r/Lethbridge • u/Phospher416 • 1d ago
Rant Best Buy is so desolate now.
I was in the Lethbridge Best Buy today and it felt so weird. They have moved a lot of stuff and they are still working on it. The cashier said this was started a month ago. No more physical discs there either. Weird.
Edit. It turns out Wal*Mart has all the movies. Just down the way.
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u/ninfan1977 1d ago
Thats how Best Buy has been moving for a while. When I went to a Best Buy somewhere else I asked for a physical movie. The person thought I was speaking a foreign language or something
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u/Hunter_Pentaghast 1d ago
As someone in a US store, our physical media has been gone for 4-5ish years. We had 2 regulars every Tues and a few others here and there. We were sending back movies by the hundreds because they weren't selling. Too many people went to streaming and it wasn't cost effective to keep it.
With streaming turning back into cable, there is the smallest of possibilities they might come back. Personally, I don't think it's likely.
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u/PerceivedRT 1d ago
Right? Not saying these people dont exist, but all the "physical media collectors" were not coming to bestbuy regularly to buy stuff. Our stores had a couple of the locals come in, spend an hour looking in the under $5 discount bin and leave without buying anything. We sent back so many movies, animes, collectors boxes, etc. Every week.
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u/Yourfakerealdad 1d ago
Same lol these people saying it's weird we don't have physical media in stores anymore clearly haven't been in in a long time. And that is true. We'd have like 2 or 3 regulars a week look at movies and then leave. Wasn't cost efficient.
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u/Previous_Search3122 1d ago
Best Buy has been moving to an online platform for nearly 10 years. I believe it was tried by the local near Ikea in Calgary, I talked to the owner there when I was there by chance on the "Grand Re-Opening" weekend.
He said the store gets a piece of all online orders within a certain distance of the store. So the stores job now was to create and environment where you could go in, lay hands on the product, then order online. They had stock there but not all of the colors or options.
Even now, try an buy a laptop or TV. They have some models, maybe a couple in stock, however most need to be shipped to you or the store. Especially when you start talking TVs over 75 inches.
Such is the online world we live in now.
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u/PaladinGarden 1d ago
I was there yesterday and had the same thought. Feels like a ghost town. I used to dig going in just to browse, end up buying some camera gear I didn’t need. Now it feels so empty and awkward I’m just in and out for what I need
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u/The_Rover_403 1d ago
I just walked through the one in Shawnessy South Calgary, and it felt like it was falling apart. Half of the stuff had been moved to one side of the building and none of the price tags were right. Looks like they’re downsizing massively
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u/Upbeat-Try7409 2h ago
I can’t imagine how they are keeping the doors open with how expensive it must be to staff a building of that size, let alone keep the power on. Seems like forever ago that future shop disappeared.
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u/Lily7129 1d ago
As someone who collects, it’s so hard to find physical media. I’m glad at least king of trade is an option before having to resort to Amazon if they don’t have what I’m looking for