Best Buy — Local services in Scranton

from 1966 until 1983 On August 22, 1966, Richard M. Schulze and a business partner opened Sound of Music, an electronics store specializing in high fidelity stereos in St. Paul, Minnesota.1517192123 Schulze financed the opening of his first store with his personal savings and a second mortgage he took out on his family's home.23 In 1967, Sound of Music acquired Kencraft Hi-Fi Company and Bergo Company.25] Sound of Music earned $1 million in revenue and made about $58,000 in profits in its first year.[23] In 1969, Sound of Music had three stores and Schulze bought out his business partner.

Sound of Music operated nine stores throughout Minnesota by 1978.[26] In 1981, the Roseville, Minnesota Sound of Music location, at the time the largest and most profitable Sound of Music store, was hit by a tornado.[23] The store's roof was sheared off and showroom destroyed, but the storeroom was left intact.[23 In response, Schulze decided to have a "Tornado Sale" of damaged and excess stock in the damaged store's parking lot.23] He poured the remainder of his marketing budget into advertising the sale, promising "best buys" on everything.[27] Sound of Music made more money during the four-day sale than it did in a typical month.[24]

Best Buy Co. Superstores logo from 1983 until 1984

Best Buy Superstores logo from 1984 until 1989 In 1983, with seven stores and $10 million in annual sales, Sound of Music was renamed Best Buy Company, Inc.[26 The company also expanded its product offerings to include home appliances and VCRs, in an attempt to expand beyond its then-core customer base of 15-to-18-year-old males. Later that year, Best Buy opened its first superstore in Burnsville, Minnesota.27] The Burnsville location featured a high-volume, low price business model, which was borrowed partially from Schulze's successful Tornado Sale in 1981.[23 In its first year, the Burnsville store out-performed all other Best Buy stores combined.24

Best Buy logo from 1989 until May 9, 2018, used in Canada until July 26, 2019 Best Buy debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in 1987.28 In 1989, the company introduced a new store concept dubbed "Concept II".25 Concept II replaced dimly lit industrial-style stores with brighter and more fashionably fixtured stores.25] Stores also began placing all stock on the sales floor rather than in a stock room, had fewer salespersons and provided more self-help product information for its customers.[28 Best Buy also did away with commissioned salespeople.23 The commission-free sales environment "created a more relaxed shopping environment free of the high-pressure sales tactics used in other stores," but was unpopular with salespersons and suppliers.28] Some suppliers, such as Maytag, Whirlpool and Sony, were upset that salespeople would no longer be pushing their products and stopped selling in Best Buy stores altogether.[23 The suppliers returned after Best Buy's sales and revenue grew following the roll-out of Concept II.27]

In 1992, the company achieved $1 billion in annual revenues.[29] In 1995, Best Buy debuted "Concept III" stores, which were larger than its previous stores.[29 The Concept III stores included expanded product offerings, interactive touchscreen kiosks that displayed product information for both customers and employees, and demonstration areas for products such as surround sound stereo systems and videogames.30

Best Buy launched its "Concept IV" stores with its expansion into New England in 1998.29 Concept IV stores included an open layout with products organized by category, cash registers located throughout the store, and slightly smaller stores than Concept III stores.33] The stores also had large areas for demonstrating home theater systems and computer software.[29

In 1999, Best Buy was added to Standard &...

I recently cracked the screen on my phone. Instead of getting a new one with verizon and possible having to wait for it to be shipped, i decided to get one at best buy and this was a horrible mistake. #1. the guy who sold me the phone never told me about the 40 dollar upgrade fee that verizon would charge me even though he probably knew this would happen. There is no way this can be considered an upgrade. I went from a phone that was $800 to one that cost under $200. He knew we had verizon already, so he should have just switched the sim card out. if he did that, the lady in customer service at verizon said that this fee would never have been charged. #2. he said he would get the phone set up for me in 10 minutes if i bought it, but he didnt do anything for me except activate it. My music, pics, videos, and apps were nowhere to be found on the new phone. I had to figure this out on my own and it was a nitemare.Once i got the item transferred, they were all messed up. Nothing was in the right order or in same place that i had on the old phone. Pics that i only had 1 of, somehow got duplicated 4 times each. #3 He didnt mention anything about the restocking fee until i was practically out the door already. My credit card was already in the reader and i had already signed for the purchase, so i figured at this point, i had no choice but to sign my name acknowledging the restocking fee. He also didnt mention it was so much (45.00). This is something that should be mentioned before he activated the phone or allowed me to put my credit card in the reader. I told this to someone at work 2 days later and he said he had the same problem with this fee scam. As it turns out, i absolutely hate the phone, but wont bother taking it back since i will lose 30-40 % what i paid for it because of their strong arm tactics. Not to mention, already bought a case and charger from another location that is non refundable. I suppose i could have said cancel the transaction when he mentioned the fee, but that would have been very awkward and would have required the guy to reactivate my old phone and we would have been there twice as long. Also, this fee should be illegal in PA, just like it is in some other states. how on earth are you supposed to know if you like a phone, until you take it home and play around on it for a few hours. My fiancee called & spoke with the manager because i was too upset to do it, but he was unwilling to do anything at all. Of course before she spoke with him, she was bounced all over the place and waited on hold forever. PLEASE DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND DONT EVER BUY A CELL PHONE FROM BEST BUY..... ONLY BUY FROM YOUR CARRIER IF YOU WANT TO AVOID HEADACHES...

The WORST EXPERIENCE EVER! Stay away from purchasing any appliances in this store and in particular from the Scranton/Dickson City, PA location. We placed the order for the Washer and Dryer in September. We had 2 broken washers delivered, which we sent back. Then the delivery team called us that their truck broke, then they stopped updating us and after hours of calling Customer Service, we had to go to the store to elevate the poor service to the manager. When the final delivery came in late December (delivery attempt #4!), the delivery guys told us they would charge for even moving the old appliances into the garage (we had that free of charge in our contract as part of a plan). Then they said they cannot lift anything or install, while we specifically paid for the service. When we pressed them for why, they literally jumped into their truck and left and even made up a story that we were preventing them from leaving, which is a complete lie because both my husband and I were standing behind their truck at one point or another talking our other contractors at the time, never in the front and not even all the time. These delivery people clearly did not want to do what is expected of them - it was so apparent! When we went to the store, the manager (Mara) was terribly rude and did not only not refund us the full amount correctly, but refused to explain it to us and said to call customer service, which is pure fraud as the store still owes us money for the washer/dryer accessories! We called customer service for 3 hours to be switched between customer service departments and them being completely incompetent to actually fix the issue. They sugar talk to you, but are useless! They said that their systems are slow, not working, not clear how to do a refund - and this is the store that sells technology! We are filing claims with the Better Business Bureau just get our refund. Suggestions are welcomed as I am sure some of you had similar experience! If you consider any serious larger size purchases, do not go to BEST BUY - it is more like...