Sucks to be an Apple retail employee. Apple has reduced the hours of of their be-t-shirted geniuses have been fired this quarter, down from 15,600 in Q1. They are also planning fewer retail locations this year and are ramping down the use of part-time employees. → Read More
Hoping to woo gamers who somehow manage to plan ahead more than a day in advance, Target is implementing a new video game reservation program. The basic idea is that you pay $1 for a reservation card, which holds your game for seven days after the release date, and when you return to pick the game up, you’ll also get a $5 Target gift card good on future purchases. → Read More
I guess it had to happen: Microsoft is opening retail stores with the help of some guy named Dave Porter who used to work for Wal-Mart. Super synergy. I can see it now: these stores will be the exact polar opposite of the Apple Store – brightly lit, overstocked, and oddly jarring (kind of like Windows – ZING!!!)
No real information on these stores just yet, but Dave is going to start planning a slow and steady roll-out. Will they have Smartie Stations with crack technicians? Weekly training in Windows Paint? What I suspect will happen is that Microsoft will launch a set of pop-up stores using distressed retail space and then roll out if and when these spaces become popular. Nothing like a boom or a bust to build out bricks and mortar. → Read More
If you like buying stuff from Best Buy but you can’t stand actually entering the stores, you might soon be able to just sit in your car and wait for them to bring your in-store pickup purchases out to you as though it were a lukewarm bag of Chili’s Chicken Crispers. → Read More
Good news, everyone! Cyber Monday 2008: Great Depression Edition was a tremendous success for online retailers, which saw a 15 percent volume increase over 2007. That’s what Comscore says, at least. Consumers were tricked into spending $846 million on Monday, compared with $733 million last year. Year-by-year growth isn’t exactly breaking news, but considering the sorry state of the economy this year, that consumers spent anything this year is fantastic news. So we’re lead to believe. People will be feeling pretty silly come January when America Express comes a-knocking, demanding 8,000 percent interest on that iPod touch you bought. While $846 million isn’t anything to sneeze at, insofar as you can sneeze at sales info, something called Green Monday 2007 was an ever bigger success, with consumers spending $881 million. But again, that was before the economy broke, so I wouldn’t pay too much attention to that number. → Read More
Spending your fiat money from the comfort of your iPhone is even easier, now that Amazon has released an application (“App”) for Apple’s little wonder. The mundane functions are as you’d expect: you launch the app, then you can browse and buy goods from Amazon just as you would from your computer. What’s worth singling out is this little photo-takign feature. Using the app, you take a photo with your iPhone then send it to Amazon. Then, after a bit of voodoo, Amazon sends you an e-mail with a link to products that match the photo (or its best guess). For example, you take a photo of a a french press, then Amazon sends you links to french presses you can buy from them. Technologically neat, sure, but you wonder how well it works in practice… and me without an iPhone! → Read More
Black Friday can be a tiring, stressful, and overwhelming ordeal. Here’s a list of which stores have the best deals on some of the top items for the holiday shopping season, along with our picks for Best All-Around Store, Biggest Disappointment, Biggest No-Show Product, Most Ubiquitous Bundle, and Most Confusing Ad. → Read More
Apple retail stores will now price match any item that can be found more cheaply somewhere else. So, if Amazon is selling, say, the iPod touch for $100, you can walk into your nearest Apple store, printout in hand, and get the same price then and there. This price matching only applies to authorized sellers of Apple products—the guy on the corner of the street selling MacBooks for $200 a pop doesn’t count. via MacBlogz → Read More
Adios, Circuit City. You will be remembered forever as a not-good-enough version of Best Buy (even though Best Buy is pretty suspect, too.) Yes, Circuit City has officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It did so last week, when we were busy talking about store closings and fake sales. It is, I think, the biggest tech-realted failure (if that’s the right word to use) of the current economic downturn. Be sure to watch its stock price this morning. → Read More
Circuit City’s awful, awful loss is our gain. The company is starting to close all those stores now, and is subsequently marking down the prices of all sorts of electronic gizmos. You can expect to save up to 30 percent on merchandise. My local Circuit City, which has always served me well, is staying open, so I won’t get to partake in the festivities. → Read More
This is why I don’t like extended warranties or accidental damage protection coverage for computers — the whole “we’ll replace your machine with a machine of similar specs” clause isn’t in your favor one bit when dealing with things that rapidly depreciate. Case in point, a guy dropped his year-old $2000+ VAIO TZ laptop and sauntered into Best Buy to get everything sorted out with the accidental protection damage he purchased on the machine. Best Buy was about to give him a $2,000 gift card for his troubles, but at the last minute decided that the Asus Eee PC would be fitting instead since, spec-wise, the VAIO TZ and Eee look somewhat similar on paper. After some hemming and hawing, Best Buy finally decided to give the customer a $1,200 gift card towards a lumpy, heavy Dell with a 15-inch screen. The fine print found in some of these service plans allow such exchanges to take place, so make sure to read over all that stuff first despite what the salespeople tell you. → Read More
