Best Buy layoff

[sallysue]

A spokeswoman for Best Buy Co. Inc. said the consumer electronics chain will lay off workers in its corporate headquarters because not enough employees opted to take a voluntary buyout.

The Richfield, Minn.-based company didn't say how many corporate jobs will be affected by the layoffs but said workers would be notified Feb. 19.

Best Buy offered voluntary severance packages last month to virtually all 4,000 corporate employees to help it survive what it called the "most challenging consumer environment" in its history.

Spokeswoman Sue Busch Nehring said about 500 employees accepted that offer.

No in-store positions were affected, and they'll be excluded from the forthcoming cuts too, she said.

Best Buy shares fell 82 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $27.44 in after-hours trading Tuesday.


I'm sure most of you guys have already heard about this but here is some info if you haven't.

I go in to BB on a regular basis as a hobby, just to see what people are buying and so forth. Recently I noticed the Magnolia section looking scavenged - TV/speaker floor models sold off with no replacements, wires just dangling and dusty credenza tops - not looked after. The Magnolia section was completely empty, no customers or staff working which was not the case even a few months ago. The rest of the store was abuzz with customers and slack-jawed employees looking miffed - normal.

Maybe the last few visits were not the norm.......

[pixelthis]

magnolia will prob be the first over the side.
AND if they think this is the most "troubling" retail market yet...
Then they aint looked hard enough.
AND things will get LOT tougher.
It may turn out that if you want to scarf some electronics you will have a choice...
ONLINE or WALMART.
High end, oddly might fare a little better than a store that endevours to be all things,
their market niche might not be that affected by the economy like
Joe sixpack.
People were buying luxery during the depression, after all.

[Rich-n-Texas]

etailers, IMO, are going to come through this with much less damage than B&M stores. (Probably not earth-shattering news though huh?)

[Worf101]

etailers, IMO, are going to come through this with much less damage than B&M stores. (Probably not earth-shattering news though huh?)

1. Little or no rent cept for the warehouse.
2. No sales tax, at least the smart ones don't have to collect it.
3. No massive amounts of overhead with hundreds of stores nationwide.
4. The ability to act quickly when raising or lowering prices.
5. Access to a much, much larger market online...

Yep, seems like a no brainer to moi.

Da Worfster

[Woochifer]

I'm sure most of you guys have already heard about this but here is some info if you haven't.

I go in to BB on a regular basis as a hobby, just to see what people are buying and so forth. Recently I noticed the Magnolia section looking scavenged - TV/speaker floor models sold off with no replacements, wires just dangling and dusty credenza tops - not looked after. The Magnolia section was completely empty, no customers or staff working which was not the case even a few months ago. The rest of the store was abuzz with customers and slack-jawed employees looking miffed - normal.

Maybe the last few visits were not the norm.......

Hmmm, that's not the case with the Magnolia sections in my area. The demo rooms look a bit more sparse, but the TV wall is as populated as ever. My understanding is that they've been tweaking with the Magnolia personnel a bit. When BB first began constructing the Magnolia ministores, they staffed those sections with more experienced and better paid sales reps. For one thing, nobody who worked the Magnolia sections wore the familiar blue polo shirts -- it was all business attire there. Now, I think that they don't segregate the staff nearly as much as before.

My last few visits, it seems that BB as a whole is more empty than before.

[Rich-n-Texas]

Are there still any stand-alone Magnolia stores? I haven't been able to find any locally...

[bobsticks]

Kudos to Best Buy for attacking the problem at it's root and not doing the time-tested routine of impaling its corporate mission statement. All too often economic hard times usually mean the onsite employees get the axe first...you go into a 100,000 square foot store and there's three people working...remember K-Mart?

As a firsthand observer of corporate structure I always find these things interesting. Nobody else finds it sadly amusing that 4,000 people can be laid off and business moves on as usual? Can you say "waste"?

[sallysue]

bobsticks

As a firsthand observer of corporate structure I always find these things interesting. Nobody else finds it sadly amusing that 4,000 people can be laid off and business moves on as usual? Can you say "waste"?

I wondered the same thing. I remember a word that's been dropped here in DC - "non-essential employees" . Here in DC when we get an 1/8 of an inch of snow it sends everybody into a panic. On the news they use to say "all non-essential employees are off for the day"- because of bad weather. They've dropped that phrase all together. People figured out that secretary's making 60k a had the day off, bad gov. PR.

[Woochifer]

As a firsthand observer of corporate structure I always find these things interesting. Nobody else finds it sadly amusing that 4,000 people can be laid off and business moves on as usual? Can you say "waste"?

Well, we don't know what behind the scenes functions are getting curtailed and scaled back.

Word I'm getting is that the BB store employees have been getting grinded into the ground for the past year. They've been asked to do more with a lot less, and regional managers are setting unrealistic goals. Can't really lay anyone off without the stores becoming (more) dysfunctional, since their staffing is already barebones for the sales volume that they do and you need a certain number of employees just to keep the shelves stocked and the doors open. There might not be any onsite layoffs, but with BB's expansions, they haven't been adding a lot of employees either.

