Best Buy, dead store walking

Let me start by saying that I really want Best Buy to succeed. I want and need a local store where I can pick up a gadget or accessory on short notice.

That said, and related to my previous post, I was hoping to pick up a Bluetooth keyboard for my Nexus 7. Colleague Mitch Wagner suggested the Logitech 920-003390 Tablet Keyboard for Android.

Amazon offers the keyboard, available for 2^nd day delivery, at $49.00.

I checked Best Buy online:



This page doesn't show the price. It's $69.99  so that  I can have it shipped to one of the stores in 7-10 business days.

Barnes and Noble and the Case of The Missing Missing Manual

I wanted a book. I went to a book store. I came home without a book. If only it was that simple.

We were looking for some clear guidance about QuickBooks 2012.  The Missing Manuals series has been a good source of guidance on a number of topics. I had some errands to run and so added a stop at Barnes and Noble to my itinerary. I double-checked on my phone to make sure that they had a copy. They thought that they did.



They have a lot of books in the store. I wasn't looking for a lot of books. I was looking for one. Because the taxonomy put books of this type in the Microsoft Office shelf, rather than under business or finance, I had to wander a bit to find the right section, let alone the book. So, somewhat surprisingly, I asked for help. I went to the desk, explained my mission, and followed the clerk to the aforementioned section where we found no such book.



The clerk asked if I wanted to have him order it. I declined. The Barnes and Noble website didn't let me see the contents or index to make sure that it had the information that I needed. (I'd already checked the official Intuit manual on the B&N shelves. That book didn't address the topic at hand.) I ordered the book from Amazon after confirming that it had the information I needed.

 

This morning's retail business news

The T&G has editorialized on the news that Sears will likely be closing more than 100 stores. This is sad news for the chain that had once been the mainstay of American retail business. Sears and the now banished Mr. Roebuck started a catalog company with its beginnings more than 125 years ago.  For many years, they offered young men a first glimpse of women in underwear.

Even into the 1960s, the catalog and, that most odd retail offering, the catalog store, were Sears' mainstay. Sears has managed to update the catalog experience for the 21st century. You can now go to the store, find that they don't have what you want, locate a kiosk where a sales clerk might be helpful, and place an online order that can be shipped to your home or back to the store.

Kohl's, meanwhile, is paying no heed to he coming retail apocalypse, has leased property on Lincoln Street where they may or may not have plans to build a store.