My Thoughts on How Best Buy Can Rise From The Ashes

This is a post I've been meaning to write for some time now.  Actually, I had the idea for this article two weeks ago, prior to hearing just today that Best Buy's CEO has stepped down.  I've seen articles that have trashed the retailer, and I've seen very few articles that defend the retailer.

My thought is that even with Amazon.com being the "Big Box" killer of brick and mortar stores, we still need a Best Buy.  Heck, we still needed a Circuit City, even with Best Buy still around.  Why?  Because competition spells better prices for consumers.  If there is a dwindling competition, there's no other retailers around to keep prices in check.

It's easy to be an armchair quarterback in times like these, however, I've given much thought to how Best Buy can actually achieve relevance again, and actually compete with online retailers like Amazon and WalMart.com.  Care to read more?

A Great Customer Service Experience

Just ran into a Home Depot to grab a set of allen wrenches to take apart our bed frame to make way for a new bedroom set.

The nicest guy helped me find what I needed quickly and with an enthusiasm that is quite rare.

He also shared a story about his younger years in construction and a grumpy old boss he had and how he used a special method to keep his tools from getting lost or stolen.

It was a great experience, and as someone who isn't very handy around the house, I was really glad he helped me and made me feel like a million bucks.

Isn't that how it should always be? Did you have a similar experience today? Please share in the comments below.

Have an awesome Saturday!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

My family and I wish you all the best and for a happy and joyous Holiday season. I'm thankful for you, and please continue to feel right at home at HelpfulAdvisor as I continue to bring you articles you will want to read and tell others about.

Happy Holidays!

-Jay
Your HelpfulAdvisor

A Note of Encouragement

For just a moment, I'd like to talk to any new or inexperienced computer users out there.  Even though this blog is for varying levels of expertise, I'd like to have a heart to heart chat with just the novices, or those that don't think they know very much about computers.  And if you are an experienced computer user, maybe by reading this, you can pass along some of what I'm about to share over to your friends who may not know as much as you.

Setting Up Instant Collaboration Quickly and Easily: Final Recap

As I've reviewed each of the tools that you can use to set up quick and easy collaboration with your family, project team, or small business; let's recap how everything fits and works together to give you a complete solution for absolutely no money out of your pocket.

Automatic Blog Posting Issue Is Resolved

I'm going to interrupt my normally scheduled posting of articles to keep you up to date on an issue that happened earlier this week where automatic posting of this blog's articles to my Google Group stopped working suddenly.

This was preventing the group's members from automatically receiving new blog posts in their inbox. Read further as I explain how I found the issue, and what I did to resolve it, and how you can benefit from the answer.

Setting Up Instant Collaboration Quickly and Easily: Google Groups

In this article, I highlight the final tool in my series on how to set up instant collaboration quickly and easily, I'm going to save the best for last: Google Groups.  This one is a hidden gem that many of you probably don't know about but should.  Let's find out why this is probably one of the most powerful, yet easiest to use tools in your collaboration arsenal.