Best Buy has a pretty poor selection of merchandise now, especially computer equipment. Smaller stores are not going to make an improvement in that area.

...and if they continue the "policy" of assuming everyone is a thief leaving the store, BB will continue to fail.

I am referring to the practice of the door detective person checking your receipt after you purchase items at the POS.

I used to just say "no thanks" to them.... sure makes them mad. I've had them chase me out into the parking lot stating it is Best Buy "policy."

My policy is to respond, "...it is my policy to sue people who commit false arrest, false imprisonment and defamation... and to either charge me with theft, or quit bothering me..."

No more; I won't spend money at Best Buy. They should change their slogan to "Best Buy!! where we assume everyone's a crook!!!"

I just spent $1500 on appliances at a local mom and pop store. Same price as Best Buy.

Also, serves them right by outsourcing their IT to Accenture and India.

Don't get me wrong, I feel bad for the regular working stiffs who are going to lose their jobs, but cripes, I'm not a thief and shouldn't be treated as such.

Plus, whenever Sr. Management of any company builds a huge opulent world headquarters, it is practically guarantee that the company will fail withing 5 years. I could just picture the Sr. managers making crucial decisions on the color of the tile and exotic wood that will adorn their office while the company operations goes to heck.

Fix the re-stocking charge for returns, fix the not having advertised items in stock, fix the not telling on line people that they will not receive their order and other problems, and maybe they will not have to close stores. Duh!

It's too bad Edina is closing, when it is exactly the kind if store they claim to need -- smaller, more intimate, more personal. Sure the layout is quirky, but I choose that store over Richfield any day.

Now what is Best Buy going to do with all that space at the world headquarters. Back when it opened the Strib did an article that included a piece on how companies that move into fancy new buildings often drop the ball when it comes to the business. Hmmmmmm....

Darn it....should have read drmccoys post all the way through. So much for brilliant insight. Well done dr.

Circuit City tried the small store format during their slid into extinction.

I love when people think they know the electronic retail market than best buy. All brick and mortar stores face huge competition from Internet retailers and it doesn't help that offline stores are required to make customers pay sales tax while online retailers don't.

Musicland struggled to make big-box & stand-alone stores work when their success was based upon mall-based locations. I suspect Best Buy will experience difficulty adapting to their new concept. As Napolean observed don't fight a war on two fronts.

The pattern of Best Buy's demise really hasn't been all that different than what happened three or four years back to smaller tech retailers like Circuit City and Comp USA. It's just that a combination of: (1) a larger cash reserve and (2) false upbeat economic reports, has given Best Buy a bit more time before the bursting of its corporate bubble. Simply closing the worst performing stores might even give Best Buy a few months, but it's almost certain to become defunct like the others within a matter of months.