I understand we are not the mass market but is there any piece of technology you're going to get educated on by walking into a brick and mortar retail store?
If you look on the Internet to get questions answered first, like which you might prefer in a television, DLP or LED or Plasma, you probably also looked at prices. And that is why Best Buy is in a tough position even though its top competitor, Circuit City, went out of business.
There's no market niche they hold, no technology cutting-edge enough it requires expertise (3-D television is a non-starter and HD-DVD is long dead) which means Best Buy has terrific people (I was there on Saturday - they really are terrific, even if I don't need them) and a cost that corresponds to that.
Why was I there on Saturday? I wanted a new DVD player and didn't want to wait. Cost:$50. But the 65" DLP television I bought for the living room I bought over the Internet because it was cheaper.
So Best Buy needs something to come along that only real people can answer questions about, or they need to compete on price. But if they compete on price, they don't need people. If they don't compete on price, they are limited to savvy customers who only visit there to get something that costs too little to worry about getting cheaper online. They will basically be Radio Shack for appliances.
John Jannarone at Wall Street Journal has the full prognosis.
