um, heh.
  
  This kind of crap is exactly what makes me think most marketing directors are cokeheads ;8>. ...

  8.7.2012 03:15 #8

• graystroke

  Originally posted by Hrdrk20: Same business model and lousy customer support only now on a larger scale to attract more unsuspecting victims. lol That is our modern culture lowering the bar so as not to hurt anyone's feelings until it hurts a company's bottom line. I hate going there and only because Fry's is 90 miles away, otherwise the real geeks are at Fry's Electronics and I normally get excellent help.
  

  8.7.2012 13:34 #9

• 1nsan3

  I used to love best buy. but with prices usually higher than everyone else, and now this? ok lets make ourselfs look like apple because we cant be unique, and make ourselfs differ from everyone else lol. I always hated best buys service. half the time if ya asked them what about the specs on this pc, or whatever, its ummmmm.
  
  oh yea and there geek squad is a JOKE. over priced and hardly know anything. and that is NO joke.
  
  but yea for the most part. good bye best buy.

  8.7.2012 16:11 #10

• snardos

  I thought everyone already knew not to ask Best Buy employees anything. The only reason they are there is to check stock and fetch items from the warehouse. Also to do price matches. Sometimes they can also help you find an item if you know what you want but don't know where it is; but don't count on that. You can find good deals at Best Buy, you just have to know what you are looking for ahead of time. I have also gotten really good open box deals.

  9.7.2012 08:25 #11

• CloneDron

  They just don't get it!!! No matter how many times you tell those people, they side step the issue and think they need to re-do their store fronts! It's not how you look BOZO's it's how you treat your customers both when they buy and when they return.Oh and by the way...I was with the understanding when you opened your stores naming them "BESTBUY" it meant that your prices couldn't be beat! Far from the truth there and everyone knows it. The last time I shopped there, the guy at the check out was carrying on with another worker, didn't even acknowledge my presents other than to ring up what I bought and then give me the receipt. He said NOT A WORD TO ME, I said "You're Welcome" and he turned and just looked at me. And returning....MY GOD, they act like the money is coming out of their paychecks. Not to mention many other things to include the coldness you get from them. And they think it's because their store fronts don't look like Apple's!!! They should pay more attention to what the consumers are posting before dumping more money into what they look like!

  9.7.2012 13:51 #12

• SProdigy

  I'm fairly amused the ignornace that I knew would be on display in the comments of this post. I used to work at Best Buy when I was in college, for about 4+ years, from computer sales floor to the Geek Squad. I'm the prime employee, someone that was young and had little responsibility, so I could work for lower pay and stupid shifts.
  
  I have to admit, it wasn't the best job ever, but you could do worse (burger flipper.) And yes, there are people there that have no clue what they're doing. (At a retail store, working part-time: shocking right?) This doesn't happen at Wal-Mart, Target, Dick's Sporting Goods or countless other places. Give me a break. When you're making $8-9 an hour before taxes, do you really expect someone to wait on you hand and foot, for what? A CD or DVD purchase that's 0.00001% of the company's bottom line? Talk about entitlement.
  
  During my time there I realized what the phrase "retail hell" meant. The amount of people I saw daily that feel like they are more important and above the store and it's employees were apalling. I'm not trying to defend Best Buy in any way, they're the same "cult" cut of the cloth of other retailers, but when you get down to it, the customer is as much to blame.
  
  I've never seen so many people try to take advantage of a place. They'd come in and try to get a "deal" by harassing different people and escalating to management. It's not a garage sale, it's a BUSINESS that sells for the price on the tag! But hey, go ahead and tell us how you want waited on like a king because you're returning a $1200 laptop you decided to take on vacation for a week and then bring back to the store. (Happens all the time. Want an open box TV? Buy after the Super Bowl.)
  
  Point is, no one's holding a gun to your head to shop there. Don't like the employees, the prices or the color scheme of the store? Go somewhere else. I equate it to people that complain about TV shows: change the channel if you don't like it.
  
  Personally, I'm smart with where I shop and what I buy from there. Will I buy the overpriced $40 USB cable from Best Buy? No. I'm smart and patient enough to know to go somewhere else, but I might buy a movie there. It's give and take.
  
  Do I care if a retail cashier says boo to me? Nope. It's some kid or adult, just trying to get through another miserable day at their miserable job. I can't say I blame them. Having been in their shoes, I try to cheer them up, get them to smile and don't sweat the small details. A little goes a long way. Pay if forward, as they say. You never now when you or someone close to you may end up needing to work a dead-end job like this.

  9.7.2012 15:40 #13

• Bozobub

  Paying terrible wages and hiring/training poorly ARE the store's responsibility. Furthermore, Best Buy claims some kind of expertise for their "Geek Squad"; try contemplating *that* with a straight face. That's all on Best Buy, fella.
  
  Your list of bad customer behaviors also, point of fact, applies (in full or in part) to EVERY retail business. Yet, in most of them, I can expect a certain minimum of service, especially if they also sell premium items (such as $3000+ TVs). I don't buy your excuses for Best Buy at all.

  10.7.2012 11:32 #14

• SProdigy

  I wasn't entirely defending Best Buy, but to come out and say because an employee was rude or unknowledgable on something isn't necessarily any company's fault. It's the ignorance of that individual. That's what's wrong with our society: personal responsibility. Salespeople need to know their product. Shoppers need to know enough to ask someone else, research on your own or just shop somewhere else.
  
  That said, yes, there are some that really do know their stuff. There are others that do not, or only know what they're "told" such as sell X item because it makes us money. Standard practice in any sales business really.

  10.7.2012 11:54 #15

• falcon74

  best buy = worst buy. lousy service there 30% restocking fee is a joke what a ripp off to bad customeres are unaware untill they need to bring back any item.how they survived this long is a mystery.i will never do business with them!

  12.8.2012 12:37 #16