Best Buy announces STORE CLOSINGS ..

Hi max, if you are interested this is my perspective based upon many years of experience. Their undoing is a result of their own doing from a corporate stradegy position. The "range war" that we have all witnessed for ten years has resulted in over-expansion of many companies. This basically involved two things that fueled this situation under normal economic principals. By referring to the range war, Several large concerns including the banking indutry provided money, your deposits (savings accounts and pension funds), in the banks ahd investment vehicles to the firms to expand to the extent that we see three or four of the same businesses within a stones throw of each other. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure that an area could not support all these competing stores especially when the economy is strained which it does every few years. This firm expansion approach started with the idea that they could garner the largest market share of business in an area to lets locate there first, our competitors are unlikely to follow, and then to we can out-last their sustainability. All with no regard to the risk to its shareholders and consumers. Now in the absense of the sales volumes they were adamant or convinced they could achieve, they can't afford the rent or cost of conducting business. A problem I maintain is self inflicted. This problem is now systemic in all the big boxes including the super super markets. The sad thing to me is we have lost our local mama papa and small business as a result of their predatory marketing techniques, mainly pricing which often was below wholesale. Soon you might see the surviving firms like Best Buy re-branding themselves "Best Buy...Your Only Choice" and having the last laugh! Its not about customer service its about that $5.00 in your pocket and absent that how much you can borrow. Three or Four years ago Walmarts CFO revealed that their customer, that normally had $20 in their pocket now use credit card and in fact 80% of all there sales are made that way. And that demand for poducts had reversed from dry goods and luxury items to food, now if i'm correct around 75 or 80% of their sales. In closing, this has nothing to do with Obama but you are entitled to your own opinion.

Hi Pedro, they didn't give it to them they were allowed to sell it to them as a part of their bailout package and don't forget if you are aware, Ronal Reagan set the precedent for this option when he approved the sale of Bethlehem Steel to competing countries, I think at that time it was the Chinese/others, among other things. As far as taking care of its customers, that has not been the case since the previously operating local small businesses that set that standard, were forced into failure via pricing wars and consumer greed (absorbed). This was easy for publicly traded corporate and financils interests because in essence the margins diminished to the point businesses could not afford their rents, purchase in volume and deferr or sustain their losses. This cost many peoples jobs, livelyhoods and destroyed many careers and in fact, in many cases on a broader note it destroyed local economies and sub-economies in more economically sensitive and challenged areas. In effect igniteing what we know as the dommino principal. How did this happen?, simple, Wall street, banking and special interests were allowed and authorized via lobbied legislation to hi-jack our salaries, pensions, rights and consumer protection on the grounds that "they know better and will do the right thing" if you remove these regulations. I am frustrated to think, given Americas consumption and wealth we allowed these industries to be exploited abroad, and we financed it. Could go on but wanted to share my perspective with you. Regards Ed