Is It Time For The Small-Box Electronics Store To Make A Comeback?

Many moons ago there used to be several electronics store chains that were truly good at what they did. Back in New England where I grew up, Massachusetts had quite a few of them both regional and national, such as Tweeter, Nobody Beats the Wiz! (which still exists,) Fretter and so on. Even Service Merchandise (which also exists but online-only) had a truly decent electronics section back in the day.

Right now what we have for electronic stores in the US are big-box free-standers, such as Best Buy. The problem with stores like this is that they are very disconnected from the customer base due to their size. Yes, you can get help when you ask for it, but personal service is usually at a minimum and product knowledge low.

Another problem is that the big-box electronics retailers are essentially all the same. Using the now-defunct Circuit City as an example, if you were to ask somebody, "What was the difference between Best Buy and Circuit City?", the answer is, "Um.. one was red and the other yellow?" There was literally no other difference.

Some would say, "What about Radio Shack?" RS doesn’t sell electronics anymore, I don’t care what anybody says. Their primary focus is cell phones and has been for some time. That is what they push more than anything else, and it’s always the first thing you see when you enter the store by design.

What is desperately needed these days are smaller electronic stores. Electronics has had a huge resurgence in the market, and more people are gravitating towards the brick-and-mortar compared to online. The problem is, at least in the US, that our choices for true electronics stores are terrible. We have places that are either way too big, or traditional department stores like Wal-Mart or Target that simply have a "department" for electronics and nothing more. Both are equally awful.

I am 34 years old, meaning I’m smack dab in the core demographic of people that purchase mid-to-high end electronics for the home – but I have nowhere to go to shop for this stuff save for what’s mentioned prior.

The store chains I mentioned at the beginning of this article would typically not sell cheap stuff. Almost everything in the store started in the mid-range territory. This was actually very good to know, because no matter what you bought, you knew it at least wasn’t bottom-of-the-barrel crap and that what you bought was a quality product.

There were several other good advantages to the small-box electronics store:

You could browse a ton of products without having to walk the length of a football field just to do it.
For audio products you got a much more accurate representation of what it would truly sound like in your home due to the store’s smaller size.
The box your product came in was always perfect (hey, it matters.)
Staff was very knowledgeable about just about every product in the store.

Is it time for the small-box electronics store to come back? I think so.

What do you think?

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Douglas Bliss
No!
The small box electronics store will go the way of the center of town General Store.
The pressure on the general public to get more with less will continue.
This is sad!
However; with every failure comes an opportunity.
The problem is with efficiency, and cost.
I believe that the time for the personal shopper is about to explode.
People who put all of their effort into earning, do not have enough left over to do the research to be a wise shopper.
I believe that you are in a unique position to teach people how to start their own tech personal shopper business.
So, stop complaining and start doing.
The buffalo are not coming back.
http://none David M
There is a combination of reasons why I do not see small electronics stores making a comeback, ever. They do not have the economies of scale that retailers like BestBuy have. They also cannot compete against internet retailers in price and in cases like Newegg, probably service as well. For the consumer, more choice is always better but on the other hand, business with the best prices and service will be where the money goes, therefore those will be the survivors.
David M
Hah!…there is an ad for Circuit City on this page! ..at least at this moment.

http://www.menga.net Rich Menga
Goof on my part. I should have mentioned that Circuit City still does exist, but online-only (similar to Service Merchandise.) They were bought by Systemax, Inc. http://www.circuitcity.com/sectors/opt-outv2.asp – so the advertisement is legitimate.

Jase
theres a few of these sorts of chains left in new zealand, but the thing is they sell low end goods at top shelf prices, then refuse to honour their warranties when things break. – they use department store type returns policies, where they outsource the actual fixing to other places, who then decide whether to bill you or not, its far easier and less hassle to buy from online retailers, slightly lighter on the wallet front, with mostly decent service, only problem is the postal services here aren’t too crash hot with reliability – thats the ‘catch’.
Ted P
Just an FYI – The Wiz does NOT exist any longer as a retail store – they closed all locations in 2003 (I got some great bargains), and the website of same name is wholly owned by P.C.Richard. The Wiz may be gone, but the ride was INSANE!
(reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wiz_%28store%29)
Wesley
Well, if it’s for computer stuff, Micro Center and Best Buy are my favorites. As for general electronics I can’t see the small-box electronics stores making a come back for all of the reasons above. Besides, if that small box electronics store started to become really popular it would have to expand. It might end up becoming something like Best Buy or Circuit City anyway. However, specialty stores usually have higher end products. It’s hard to say whether or not they could or would make a comeback.
I imagine the best way to get specialty electronics would be to look up companies that make those higher end electronics and order directly from them. True this is harder and more expensive, but you get what you pay for.