Magnolia and Bestbuy

[Naves74]

I dont live in a big city and do not have the convience of being able to go to a highend audio/video store whenever I have a whim and it is more like whenever I am near one. But I went to Atlanta, GA this weekend and they have one of the new Magnolia hometheater stores in side Bestbuy and decided to check it out. Has anyone else been to one of these stores and what do you think?

They had some pretty nice equipement I thought (Definitive and Martinlogan) and other things. However, you still run into the same crap that you usually run into in a Bestbuy when you are trying to demo something.

ex.

I wanted to listen to the Definitive supercube 2 b/c I am thinking about buying one and that is all I really wanted to listen to and I ask the sales guy if I can listen to it and he says let me help these guys first and I will be with you. I said that was fine go ahead.

So these two guys come in one doest have a clue what is going on and he is the purchaser and he brought his friend the "Audio Expert" with him. So he is looking to buy some Boston Acoustic bookshelfs that are on close out price for next to nothing and wants to do 7.1 with them I guess because he wants 4 pairs. So them demo them and they didnt sound too great but they were priced to go and the "Audio Expert" starts claming that one of the bookshelfs is cracked and I couldnt hear it the guy working there couldnt hear it and so he says he will change CDs and see if it was just that song. And sure enough there was no "cracked speaker" and the guy keeps claming one of them is cracked and sounds bad. Finally the sales person breaks down and tells him look man these arent nice speakers and they are on close out for a reason dont expect them to sound like those martin logans or anything. So they listen to a couple more songs and the guy wanting to buy the speakers is listening to them from about 1 foot away with he ear almost on the speaker and they finnaly leave and I get to listen to the supercube after waiting for these guys.


I understand they can listen to whatever they want too but if you dont know anything why try to buy something in the suposed highend mognolia store. This is why they have highend stores so the average best buy buyer doesnt waist everyones time.

This was just my lowly 2 cents on the matter just wanted to know if anyone else has ever been to one of these stores.

 

[5.1 DTS guy]

I've been there, its a nice store but its pointless when theres good equipment next door at better prices. All I know is I hated the Good Guys. Whenever I walked in there, there was only like 2 people just standing around doing nothing, and noone ever asked if I needed help with anything. I guess they had it coming when they went out of buisness.

 

[T2T]

Have I visited a Magnolia store located within a Best Buy store? Yes. Would I buy anything from there? No.

I have plenty of local dealers that have been working in audio for longer than the Magnolia employees have been employed by BB. The local audio shops have done a much better job to impress me with their gear when I've visited them. Magnolia, on the other hand, is just a "cookie cutter" operation dreamed up by the folks at Best Buy. Additionally, from what I've read, the "true" Magnolia stores - or, rather the original Magnolia stores are truly a place to see and shop at.

 

[j_garcia]

Magnolia is great, but the ones that are now being added to the BB stores are not really up to their snuff; not really representative of the stores - it's just a way for BB to carry some nicer stuff than the mostly crap that they carry now. Not to mention, the sales people are basically the same as the rest of the BB employees AFAIK, where I found that the people in the stand alone Magnolia stores are fairly knowledgable. The stand alone stores, which I believe are all only on the west coast, are not bad.

 

[Naves74]

Yea the guy I was talking to was not a complete idiot but was nothing like the people I have met a dedicated audio stores. I guess it is just a lamo attempt from bestbuy to make the look like they "know" electronics.

Like the time I asked a sales person if they carried any SACD/DVDA 6 channel cables and he said yea and took me to the S-Video Cables.

 

[Hi Ho]

All I know is I hated the Good Guys. Whenever I walked in there, there was only like 2 people just standing around doing nothing, and noone ever asked if I needed help with anything. I guess they had it coming when they went out of buisness.

Haha, that's what I would like in a store! I get annoyed when people constantly ask me if I want help. I am usually just browsing or I know exactly what I want.

GoodGuys didn't really go out of business. CompUSA, their parent company, decided to consolidate GoodGuys with the CompUSA stores.

Magnolia has some nicer stuff than BestBuy and they let you demo more things (like headphones and projectors) in a more peaceful environment. I don't really care what any salesman has to say. Like I said, I have already done my research by the time I walk into a store and I can probably tell the salesman more than he can tell me.

If I want to demo something and they try to give me crap I won't take it. I usually end up hooking things up myself because the salespeople are often clueless.

 

[Zuke]

I work at Best buy (well for another week or so) and the mini mags are good but I still like to go to other mom/pop audio stores to listen and talk. Then I got to the BB mini mag and buy the stuff with the BB discount.

 

[The Chukker]

I have always been treated well at Magnolia A/V here in Seattle. In fact, I have recieved better service there than just about any other venue -- that includes airplanes and restaurants. Then again, I have spent an unholy amount of $ there too -- I expect to be treated like a rock star when I go in there; and they do not disappoint. However that being said, I was never railroaded into buying something I didn't need or want -- even my AQ bi-wires were something that I initially asked about rather than being "sold" on the idea.

 

[AudioSeer]

Magnolia doesn't let you demo at home - that's the kiss of death for me.

I would never buy high-end speakers without first testing them out at home.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I go into BB all the time and the two stores nearest me - both about 10 minutes - have mini-Mags in them. With my 2 year old son who has a ton of energy at 8:00 it works nicely and he can run around the store, but mostly he likes to go over and sit on the couch and climb around a bit in the mini-mag section. For those who hate people like me... - I don't let him get loud or into the middle of people trying to make a purchase.

Anyway - I have no reason to not buy from the mini-Mags but the reality is that as long as product is available online and can be demoed or I know that I want it, then I will purchase online and save 20% or a great deal more. On $2,000+ items it is really important to me to save that money. Got college to pay for someday.

 

[Zuke]

Magnolia doesn't let you demo at home - that's the kiss of death for me.

I would never buy high-end speakers without first testing them out at home.

The mini mags have a 30 day return policy...