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Previous: LG refrigerator doors | Main | Next: CPL Petroleum password recovery
January 5, 2006 12:03 AM
Broken: Best Buy interior column
Aaron Tang writes:
I headed over to the Best Buy in Boston to buy some printer paper and found myself jammed between a huge metal column and a shelf in order to reach a stack.
If there's going to be a huge metal column in the way, don't put any products behind it. I had no clue how much each stack was, nor could i reach certain ones.
Perhaps it's a marketing trick, cause the stack of 500 sheets that I managed to grab cost me $10.
Obstructing column or no, there is nothing more unattractive in a retail store than empty shelves.
It's actually more visually appealing to stock shelves even though they are obstructed. In general, it's a better idea to stock those shelves with overstock, though....
They don't need to stock the shelves. They need to move the shelves so that the column is in the middle of shelving rather than aisle.
why buy anything from best buy? my experience has been that they have about the poorest customer service around. if you go to the best buy on 5th avenue in new york, you will see the employees dancing around like it's a school playground, and you will not get served.
This is truly a design flaw. The designers of this store should have adapted the "typical" store plan to accomodate actual field conditions.
While I agree that empty shelves are unattractive, I can't help but think the section of shelving that is obscured by the column is highly unproductive from a retail standpoint.
That would be awesome, to pretend like you're intensely investigating the items behind the column, but really you're taking a leak.
Also, stay away from Best Buy unless you're looking for DVDs that you know are currently on a ridiculous sale ($5.99 - $9.99). I've bought a few items in recent months (big TV, washer/dryer, PS2 games) and ALL of them are about 10% more expensive at Best Buy.
It may be one-stop-shopping, but they'll rape you for it.
This is actually a repeat offending broken situation: the badly mapped retail space. Objects have no relation to the space, and the space has no relation to the intended function therein. Shame on bad planners!!!
I've never seen a Best Buy with support columns on the salesfloor -- maybe this one moved into an existing space instead of being a new build? You're probably right that they're following some kind of standardized floorplan that doesn't take this possibility into account.
More Best Buy recent store configurations make the aisles a lot narrower, so if they moved the shelves away from the support column you'd probably just end up with a two-foot-wide column in the center of a four-foot-wide aisle.
If you really need to urinate there, make sure you don't do it on that really convenient socket! You wouldn't be able to go for 3 days!
Placing product (except overstock, thanks Josh) behind a column is broken.
Placing shelves next to the column, instead of positioning the row so that the shelves are set around the column, is broken.
The outlet is not broken... but who needs an outlet in an aisle of paper?
Best Buy is broken for all of the reasons mentioned.
Leaving shelves empty if a product is sold out (or the shelves are inaccessible) may be unattractive, but is not broken. I am starting to teach my kids in the wily ways of supermarkets that move stuff around just so the shelves "appear" full, even though it means they display full price products on the shelves where sale prices are marked. I hate that. They should have the decency to let the shelf be empty if they sell out of the stuff on sale. Whenever I see that, I make a point of moving all the stuff around so there is a great big empty space around the sale sign.
Maybe it's a trap for shoplifters. You could get a nice sense of security behind that column, and then there could be a security camera positioned with a view of it.
OK, nobody's looking - go for it! [stuffs ream of paper casually up shirt]
Lazlo, the suggestion was to move the shelves so that the column is in the shelves. Then the aisles are clear.
I'd think you'd be uncomfortable squeezing into that tiny little space to urinate.
I agree this is broken. And it probably is broken because Best Buy, like other mass retailers, uses 'one size fits all' planogramming to determine what products go where on the shelves.
Here's a link that explains planograms:
http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid19_gci284010,00.html
Another thing that I find broken is Best Buy (and several other chains of stores) remodeling every few months. As soon as you get to know where things are, they move them to the exact opposite side of the store.
maybe the outlet is broken too... that way you'd be able to pee on it, leading to the need for the security camera with which they also catch people stealing reams of paper.
The most broken thing at Best Buy is their restocking fee when you return something. Second-most broken thing is the nonstop noise from 100 TVs and stereos all blaring at the same time. Third most broken thing is them always trying to sell you an extended warranty at the checkout for ANYTHING, even if it costs less than $20.
That particular best buy is in a converted (very old) Sears warehouse, with huge columns all over the place. The parking garage is even worse (every other space is obstructed). If they moved that shelf to accommodate the column, they'd just face the same problem from the next column over. (not an excuse, but it may require more creativity to un-break than you'd think)
My question to the OP, though, is why didn't you go to the Staples next door for your paper?
I don't like how the antiperspirant is behind a pole in my local market, I'm not as flexible as you walking people. but I also hate poles in the middle of aisles where I have to squeeze my crimson chariot (red wheelchair) between pole and shelves and end up knocking stuff off shelf.
they should leave obstructed area empty or try to butt shelving units up against poles
I don't like how in my local supermarket the antiperspirant is behind a pole, I'm not as flexible as you walking people. but I also hate poles in the middle of aisles where I have to squeeze my crimson chariot (red wheelchair) between pole and shelves and end up knocking stuff off shelf.
they should leave obstructed shelf area empty or try to butt shelving units up against poles.
Floor displays are even more fun because they move, made out of cardboard and are full so they fall easily.
Pat says: "The outlet is not broken... but who needs an outlet in an aisle of paper?"
um...for shredders? Duh. I can't believe you didn't think of that.
Duh, The plug is for the janitor. They use them for waxing the floor.
The problem with the column is not uncommon; I have seen it fairly often in shopping centers where stores are stuck with the existing columns.
I saw somewhere where they found a solution (sort of); they walled off that part of the shelf and made that aisle wider.
Wow, I actually got an image this time. The last three times I tried to post there was just a red x.
at least you can reach the top shelf. i hate having to jump up and slap stuff off high shelves. yah...im short.
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Previous: LG refrigerator doors | Main | Next: CPL Petroleum password recovery
yea... but look how convinient that outlet is!
Posted by: gmangw at January 5, 2006 12:15 AM