Electronics retailer Best Buy plans to open a second store in Kennesaw, but this one will be different than most of its stores. Labeled a "Best Buy Outlet," the new Best Buy store will open near the mainline store, but will carry only open box, returned and clearance merchandise. According to a Best Buy representative, shoppers can save up to 50 percent on outlet products, including clearance and open-box appliances, TVs, laptops, accessories and more.
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| Inside the Best Buy Outlet in Raleigh, NC |
The new Best Buy Outlet will open in place of the former hhgregg in Barrett Pavilion, just off Ernest Barrett Parkway, not far from Town Center at Cobb. The store is slated to open this coming Friday, March 15 at 11 AM. The Outlet will operate like Buckhead's The Dump, and will only be open on weekends. The store's hours will be 11 AM until 7 PM, Friday though Sunday.
The new Best Buy Outlet will be 30,000 square feet and will be located basically across the street from the 45,000 square foot full-line Best Buy in Barrett Place.
Best Buy continues to use its brick & mortar stores and knowledgeable in store staff to fend off increased competition from the likes of Amazon and others.
Best Buy currently operates eight standalone outlet stores throughout the country, including those in California (2), Illinois, Texas (2), Maryland, and North Carolina. Kennesaw will be the ninth, with a tenth coming soon to St. Louis, Missouri.
Returns, both in person and online, are a nagging issue for retailers and Best Buy's brick & mortar solution for liquidating such inventory internally is a shrewd move. Liquidating via auctions and third parties often nets retailers like Best Buy only pennies on the dollar; this way Best Buy is able to recoup a greater percent of the original retail price by cutting out the middle man.
In 2017, customers in the U.S. returned about $351 billion worth of items that they had purchased from brick-and-mortar retailers and online stores, according to estimates by the National Retail Federation.
A lot of that merchandise ended up at off-price retailers like Dirt Cheap, Bargain Hunt and other independent surplus liquidators.
Nordstrom operates a pair of "Last Chance" stores where merchandise that may be returned, defective, worn, used, or otherwise unsaleable in traditional Nordstrom or Nordstrom Rack stores is liquidated. There are two such stores open today, one in Phoenix, Arizona (where ToNeTo Atlanta has visited and found it hit or miss) and another in Lombard, Illinois, a suburb or Chicago.
Urban Outfitters also operates a similar store, Final Cut, where the company liquidates merchandise from its Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and at times, Free People, and BHLDN brands at significant discounts. The Philadelphia-based retailer operates just two Final Cut stores, and one is in Georgia! The two stores are in Augusta, (a mere 2.5 miles from Augusta National Golf Club) and in Englishtown, New Jersey.
Target merchandise is something we at ToNeTo Atlanta have often observed being sold often in Bargain Hunt. Can you imagine a Target outlet?
Will you check out the Best Buy Outlet in Kennesaw? Where do you buy most of your electronics? Have you noticed the improvements in training and knowledge at Best Buy?
Please share your thoughts below