BestBuy UK Closing Down

[Dan~]

BestBuy Hedge End (Southampton) is having it's clearance sale ahead of them closing UK stores this Monday, 28th November 2011.

Might be some bargains to be had.

Not sure if other BestBuy stores across UK are closing though.

It's weird, as It only opened in March this year I believe.

[Azusa]

We have bestbuy in the UK?

[Hardcore Til I Die]

We have bestbuy in the UK?

Something about a joint venture with Carphone Warehouse, and I think they usually use the same shops.. so you'll have a CPW store with a bestbuy section.

Apparently bestbuy isn't that cheap over here, so it kinda defeats the purpose.

[Ace]

It's a shame they are closing down. It would have been good to have an alternative to Curry's/PC World. :(

[huddy]

I thought Best Buy stores are really amazing; a techno-nerd's dream. Unfortunately they were expensive and more and more stores are struggling against internet pricing.

[johnporter29]

All Best Buys are closing. Our's opened in June this year. No major difference in price to Curry's/PC World and had bought a couple of things from there, but 1 thing I hated about them was the fact you had to get your receipt signed by security before you left the store.....

I've paid for the item, the item is in a Best Buy branded bag, I have the receipt...why do they need to sign it? Showed lack of trust in customers to me.

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

I think Best Buys original idea was to open up larger stores wherever Dixons Retail opened up their new stores. But the recession came and mucked up those plans. Yeah they didn't last long at all.

As for the security thing, they do that in Costco as well. I don't find it to be an issue though. :p

Best Buys problem is that they WERE just the same as Currys/PC World. At least with shops like Maplin the range is different.

[smooth_criminal1990]

It's a shame they are closing down. It would have been good to have an alternative to Curry's/PC World. :(

Well we have Comet for that...

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

Well we have Comet for that...

Probably not for long though. Kesa recently sold them off for ?2, and they've had like 3 major rebrands within a few years. That's probably a sign of a failing business.

[Orange Battery]

BestBuy was never the best buy - Bit of a pointless venture and stupid in the current times.

Well we have Comet for that...

take it you meant Currys/PC world? Comet has 3 tumble dryers and an Xbox game.

[jakem1]

Well we have Comet for that...

Isn't Comet part of the same group as Curry's?

[acnpt]

Isn't Comet part of the same group as Curry's?

No, its Dixons, Currys, and PC World that are part of the same group, called DSG.

I'm surprised at how many people didn't know about Bestbuy UK, they had quite catchy adverts. :rofl:

[Growled Member]

Apparently bestbuy isn't that cheap over here, so it kinda defeats the purpose.

It's not cheap over here either. Our local Best Buy has the worst prices in town. My nickname for them is Worst Buy.

[jakem1]

No, its Dixons, Currys, and PC World that are part of the same group, called DSG.

I'm surprised at how many people didn't know about Bestbuy UK, they had quite catchy adverts. :rofl:

Ah, thanks. I always get confused about who owns what.

I knew that Best Buy had started up in the UK but thought they only had one store somewhere in Essex. I never saw any advertising but I don't watch much TV. To be honest, the whole thing seems like a case study in how not to set up a business.

[what]

The problem is when they first opened their prices were pretty good. Soon after that they started charging the same or more than the established electronics stores, so there was just no point. A wasted opportunity imo.

[SuperKid]

Are all the Bestbuy stores in the UK closing? That means my local one is going too then!

[Kreuger]

Apparently bestbuy isn't that cheap over here, so it kinda defeats the purpose.

It's not cheap anywhere.

[bbfc_uk]

Are all the Bestbuy stores in the UK closing? That means my local one is going too then!

Yes, they are pulling out of the UK. They reported ?62.2m (around ?10m per store) in loses during the last financial year.

Best Buy own 50% of The Carphone Warehouse's retail operations.

[Tech085]

Its a shame they're already closing there doors, since they just opened not long ago.

[Anibal P]

I'm still waiting for BestScam to go bankrupt here in the US for many years. Too bad you guys get rid of them before us

[Tech085]

I'm still waiting for BestScam to go bankrupt here in the US for many years. Too bad you guys get rid of them before us

If they ever go bankrupt in the US they better have another computer store to replace Best Buy. here in the US.

[StrikedOut]

I had a look in the Hedge End store a while ago and didnt see anything impressive, tech or price wise. Still a shame for those that wok there though.

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

I had a look in the Hedge End store a while ago and didnt see anything impressive, tech or price wise. Still a shame for those that wok there though.

I'm sure they'll offer them opportunities in Carphone Warehouse or something.

[Vice]

I went to the Best Buy in North London and I wasn't impressed.

The employees would bounce on you constantly. I spent half an hour in there just walking around browsing and I had at-least 7 of them come up to me and ask me if I wanted to know more about the thing I was looking at. This may sound like good customer service but it was just damn right annoying. And the one time I did actually follow up and asked them about the new Kindle models they had no clue what I was talking about. I asked them when the new Kindle would be in the ?89 one NOT the Kindle Fire (which is a US exclusive) and the guy had no idea what the Kindle was and we were standing right infront of the old model. But he came up to me and asked ME if I needed help with it.

Apart from the lion customer service people that pounce on you. All the electronics were tied down with zip ties. All the MP3 players, GPS devices, Phones had zip ties. Right across the middle of their screens. Why even have the devices powered on and usable if the screen is blocked by massive (and these were the really thick kind of zip tie) over the screen?

The whole store just made me feel like a thief. I needed to buy a remote control though so I went to that section of the store. I thought hey this has to be the one thing this store is good for and they did have the remote I needed in stock and on the shelf. Buy it was double the price of Amazon and Play.com (I price checked on my iPhone in the isle) and both of those online retailers offered free delivery with the item. But even if they didn't I could have chosen the expensive next day delivery and still be cheaper than Best Buy.

So yeah I didn't really have a good experience and I can see why their little UK experiment didn't work out to be honest.

[johnporter29]

The Rotherham store started it's closing down sale this morning at 9am! Might go later and see if there are any bargins :D