Micro Center is heading downhill

I’ve always been a pretty big fan of Micro Center.  Their prices are decent, and their selection is excellent — especially for small parts that places like Best Buy would never carry.  However, they’re starting to have some issues, and it’s getting worse every time.

It started a few months back.  I went in there to purchase a video camera for a non-profit that I help out, and it went fairly smooth.  The only change was that instead of walking up to a register and paying, you now have to walk down a low row of crap (50 feet?), make a u-turn at the end, walk halfway back, then “wait for the next available checkout”.  They’re pushing the impulse items pretty hard.  I used to really enjoy their fast checkout.  All in all, though, it wasn’t a bad visit.

When my mother-in-law was in town a few weeks later, she said she wanted to get a new video camera.  I knew that Micro Center still had the good deal, so we went there.  It took forever to get some help, and then the dude pushed and pushed (and pushed) for the extended warranty.  We were going to politely decline, but we nearly had to tell him to STFU so we could just buy the thing.  Then they gave her the whole “50 questions” when she was checking out.  We finally told them to let it go, and just let us buy the camera.

The next visit may end up having been my last.  Our church needed a video camera, so I went back for another one.  I walked in with a credit card in my hand and walked directly to the camera I wanted — and it took me over 30 minutes to get out!

Between waiting to find a salesperson, waiting for them to find the camera, then waiting in line for the check-out, it wasted a lot of time.  I should have been their dream customer that day — walk in and pick up a $500 camera, ready to buy.  Uggg.

I hope they’re making a lot of money by cutting staff and pushing the impulse items, because sales are going nowhere but down.