The last few times I went into a Best Buy, the only employees I saw were the one at the desk by the entrance, and the one working the register.

I went in to Best Buy to drop off some electronics for recycling today. I looked at phones really quick and a computer monitor but it felt like an empty showroom with the workers just standing around and doing nothing. Kind of a sad place these days.

Last time I was in a Best Buy must have been at least 5 years ago.
After we went inside there was an immediate smell of mold and mildew. Very musty.

Did a quick once around and left.
Really have no idea how anyone could last in that odor more then 15 minutes.
Awful smell

I used to go into Best Buy weekly back when they sold DVDs, now it's monthly, if that.
Sometimes we need a legitimate computer part (that doesn't require a trip to Micro Center), and we'll go in then.

I occasionally go in to look at all their collectibles since they sometimes have Magic: The Gathering cards in stock.

It would be so easy for them to keep a pre-stocked cardboard display of recent Blu-rays and DVDs, not sure why they completely dropped an entire product line like it was a bag of moldy tangerines.

Every time I drive by Best Buy I just say “Fuck you, Best Buy!” And then I pass the former Virgin Megastore building which Best Buy put out of business when they opened right next to it, a fucking Boot Barn is moving in there now.

I went there on Sunday to get a replacement graphics card, since they are the only place in town to get one now. And the case was nearly empty.

Thank you for the bump! I was talking to a co-worker and trying to remember when the last time was that I bought anything from Best Buy. This bump brought me to my old post. Holidays 2020 is the answer.

I guess I did have to take my Apple Watch there last year to get it replaced under warranty, since we have no Apple stores here. Didn't buy anything though.

I think there was a lot of industry pressure to drop physical media as it undermined the image that they were on the cutting edge of what's new. The recent renovations to Best Buy are quite nice, giving it a Consumer Electronics Show-type vibe.

Physical media was always a good low-cost product to help bring people into the store especially with a constant onslaught of new titles every week. The brick-and-mortar stores just haven't been able to replace that with anything tangible.

I haven't been to a BB in forever, but what's nice about having it be like a Consumer Electronics Show (a place that shows off but does not necessarily sell new tech)?

“The cutting edge of what’s new”- so why didn’t they at least put in something that MIGHT be a suitable replacement for discs, like Kaleidoscape servers? I’ve never seen one of those work and probably still wouldn’t want one, but that would at least be better than stuff that plays Shitflix. (And if digital is the future, why did Best Buy SHUT DOWN CinemaNow?)

And now a lot of people are moving back to physical media because of the enshittification of streaming. Or they're going straight to piracy, and honestly, who can blame them?

I'm glad Walmart is keeping a few discs going, it's been the main place for me to get new releases aside from Barnes & Noble.

I still think Best Buy threw out the baby with the bathwater by not keeping some physical media on hand. The studios have realized that discs are still a decent revenue stream, why can't BB?

Piracy seems to be the big winner as streaming resembles cable more and more each year with pervasive commercials, bundling, and rising costs. But Hollywood got what they wanted from media's demise - younger generations don't consider physical media a viable alternative.

The last substantial purchases I’ve made at Best Buy have been devices that help with that P word in some capacity, ironically. Really isn’t in their best interests to sell those things.

A dildo?

Thank you for using the indefinite article 'a' instead of the definite 'your dildo'.

When it eventually becomes cheaper to buy discs instead of buy hard drives to store stuff on and computers to download stuff with, we will have come full circle!

Packing tape?

Have you seen the prices of hard drives and RAM recently?

The DVD-R discs have always been a cheap and more reliable method of storing data. A 32GB Sandisk USB stick is available at Best Buy right now for $14.49 (or $.452 per GB). A typical DVD-R single-layer 4.7GB disc is $.50 (or $.106 per GB).

USB sticks have the advantages of being more portable and can be erased/re-formatted but for any long-term storage, DVD-Rs are the way to go.

That's what I'm referencing. Buying Blu rays will be cheaper than hoarding stuff on Plex.

The quickly evolving "available digitally" concept just doesn't leave much reason for people to go stores for cheaper software-type products. Since physical movies on disc were phased-out, what other physical item in Best Buy has the ability to draw customers back week-after-week for sub-$25 items? Nothing.

Obviously Pokemon cards.

Obviously. And Legos. Those are the first things I go to any electronics store for, but forget those obsolete discs with hi-res audio formats and high bitrate video, it’s all about streaming in Dolby Digital Plus now.