If you happen to live near a Meijer store – Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan – and you’re looking for an iPod Touch, you can pick up the 8GB version for $229.99 which includes a free $50 iTunes gift card. There’s also some loose talk (according to FatWallet) that there’s a coupon floating around Meijer’s Sunday circular for 10% off any electronics item, which would bring the price down to $206, although I wasn’t able to find that particular coupon anywhere. Your mileage may vary. Still, even the regular price plus a $50 iTunes card is nice. → Read More
Consumerist.com is reporting that Circuit City may be announcing at 8 AM tomorrow morning that it’ll be closing 155 of its stores. This is still a rumor, so take it with a grain of salt, but it wouldn’t be surprising in lieu of the company’s recent financial woes. There was an article in the Wall Street Journal a couple of weeks ago saying that Circuit City was “considering a plan to close at least 150 stores,” so this may just be all of that stuff coming to fruition. So that makes two retail stores that I worked for in my younger years that have either gone completely out of business (CompUSA) or look like they’re about to crumble (Circuit City). I worked at Best Buy, too, so watch out. → Read More
Ho… lee… crap. Best Buy is running a contest for Black Friday. One winner in each of 25 select markets gets a $1,000 gift card, a ride to Best Buy in a limo, early access to the store (that’s at 4:30 AM, mind you), and a bunch of other stuff. Sheesh. So how do you win? You submit a 250-word story on AskABlueShirt.net about what you do “to make the day after Thanksgiving a particularly fun and special day.” The press release says that Best Buy is looking for people “to share how Black Friday shopping is an important holiday tradition for them and their family.” Nothing like a little rampant American consumerism to bring loved-ones closer together, eh? → Read More
According to BGR, Wal-Mart may be carrying the iPhone 3G starting on November 15th. Also noteworthy is that it doesn’t look like the iPhone will be sold at Radio Shack, as previously rumored. Now, I’ve never purchased a cell phone from Wal-Mart before but here’s to hoping the activation process will be relatively hassle free, as I don’t remember ever seeing anybody in the electronics departments of any of the Wal-Mart stores I’ve been in. I’ve seen a counter, I’ve seen locked glass cases holding cameras and video games, and I’ve seen a cash register, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen an actual person. It might be a good idea to cross-train the dependable lady behind the jewelry counter in the art of cell phone activations, because she’s almost always around. → Read More
Whoa, look at me! I just got an e-mail from Best Buy telling me that I’m now part of the company’s “most elite membership level – Premier Black.” That’s probably just fancy-talk for saying that I’ve spent most of my earned income over the past 15 or so years at their stores. Aside from bonus points and whatnot, the kicker to this program appears to be a concierge service which, as a technology enthusiast, doesn’t appeal to me one bit. I’ll browse products all by myself, thank you very much. Other benefits include free shipping from BestBuy.com, a 45-day return policy, point-banking and a premier-only awards catalog, and special Geek Squad services (that I’ll never use). Still, the free shipping, extended return policy, and point-banking are nice. My points tend to expire from time to time. UPDATE: Looks like this was an error on Best Buy’s part, as the aforementioned e-mail was apparently sent to every Reward Zone member. Unlike some of you, however, I haven’t received a correction e-mail yet. Maybe I’m in the test market for this new program (Boston). I’ll post another update if I get a correction. UPDATE 2: Aaaand, there we go. I received the correction e-mail around 2:30 AM. “The Best Buy® Reward Zone® program is always looking at ways to make our program even better for our members. Today, you may have inadvertently and inaccurately received the below message during an initial email testing process. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or confusion. You continue to maintain your current membership status. If you are eligible for the Reward Zone program Premier Black test that will run in a limited number of select markets, we will notify you by a separate email. If you have any questions about this or the Reward Zone program, please visit www.MyRewardZone.com or contact our Customer Service Center at 1-888-237-8289. Thank you. Sincerely, The Best Buy Reward Zone program team” → Read More
Since the launch of Apple’s super-popular iPhone, competing handset manufacturers have been scrambling to produce phones that at least somewhat replicate Cupertino’s device. So it should stand to reason that the look and feel of Apple’s stores, which are quite popular with shoppers, might begin to appear in competing retailers’ stores. Case in point, it’s being reported that Radio Shack will be opening three very familiar looking stores this October, with 10 planned by the end of the year, 150 by this time next year, followed by 400 within three years. Mike Baker, a Deutsche Bank analyst, says that the Radio Shack stores will be taking a page straight from Apple’s retail playbook, but will not likely be found in dumpy malls. Instead, you’ll find these Radio Shack locations to be standalone stores in nicer neighborhoods. No word on whether or not Radio Shack’s planning to train its employees as thoroughly as Apple trains its retail army. I’m guessing that maybe employees in the new Radio Shack locations will be dressed nicely but will still swarm you three at a time, hoping for that sweet battery commission. [via The Raw Feed] → Read More
Previously declared the leading next-generation console worldwide, the Nintendo Wii has now surpassed the Xbox 360 to become the leading next-generation console in the U.S. Last month, Nintendo sold over 666,000 Wii consoles versus 405,500 PS3s and 219,800 Xbox 360s, according to NPD Group, Inc. Wii games are also selling well, as NPD says that six of the ten top selling games last month were Wii titles. [via Bloomberg] → Read More
