West Kelowna employees got zero warning which kinda sucks for them. West Kelowna is brutal and I've seen about 9-10 businesses open and close within the same year. It is too small for what they have at the moment, especially with the massive Superstore, Walmart and London Drugs they already have. Our slowest store is in West Kelowna and is barely paying it's bills.

That's a little harsh.

New West is working hard on becoming a cool little city again. There is a LOT of work to do...trust me, we curse some of the trash every couple of days. The property values are good, and the rents are increasing, which is driving out the shit.

It's one of the few cities that actually has a "downtown". It's starting to look really good down there. A few of the shitty money mart places were torn down, those high school kids are working on closing the paramount :troll:

I like it here...flaws and all.

Let's be honest here, we go to stores like FutureShop and BestBuy because they're convenient. They're the Starbucks of electronics...there is one around every corner. We don't go to these stores because we like spending more money or because we enjoy dealing with salesmen...it's just easier and immediate, most of the time.

For the record, just before Christmas, FutureShop/BestBuy did change their price matching policies to allow price matching of online stores including NCIX and Amazon.

Also, 10% of the difference is an INDUSTRY STANDARD...every store is the same in the lower mainland.

As far as shipping from online sales goes, FutureShop implemented an ONLINE STORE in their major retail locations. I don't see this being a profitable move but it's supposed to help people with online sales.

Also, if you've had a shipping error or lost a package in the mail from an order from FF/Best Buy, it's probably safe to say that it is an anomaly. This company would be using the same shipping practices as any other company plus they have warehouses locally. So technically, their shipping should be more efficient. I bought a chair from Futureshop.ca on boxing day and received it at my house on the 28th of December. Not bad....

We can easily hate on these stores but every store has its flaws and at the end of the day, we want to get the best deal. Each has its own pros and cons. Buy online, wait a little longer for the product and perhaps deal with a slightly harder return/exchange process. But, you save money.

Point being, there is more to this closure than just consumer habits. Poor corporate decisions, poor leadership and lack of vision will be Best Buy/FutureShop's downfall.

they've always pricematched amazon and ncix
NCIX is difficult because 99% of its sale says limited quantities or stock
I just really hate it when FS/BB employees (the online dept) say that it isn't on their list of approved competitors

like where in the hell in the policy did it say there's a "list of competitors" ...as long as its canadian and meets all the stipulations give me my damn deal D:

my brother worked at a futureshop in surrey, he was stocking shelves and management brought him in and laid him off. This was about a week or so ago. We went to the best buy by queensboro bridge yesterday and the doors were closed and security outside. We saw a bunch of employees standing in the parking lot and I'm guessing they showed up to work and got a rude surprise =(

Not surprised at either Lower mainland store, every time I went to both they were completely dead, horrible locations and qieensbourugh landing is a pretty sad attempt at an " outlet" mall itself
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Cheapskates over the internet are celebrating the closure of these stores, but there's a price to be paid for everything.

Online shopping is great if you know exactly what you want and it works, but returns, exchanges and service leave a lot to be desired. Moreover, shipping in Canada is slow and frankly, not everyone has the time to go down to Blaine/Point Roberts to save a few bucks.

But, if Amazon has 50 4.5 star reviews, the product has got to be good right? Let the suckers down south take the risk and buy a new product before I take the plunge myself.
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The returns I've done on amazon were easier than taking things back to a FS/BB although I've only done it once it was seemless, was very impressed

I think there is alot to he said about "window shopping" or whatever the term is for looking at a product in person then buying it for cheaper online, this past weekend I was in the market for some sunglasses, sunglass hut had the pair I wanted at $165 amazon had the same pair for $120 free shipping, asked the salesperson at the hut if they could price
Match, they told me no they are already at the lowest price, online isn't reliable, etc

Where is the incentive to buy in-store any more outside of items that are too large/heavy/expensive to have shipped? There is none

Hell even Flea markets are overpriced compared to online

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not necessarily true. they have declined some NCIX price matches to me before stating they are "OEM" retailers and they don't match those.

People will shop at where ever is cheaper, period.

The Source experienced “positive momentum in 2012,” plans to build 20 new locations this year
http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1107...stores-in-2013

:fuckthatshit:

My experience might have been anomoly, but when it happens the FIRST FUCKING TIME it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Also, It took me 2 months to get my money back because after I had filed a lost shipment claim (a week after I was supposed to receive my product) they LOST THE CLAIM which caused me to have to re-file it and start the process over again.

Sale Prices at The Source is actually quite competitive to online prices, though I am unsure of it's price match policy.

I do understand the mentality behind not warning employees ahead of time that they're closing up shop. If you think about it, BB/FS carry some very expensive items. Telling your employees that you're closing up shop in, say, two weeks or a month, may very well initiate some of these items to suddenly disappear. In the grand scheme of things, it's cheaper to payout your minimum wage employees by laying them off rather than have your Loss Prevention department go through the entire store and write-off a bunch of high ticket items that were smuggled out.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying all employees would do that, but I'm sure enough people would at least consider doing it. I'm sure many of them would think something along the lines of, "What are they gonna do, fire me?"

Just food for thought.

Untrue. Once I started making real money and grew up, it doesnt come down to money anymore. I have no problem paying for convenience to a certain point.

If my TV blew up tomorrow morning, and I wanted to watch the UFC PPV tomorrow night, Im going to price out and research TVs online from local retailers (BB, FS, London Drugs, Costco, Visions, Brick, etc), pick a TV and go buy it at wherever has it in stock. Im not going to wait a week for it to show up to save $200.

Also, as far as buying from the states, I live 2.5 hours from the border (and we have shipping receivers like you guys do at PR/blaine) so shipping to a receiver across the border essentially costs me 1 day plus fuel. My personal point where the savings offset the time is at minimum like $300. I do tons of buying from the states for big ticket items like tires, Jeep lifts, truck parts, bike parts, etc, but I would never purchase electronics or something that has a high chance of being defective or needing warranty as a return or exchange becomes a nightmare.

Got details on this? I'm curious to know who got canned.

futureshop and bestbuy are like 5 minutes from each other on the same street in abbotsford. And the bestbuy here SUCKS, hard as hell to find an employee that will help you and its still relatively new.

Lots of cities and towns have BB and FS within spiting distance of one another. Here in Langley they're separated by a mere three blocks. Plus they have a ton of other stores to compete with (London Drugs, Wal-Mart, The Source, etc., etc)... and they're all within the same three/four block radius.

Technically to a certain degree you are still price shopping from the local variety. However I understand what you are getting at tho.

the central city locations are litterally side by side, maybe 20 steps between each front door?

I think another thing is the types of goods they sell are pretty durable. Its not like someone will go to FS or BB every week to buy a new computer or tv. Most of these things ppl tend to research around and think before they buy these big ticket items and will try to look for the best bang for the buck.

I literally had nothing that I NEEDED during christmas sales. I might want xx but when I compared the local sale prices and online I was like MEH turns out not really much of a sale and passed on the deal.

economy down....feel sad for all those people losing there jobs!!!!

lol at least its 3 blocks... here in richmond its all in the same damn mall.... one at a corner and one at the other :fuckthatshit:

Lansdowne mall rent is probably pretty cheap so they can afford to do that.
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