Best Buy taking direct control of Magnolia, closing 7 standalone stores
By Richard Lawler 
posted Feb 14th 2009 6:33AM
posted Feb 14th 2009 6:33AM
Best Buy just announced plans to streamline Magnolia's operational structure, starting by shutting down its headquarters, distribution center and 7 of 13 stores. It's far from the only high-end A/V dealer feeling the pinch, but Best Buy claims these moves will streamline operations and it remains committed to the brand, adding a new location in Chicago this year and keeping all of its in-store locations open. So far Valentine's Day is working out better than Halloween but we're officially calling a holiday watch for all electronics retailers.
Bestbuy has not real commitment to the Magnolia Brand, hence the lack of advertising for it, and the change from Magnolia home installation services to Geeksquad home installations. Also many of the premium brands in Magnolia are gone, such as Primare. Bestbuy is putting all its chips on GeekSquad. BestBuy's own research supposedly discovered that Geeksquad had better name recognition than the BestBuy brand. Go figure.
Getting rid of of the magnolia home delierey was the worst thing best buy could of ever had done.
why so? you still get the same team of e-learned idiots screwing in your co-ax. they just got new outfits.
same people different name an attire.
Yeah but the problem is that before the change to Geek Squad, Magnolia retail employees and Magnolia installers had to go through actual Magnolia Pro training, the same stuff real Magnolia employees to do before Best Buy bought them.
This was because Magnolia's agreements (which Best Buy bought into) with companies like DefTech, Denon, Vienna, Pioneer Elite and such required knowledgeable employees, thus counting out your normal blue-shirt.
When they changed to Geek Squad, the installers no longer had to go through this training and once Best Buy stopped training the Magnolia employees with anything but higher-level e-learns (Yeah that's what they're called) companies like Primare dropped out of the stand-alone Magnolia stores in protest.
Kiss it goodbye. Soon there won't be a place to buy Pioneer Elite in many parts of the country, with Mom-and-Pop stores closing down and Tweeter out of the game.
Actually Magnolia was a subsidiary of Bestbuy, not a partner. Magnolia put no requirements on Bestbuy, given that Bestbuy was the parent company. Also Bestbuy has a high turnover rate like many big box stores, so many of the employees that went through the original training moved on to other employement years ago. Since the original training, there was no subsequent training to new employees.
Bestbuy closing Magnolia, is great news for independents. So in many states, consumers will only have the choice between Bestbuy or an independent specialty audio/video retailer. For many upscale consumers, Bestbuy just isn't an option.
While I do agree with you for the most part. And I am someone who was trained and CC and then taught myself everything I know about home entertainment. Working at CC and being able to walk into BB Magnolia dept is what got me into it all. I will say that Best Buy Magnolia needs to stick around and not just be dropped. Right now things aren't that bad because they aren't closing Magnolia dept in stores but hopefully it doesn't get to that.
Since Tweeter & Sound Advice are gone now where will the average consumer be turned onto what is truly quality if no big franchise or company doesn't have the best. You might know small independent stores that carry high end equipment but does the large population of the city know about it? You'll have less people be turned on to what is quality and what is shit. I just hope this isn't a indicator that Best Buy will be slowly be getting rid of Magnolia. It's going to be a sad day when the last Pioneer sells out this year.
The fact that you can't really go to many stores and get to demo or play with high end audio eq is heartbreaking. How many people have heard setups with separates? Imagine how many less that going to be with Tweeter & Sound Advice gone. No large franchise that has stores all over the US carries pre-amps and processors. Now with SA gone I'm hoping Best Buy gets smart and starts selling separates.
I am disappointed- I just don't like Best Buy but have loved the stand alone Magnolia Stores-
To my surprise I have received better pricing and much better support at Magnolia compared to BB- not to mention the ability to learn about this hobby and audition various brands that were near impossible to find easily anywhere else-
Not to mention Magnolia was good at rotating their display products, thus new products were always in and good deals were to be had on floor models....