[sallysue]

and regional managers are setting unrealistic goals

For anybody that's ever worked in a retail enviroment "unrealistic goals" are commonplace. "Goals" is management-speak for unreasonable, I've experienced it first hand. It's the prized tool of the untalented and inept manager. I've seen very talented and successful salesman leave becuase of laughable "goals".

[nightflier]

If BB goes the way of the Dodo, what's left for Joe Sixpack?

[bobsticks]

If BB goes the way of the Dodo, what's left for Joe Sixpack?

Time to start buying stock in U.P.S.

[Rich-n-Texas]

Odd Lots you nimrod!

Oh wait, I was thinking of Smokey, but you said Joe Sixpack didn't ya?

My bad.

[pixelthis]

If BB goes the way of the Dodo, what's left for Joe Sixpack?

More like aquafina sixpack.
Joe sixpack hangs out at Sams and Walfart.

[Woochifer]

If BB goes the way of the Dodo, what's left for Joe Sixpack?

If BB goes away, it will be because a more nimble or formidable competitor came into the market. Even in these market conditions, BB still turns a profit and they are still opening new stores. With CC going away, BB's market position is as strong as ever. BBs national expansion basically drove CC out of business. Maybe there's another competitor out there that will someday challenge BB. I seriously doubt that consumer electronics will get to a point where you no longer have stores that specialize in that category. If the large national electronics chains go away, then you will have local entrepreneurs at the ready to fill the gap.

In the Bay Area, a brand new electronics chain (UV Discount) has come into the market, and you got Anderson's and Video Only. In SoCal, Paul's TV and Ken Crane's have been adding new locations. Any missteps by BB, and they can fill the gap, or someone new will emerge.

Despite all the online hype that accompanies online retailing, remote retailing still represents well under 10% of the overall retail sales. Most people still want to see, touch, and hear something before they buy.

[Rich-n-Texas]

Most don't seem to realize that you can...

A) Go to the B&M store to see, hear, feel and touch
B) Listen to the... err... uhhh... salesperson try to sell you something you don't want or need
C) Check the price
D) Go home, fire up the web surfing machine
E) Crack open a cold one
F) Navigate to Amazon.com or similar etailer
G) Fall outta your chair (don't spill the beer!!!) when you realize how much cheaper the online version of the product costs
H) Order w/o tax and a LOT of times no shipping charge
I) Wait a couple of days (more time to drink BEER!)
J) Open up the box to reveal your new toy
K) Enjoy your new toy that cost soooo much less than what Interface Unit tried to make you pay
L) Repeat as necessary

Hmmm... that does seem like a lot of steps, but if you don't like beer, omit step number E.

(Note: Don't worry about not being able to hear it, you wouldn't be able to concentrate with the youngster in the blue shirt droning on about something he knows nothing about anyway.)








Thank you please drive through...

[pixelthis]

Most don't seem to realize that you can...

A) Go to the B&M store to see, hear, feel and touch
B) Listen to the... err... uhhh... salesperson try to sell you something you don't want or need
C) Check the price
D) Go home, fire up the web surfing machine
E) Crack open a cold one
F) Navigate to Amazon.com or similar etailer
G) Fall outta your chair (don't spill the beer!!!) when you realize how much cheaper the online version of the product costs
H) Order w/o tax and a LOT of times no shipping charge
I) Wait a couple of days (more time to drink BEER!)
J) Open up the box to reveal your new toy
K) Enjoy your new toy that cost soooo much less than what Interface Unit tried to make you pay
L) Repeat as necessary

Hmmm... that does seem like a lot of steps, but if you don't like beer, omit step number E.

(Note: Don't worry about not being able to hear it, you wouldn't be able to concentrate with the youngster in the blue shirt droning on about something he knows nothing about anyway.)








Thank you please drive through...

You sound like the guy who burnt down the forest and then got pissed because he couldnt
make a dining table.
I BET ALL of the local salesmen just love to see a parasite like you coming.
I sat and listened to rondstat and nevil singing on a pair of B&W speakers
while a friend told me about how he met his hero, BB KING when he signed him for
the local festival.
AND I HAVE A THOUSAND such stories.
They might be "interface units" to you, but to me their friends, friends who make
less than they could because they want to spend as much time as possible with
this insane hobby.
THE sad thing is that even if you knew what you were missing you probably couldnt
comprehend it.
POETIC justice if after getting the AXE you wind up in retail.
You might just figure out one day how much of a crime it is to de-humanize
people by calling them "interface" units.
BUT I DOUBT IT.

[Rich-n-Texas]

Crime? De-humanize? Calling people names? AH HA HA HA HA HA HA!

You the king around here when it comes to the name calling. You contradict yourself at every turn dimwit.

I guess your dad was an Interf... err... salesman huh?

And BTW, IIRC from my High School days, you need a microscope to see parasites, toooool.