Best Buy Mobile

Sound of Music operated nine stores throughout Minnesota by 1978.[25] In 1981, the Roseville, Minnesota, Sound of Music location, at the time the largest and most profitable Sound of Music store, was hit by a tornado.[22] The store's roof was sheared off and showroom destroyed, but the storeroom was left intact.[22][26] In response, Schulze decided to have a "Tornado Sale" of damaged and excess stock in the damaged store's parking lot.[22] He poured the remainder of his marketing budget into advertising the sale, promising "best buys" on everything.[26] Sound of Music made more money during the four-day sale than it did in a typical month.[23]

best buy mobile

In February 2008, Best Buy opened its first store in San Juan, Puerto Rico.[56] Best Buy's Geek Squad market tests in Office Depot and FedEx Kinkos stores ended by March.[57] Also in March, the company began promoting the Blu-ray optical-disc format over the HD DVD format, a move which ultimately contributed to Toshiba's decision to drop HD DVD.[58] In May, the company agreed to buy 50% of the retail division of The Carphone Warehouse, a London, England-based mobile phone retailer.[59][60] The deal was worth $2.1 billion.[60]

In February 2009, Best Buy leveraged its partnership with The Carphone Warehouse to launch Best Buy Mobile, a Best Buy-branded mobile retailer. Best Buy Mobile standalone stores were opened in shopping malls and urban downtowns. These Best Buy Mobile outlets were also added in all Best Buy-branded stores.[65]

In April 2010, Best Buy opened its first United Kingdom-based Best Buy-branded store in Thurrock.[69] The company eventually opened 11 Best Buy stores in the United Kingdom, all of which were closed in early 2012. In November 2011, Best Buy purchased The Carphone Warehouse's share of Best Buy Mobile for $1.3 billion. Best Buy and The Carphone Warehouse maintained their Best Buy Europe joint venture, which at the time operated 2,500 mobile phone stores throughout Europe.[70]

Best Buy sells consumer electronics and a variety of related merchandise, including software, video games, music, mobile phones, digital cameras, car stereos, and video cameras, in addition to home appliances (washing machines, dryers, and refrigerators), in a noncommissioned sales environment.[2] Under the Geek Squad brand, Best Buy offers computer repair, warranty service, and accidental service plans.[2] Best Buy provides an online community forum for members, where consumers can discuss product experiences, ask questions, and get answers from other members or retail product experts.[86]

In the second quarter of 2007, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal ordered an investigation into the company's use of an in-store website alleged to have misled customers on item sales prices.[93] In December 2007, the Los Angeles Times reported on the same issue, in which some customers claimed they thought they were surfing the Internet version of bestbuy.com at an in-store kiosk only to learn that the site reflected in-store prices only. In response, company spokesperson Sue Busch indicated the in-store kiosks were not intended for price-match purposes and rather were a means to navigate in-store availability. Since the initial investigation, a banner was placed on the in-store site to make its customers more aware of the difference.[94] 041b061a72