But Best Buy is a shadow of its former self. I've stopped bothering to go there at all because they never have what I need. Even when I was shopping for a tablet.
But 15 minutes away there's another Best Buy that has a dedicated PC hardware section that almost reminds me of going to Fry's back in the day. I was flabbergasted the first time I walked in there, I almost thought I'd been mistaken and entered a different store.
That said, I purchased some peripherals at BB a few months ago because they had what I needed in stock and the price was better than Logitech and the same as Amazon.
Nearly every time I've bought cheap USB-C cables off Amazon they didn't perform as advertised. The few times I bought name-brand ones they looked different from the ones I've bought at in-person stores and once again failed to perform as advertised (likely counterfeit).
I avoid Amazon as much as possible these days.
After years (my whole adolescent and adult life, more or less) of online shopping, I find that it's actually quite refreshing to go to the store, find the product I need, and purchase it. I have it immediately, I got to handle a demo unit and get a feel for it. If I need to return it, I go back to the same store and get my money back the same day.
There are pros and cons to both, for sure, but these days I find I'm valuing the offline experience more and more.
I'd much rather drive somewhere fun with the kids, work on a hobby, read a book, or just frankly sit and do nothing than go to a store.
Hah. I bought an Apple Pencil from BB. Shrink-wrapped in the box. I get home, the battery won't charge. I figured out from the S/N that someone had bought a new pencil, put their dead one in the box, shrink-wrapped it, returned it, BB put it back into stock, and I ended up with it.
Fortunately, BB replaced it for me, but I've never had this issue with a single Amazon item I've purchased and I've done a lot more shopping from Amazon than BB.
It was supposed to be brand new, not a used item.
For me, living first in Baltimore then NYC, places where there's quite a few people buying quite a few things up and down the cost scale, I never saw a counterfeit anything come up.
That's not to say I think it doesn't happen, just that I think that's why some people have wildly different experiences here.
Not for nothing, but I can’t remember the last time I purchased anything computer related that was shrink wrapped. It’s all single-use-obvious-if-opened tape
But perhaps, as another commenter mentioned, this varies a lot depending on the store you're in?
Regardless, at least for my needs, Best Buy has nearly nothing for me. That didn't used to be true.
Ofcourse most electronics stores will die or are already dead but a few will remain in business.
"IT'S STILL NICE TO GO ANd browse video games in the physical store..... AAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......"