Why would you shop at BB? Seriously, if I could ship a 60" flat screen for cheap enough there would be no reason to shop there. Everything they sell is way over priced.

I suppose you could buy games/consoles/mp3 players since there price is regulated, but now that they require your home address, cell phone number, and SSN just to buy something it just doesn't seem worth it.

A smart consumer should never have to shop there. Seriously, you can build yourself a better desktop, and unless you are looking for cheap ones you can order better laptops from places like CyberPowerPC or Voodoo. The only reason to buy a laptop at BestBuy is if you are looking for a $400-$600 one, and even then there are online stores offering very competitive if not better priced units. Car audio can be had cheaper online, but in some cases I know that there have been sales where you get discounts on installation and what not. That could make it worth it to the smart consumer.

So what does BestBuy live off of? The not-smart people. Again, I work there, I know what kind of person shops at BestBuy. Its the kind of person too dumb to know what an LCD or Plasma screen is, and too dumb to look it up online or in a freaking book. This person is dumb enough to believe the marketing slogans are the truth about the technology, and thinks that all of this tech is made for ten cents in China.

Truth about that is that Ipods, TVs, and computers do not have a ton of margin in them: its the Ipod cases that you buy for $15 that are made for a penny, the TV remote controls that cost $11 are made for $1, and the cables for your printers or TVs that have up to 80% of the price as margin.