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I was in fairview heights, IL doing some repairs to a building I built and I stopped by the Best buy cause I heard they had a guitar dept now, I walked in there thinking it was going to be big but I was totally not impressed. The employees didn't know anything about guitars, basses, drums or anything. The selection was very limited and over priced, almost $600 for a MIM fender strat and almost $1000 for a MIM jazzmaster . I don't think I will be patronizing that place anytime soon. I think if I need a les paul I'll order it or go to guitar center. Anybody else been to Best Buy?

Yep!!
Kevin, Our Best Buy's seem to be TOTALLY OPPOSITE (nite and day) from yours . Down here in South Florida, the Best Buy Stores that are now set up for Musical Instruments, already have their competitive prices (DEAD ON!) right up there against Sam's Trash and Guitar Center. I don't know how long the MI has been open near you, but it just might be that they need to do some "tweaking." When they first opened down here, I found a BOATLOAD of errors in pricing as well as SKU's (model numbers, etc). In response, they actually thanked me, and I swear, when I had to go back and get a memory card (for a camera I don't own ), I stopped at the MI Dept again. EVERYTHING that I had mentioned to one of the Employees as well as the Mgr of the Dept, had been CORRECTED . These guys are not on commission, so B4 you dismiss these Folks, I'd give them a little time to work out the 'bugs.' I don't believe you are going to get that typical "Are You Ready to Take the Item Now!??" or "What'd ya need chum?"

I believe that Best Buy, like alot of retailers base their pricing on an area competitive system. They will lower pricing in an area to be competitive with other local retailers. If you're in a part of the country that has Guitar Center and Sam Ash stores, they have to lower pricing to be competitive with them.

I haven't been in one of the stores yet, but I would guess that they will also offer the usual price match deals that already applies to the rest of the store. I also believe that they will become a major player in the business, as Dennis noted after they work out the bugs.

I think it has been open in my area for at least 6 months. I also talk to them about the prices and all they said was that like you said Dennis are competively marked. I just didn't bother to argue. I was a repair and warranty manager for a music store for 3 years and worked guitar center for 2 years and never saw anything made in mexico that sold for more than $800. I think I'll go back up there and check up on things again maybe things have changed. Didn't you work for Mars Dennis?

Yeah, I was only a "Martian" for about 8 months, 'cause I had already seen the handwriting on the wall, which is a shame. The Concept was great, but when you have Corporate made up of people who were "Big Wigs" of McDonalds, Home Depot, Toys 'R' Us, Winn Dixie, etc, it's kind of like trying to get a Boeing 747 airborne with only one Wing .....it ain't gonna happen! And anyone that works for these companies that I just mentioned, PLEASE don't take this personally, because there is nothing wrong with these Companies, it's just that you can not run a National Music Chain that way, and that's why they went 'belly up.' When the purchasing Dept is concerned about buying "pretty" things for the Chain, SOMETHING has got to give. i.e. I DON'T KNOW ANY GUITAR PLAYER that's going to purchase a $12 guitar pick just because it's made out of ebony wood, only to possibly lose it on stage 2 minutes into the set! I actually worked for the 'other competitor' to Guitar Center from '99 to '06. But as I had mentioned sometime back, I had gotten fed up with the brainwashing of our Sales Staff. This also came down from the Corporate Office as well, to 'switch the customer' to a House Brand, because it was cheaper and more profit for the Company. Now the Customer goes home with a piece of crap only because it was a 'little' cheaper. Meanwhile, I (and a few other sales people) felt bad, because the Customer did not buy what he/she was originally looking for.......in my my book, I call it Fraud....... This is just one of many reasons for me leaving the Music Retail business. But I have high hopes for 'Best Buy.' For one thing, the Sales Staff IS NOT on commission. So they already have in place, a 'no pressure' policy with the Company....that works for me .

That's mainly why I left retail and got into the construction and eventually get my union card, just tired of all the monotony of being forced to sell an inferior product to an unsuspecting customer for just like you said steering the customer away from they were really looking for.

Stopped at a metro Chicago one in July of '09 and the general impression:

* staff was youngish types who had possibly worked another music store
* slection wa "top movers" with no depth
* not bad method book selection
* priced identical to SA and GC in 5 mile radius
* ain't going to buy anything instrument-amp-ly from them; we need music stores!