• 29% drop in Best Buy’s profits in the third quarter source

• » Too many deals? Best Buy, which has become shorthand for “company that throws all its chips in on Black Friday,” lost its bet on this year’s Black Friday, as its third-quarter results (which include the waffle-iron-rioting-day) showed major weaknesses, as discounts got people into the stores but failed to get them to actually work as loss-leaders. “They were more promotional and that doesn’t bode well for the holiday season, which is going to be very, very intense,” noted Barclays Capital analyst Alan Rifkin.

• Some individuals come into our store and they stop in their tracks. They don’t expect to see this. You can see them reminiscing as they start looking at the album covers.
• Best Buy sales representative Andre Sam • Describing the reaction many customers have to the fact that Best Buy actually sells vinyl records at some of its stores. And the vinyl isn’t old stuff, either – Lady Gaga, 50 Cent and Norah Jones are just some of the artists who make appearances in Best Buy’s bin. While vinyl only has 1% of the market cornered, it’s up 35% this year alone. source

• Wal-Mart, CVS, Best Buy and many more aren’t advertising with Beck. The Fox News host has a pretty serious issues with advertisers at the moment, weeks after calling Barack Obama a “racist” on his show, causing ColorOfChange.org to start a campaign against him. The list of advertisers is shrinking fast. No word on what the Sham-Wow guy plans to do yet. source

• $1699.99 the usual cost of a 52-inch Samsung HDTV at Best Buy source

• $99 for the Pre, but they say it was an error. Dang it source

• Best Buy is raising a lot of eyebrows (and getting a lot of retweets) with its latest job posting. Among other things, one of their “preferred qualifications” listed for a media marketing position is to have a minimum of 250 followers on Twitter. Wait a second…we can totally apply! Employee discount here we come! source

It’s a new department, so it’s kind of slow.

• It’s a new department, so it’s kind of slow.
• West L.A. Best Buy sales associate Jackie Martinez • on what it’s like being in charge of the store’s new electric vehicles department. In May the big-box retailer started selling electric bikes, scooters and Segways at 21 of its stores, and is moving up to electric motorcycles this month. The company is staying mum on when helicopters will be thrown into the mix.  • source

• From one big-box store to another. As you might remember, Circuit City collapsed pretty spectacularly earlier this year – perhaps the biggest non-financial entity to fall apart due to the credit crisis. But they did have their hands in the financial cookie jar a little bit with store credit cards. Rather than let the cards just die, Best Buy will accept them starting in May. Not good, not bad, just ambivalent. source