Best Buy/ Circuit City: Tomato/ Tomoto?

I wrote here several times in 2008 and 2009 about the demise of Circuit City. One post I called, "What Does Best Buy Have That Circuit City Doesn't?" I wrote at the time:

"Among the mistakes Circuit City made, according to reporter Anita Hamilton:

• Circuit City failed to secure prime real estate. Its out-of-the-way locations are often just inconvenient enough to tempt customers to head to other retailers....

•  It stopped selling appliances.

•  It moved slowly into the games market.

•  It missed out on big promotions with thriving companies like Apple....

•  Circuit City neglected to improve its web presence, just as online retailers like Amazon.com were hitting their stride.

•  "They had been unable to move their inventory," Helen Bulwik of New Market Solutions, a retail consultant in Oakland, pointed out. That backlog left the company frozen, unable to buy fresh products and pay off their debts.

•  In March 2007, Circuit City announced plans to lay off its highest-paid hourly employees, largely the salespeople we rely on for product information, and replace them with cheaper workers. That same year, then CEO Philip Schoonover received $7 million in compensation."  (http://crisisexperts.blogspot.com/2008/11/what-does-best-buy-have-that-circuit.html)
 
Woe to those who don't learn from the mistakes of others. Best Buy may be following Circuit City into the gutter.
 
"Best Buy is on the same track that two former train wrecks were on, CompUSA and Circuit City. Today, Best Buy reported a fiscal fourth-quarter net loss of $1.7 billion and announced it is closing 50 stores. The basic pattern that CompUSA (closed brick-and-mortar stores in 2007) and Circuit City (closed stores in 2008) followed was: first select stores were closed, then more were closed, then all stores were shuttered or sold off. Is this Best Buy's fate?"  (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-57406595-64/is-best-buy-following-compusa-circuit-city-to-certain-doom/)
 
The aforementioned website sees similarities between defunct electronics retailers and the floundering Best Buy.

• Going-out-business-gradually-then-suddenly pattern.
• End of brick-and-mortar heyday and "hybrid" purchasing patterns.
• Customers gravitate very quickly to a more convenient shopping experience.
• Retailers like Wal-Mart and Target can devote shelf space to popular electronics items.
• Much of the floor space at Best Buy has been devoted to Android tablets, which have not been selling well.
• The Apple factor and the boutique store experience: Apple salespeople are generally more knowledgeable, the products themselves are generally higher quality, and the stores are more appealing, aesthetically and practically.

I love Best Buy. But then again, I make a couple purchases a year. I can see why the Big Bang Theory crowd would shy away from Best Buy, just as it did from Circuit City. If Best Buy doesn't learn from others' crises, it is doomed to repeat them.

And the same goes for you in your industry.