[xm1994]

I hope you're right and they find better revenue models. I would hate for all these "showrooms" we have to go extinct. Could the day come where you pay an entrance fee to browse the latest gadgets at your nearest BestBuy "showroom"?

[ghaff]

I doubt if they'll go extinct. As others have noted, they're already getting various coop marketing and placement dollars from manufacturers. And the fact is that they make a lot better margin on accessories and largely bogus warranties than on the big electronics purchases in any case. Add impulse purchases like games and it's hard to see them all going away although they'll doubtless continue to evolve.

Apple notwithstanding, it's generally way too expensive for manufacturers to setup their own showrooms. So they pretty much need some sort of shared space.

(On the other hand, just because it's in individual manufacturers' interests to have a widespread Best Buy sort of store, doesn't guarantee that they'll continue to exist.)

[swalkergibson]

True enough, Best Buy will probably not go extinct. However, this type of thing is so unbelievably damaging to mom-and-pop retail operations who do not have the buying power/leverage with manufacturers that a giant like Best Buy has. If I owned a mom-and-pop place like my parents, I would immediately investigate how I could jam cell signal in my shop. There is no way in hell I would let a customer in to just try some jeans on, watch them scan the price tag, and walk out the door with five extra bucks from Amazon without buying my product.