Best Buy Experience

What did you do at Leicester, ESP? I went to UEA at Norwich and did Business Info Systems. I had a great time!

igglebert:

What did you do at Leicester, ESP? I went to UEA at Norwich and did Business Info Systems. I had a great time!

I started out with the aim of completing a degree majoring in Economics, but found the core subject so dull and dry, I changed to Economic & Social History - much, much more interesting!  I certainly enjoyed my time in Leicester.

Well, I left work slightly early this afternoon, using my flexitime option, and hustled my way over to Merry Hell.  Full of anticipation, I drew up onto the three quarters empty car park, suspiciously eyeing the quartet of hostile-looking teenagers slouched against a wall nearby.  Five o'clock on a weekday isn't the best time to get to or into/out of Merry Hell, but I reckoned it worth the slight hassle.  After all, it's still a lot better than weekends or the Christmas period!

The automatic doors slid aside smoothly as I approached and I beheld an Aladdin's Cave of beautiful and seductive shininess.  An array of electronic delights in all directions.  Eat your hearts out Comet, Currys and Dixons!  It was hard to decide where to begin.  But, I was true to my calling and headed for the audio section and the listening room in the far corner, passing ranks of MP3/MP4 gizmos and a huge wall of TVs.

To cut a long story short, I was disappointed to be proven only too correct in my preconceptions: this place is highly unlikely to ever be a threat to the likes of Music Matters, Superfi or even Richer Sounds locally.  The listening area is open to the main and noise-filled room.  A confusion of sound greets you.  Plenty of bright shiny boxes and screens to choose from and switch between, but it seems no more than a brief nod in the direction of auditioning.  I sought and found a small section for hi-fi separates which was woeful in its scale (or lack of it).  A nice young man came and asked if he could help.  I responded that I might be interested in listening to a couple of amplifiers (well, there were no more than a handful to choose from).  He apologised profusely, but informed me that there is currently no facility for listening to amplifiers or CD-players.  They hope to provide some form of listening set-up soon.  I wonder what form it will take?  He was quick to point out the listening area and its AV amps and such, but that wasn't much use to me.

So, my initial impression is that Best Buy will be ideal if you are interested in the huge range of mass consumer electronics such as portable mp3 gizmos, mobile phones, cameras, computers, CDs, DVD/Blu-rays and related products/accessories.  However, if you are looking for a decent choice of more specialist items, it is going to be disappointing.  Yes, they had some pretty high-end headphones, some wireless/network solutions and a few equipment stands (mainly AV-related), but no speaker stands apparent.  Yes, there were cables, but again the emphasis seemed to be on AV.

I was only there for 15 minutes, not having time to linger, so didn't explore to my fullest satisfaction.  For serious hi-fi purchasing the place is, on the face of it, a dead loss.  For a whole range of other temptations, it looks like a very large honey pot to lure shoppers away from the less flashy competition.  Interesting times ahead for the older retailers of the area.  But for the smaller specialists who can still offer a wide choice of equipment and facility to compare sensibly at leisure and undisturbed, I sincerely expect no great threat.

I will be back to visit, but it is highly unlikely that it will be for a major purchase unless I consider a laptop or decide to upgrade the TV.  OK, so that's in this breath! At least the lady in my life will know where she can park me if she drags me over there on a shopping expedition!  After all, it is clean, light and airy, well laid out and brimful of fascinating 'stuff'.

Best Buy = American version of Comet.  BTDT - lived in Houston for seven years, remember?  Don't expect anything more than you'll get from Currys or Comet, but at least there's now a third competitor in the mass consumer electronics / appliances market.

ESP2009:

Well, I left work slightly early this afternoon, using my flexitime option, and hustled my way over to Merry Hell.  Full of anticipation, I drew up onto the three quarters empty car park, suspiciously eyeing the quartet of hostile-looking teenagers slouched against a wall nearby.  Five o'clock on a weekday isn't the best time to get to or into/out of Merry Hell, but I reckoned it worth the slight hassle.  After all, it's still a lot better than weekends or the Christmas period!

The automatic doors slid aside smoothly as I approached and I beheld an Aladdin's Cave of beautiful and seductive shininess.  An array of electronic delights in all directions.  Eat your hearts out Comet, Currys and Dixons!  It was hard to decide where to begin.  But, I was true to my calling and headed for the audio section and the listening room in the far corner, passing ranks of MP3/MP4 gizmos and a huge wall of TVs.

To cut a long story short, I was disappointed to be proven only too correct in my preconceptions: this place is highly unlikely to ever be a threat to the likes of Music Matters, Superfi or even Richer Sounds locally.  The listening area is open to the main and noise-filled room.  A confusion of sound greets you.  Plenty of bright shiny boxes and screens to choose from and switch between, but it seems no more than a brief nod in the direction of auditioning.  I sought and found a small section for hi-fi separates which was woeful in its scale (or lack of it).  A nice young man came and asked if he could help.  I responded that I might be interested in listening to a couple of amplifiers (well, there were no more than a handful to choose from).  He apologised profusely, but informed me that there is currently no facility for listening to amplifiers or CD-players.  They hope to provide some form of listening set-up soon.  I wonder what form it will take?  He was quick to point out the listening area and its AV amps and such, but that wasn't much use to me.

So, my initial impression is that Best Buy will be ideal if you are interested in the huge range of mass consumer electronics such as portable mp3 gizmos, mobile phones, cameras, computers, CDs, DVD/Blu-rays and related products/accessories.  However, if you are looking for a decent choice of more specialist items, it is going to be disappointing.  Yes, they had some pretty high-end headphones, some wireless/network solutions and a few equipment stands (mainly AV-related), but no speaker stands apparent.  Yes, there were cables, but again the emphasis seemed to be on AV.

I was only there for 15 minutes, not having time to linger, so didn't explore to my fullest satisfaction.  For serious hi-fi purchasing the place is, on the face of it, a dead loss.  For a whole range of other temptations, it looks like a very large honey pot to lure shoppers away from the less flashy competition.  Interesting times ahead for the older retailers of the area.  But for the smaller specialists who can still offer a wide choice of equipment and facility to compare sensibly at leisure and undisturbed, I sincerely expect no great threat.

I will be back to visit, but it is highly unlikely that it will be for a major purchase unless I consider a laptop or decide to upgrade the TV.  OK, so that's in this breath! At least the lady in my life will know where she can park me if she drags me over there on a shopping expedition!  After all, it is clean, light and airy, well laid out and brimful of fascinating 'stuff'.

And you were looking forward to it as well! what a let down. I did see their e-brochure (for want of a better word) so expectations should not have been too high, I suppose. Kinda looks like a glorified Aldi only their e-brochures are nicer

mitch65:

[And you were looking forward to it as well! what a let down. I did see their e-brochure (for want of a better word) so expectations should not have been too high, I suppose. Kinda looks like a glorified Aldi only their e-brochures are nicer

Yup. It's a mixed blessing really - no real threat to the specialist outlets or to my pocket, but it would have been nice to have a large retailer nearby with a wide selection of hi-fi products to try out in sensible listening environments.  Ho-hum!

Try living in East Sussex! I used to live in London where there is an abundance of quality HiFi shops that you are spoilt for choice. Ho-Hum indeed

queued for over an hour to get into best buy at thurrock when it opened and left within 10 minutes, if you want serious hi-fi or even a/v then forget it, as stated its a glorified comet no more no less.

I will continue to shop @ HOME MEDIA in maidstone and they cater for everything hi-fi and have a wealth of knowledge, plus 2 demo rooms.

Good thing about Maidstone, at least you've got a couple of choices of where to shop