Remember when going to Best Buy meant having a ton of options and some knowledgeable sales staff to assist you? When the store was always busy with crowds of people and a little excitement and energy  in the air?

Those days seem to be gone, at least with the ones in my neighborhood. I was recently in several Best Buys in the LA area and one in Vancouver, Canada. All seemed very low on merchandise, as well as the variety they used to stock. I looked everywhere for some assistance and when I finally tracked down someone he had no idea of what I was talking about or where it would be in the store. What? The? Heck? I was looking for the Amazon Echo dot and other options, like the new Google voice activated machine. He had to go find another staff member, then came back 10 minutes later (by that time I found it myself) to tell me where it was ~ I was already standing in front of it. I asked him if he knew anything about the product or how it worked and he said “not really”.  I turned around and left. This happened to at several locations, same thing…not much merchandise or options, no visible sales staff and not very knowledgeable people working there these days. Sad really but I’m done. Not going back to another Best Buy.

I’m old-school and I like to shop for things in person because I’m visual and need to touch things and try them on.  I don’t necessarily buy stuff online but I understand more and more why everyone seems to be shopping online. It’s convenient, its super easy and its delivered straight to your door! No hassles! You can sit in the comfort of your own home, in your pj’s drinking a glass of wine~ Awesome! My conversion to online ordering came recently when I really needed a certain item and I had driven around to many stores trying to find it and I shared my frustration with a friend who simply said “did you look online?” Viola!

I’ve now started to jump on the “order stuff online” bandwagon along with millions of others…hence the demise of big retailers like Radio Shack, Sports Chalet and many others in recent years.

I believe Best Buy will be the next big retailer to close its doors, followed shortly thereafter by Pier One Imports. This is just my opinion, I don’t have any insider info- just an observation.