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Best Buy Tyler

January 8th, 2010

With the closing of Circuit City Tyler finds itself with only one major retail electronics store. Best Buy in Tyler is located on South Broadway behind Ryan’s Steakhouse. The store is generally neat and clean and has great customer service. If you’re looking for a more expensive product, particularly on the order of a new computer or Television, you should be able to find some fairly good sales. It’s the smaller items on which you’ll find some rather unreasonable mark ups. Any kind of cords, power supplies, or other accessories are far too expensive. I have often found myself turning to other sources like e-bay and have saved hundreds on brand new items.

The movie selection is pretty good. I can usually find what I’m looking for provided it’s not too obscure. Although I must confess, based on my last couple of visits, the movie selection seems to have shrunk some. That could be a reflection of a lack of quality product lately. If what you’re looking for isn’t there, I would suggest a visit to Barnes and Noble instead.

As a generally intelligent adult I find a trip through the music aisle an embarrassing experience. I’m not sure whether I should be ashamed by my own lack of knowledge about the current music trends, or whether the musicians themselves are the ones who should be ashamed, both of their own product as well as the way they appear on the labels. Maybe I’m just getting older, and more like my father, but I suspect it’s the latter. These days I prefer the anonymity of iTunes or Amazon when making my music purchases. Not that my tastes are that bad per say, I just find it awkward to explain my purchases, something I feel the inexplicable desire to do. It’s kind of similar to answering the infamous question, “What’s that book about anyway?”

I do enjoy the gaming section although I no longer have the time I once had to invest in that pursuit. By far the best part of the store for me is the computer section. I find it so satisfying to browse the aisles for things I’d love to have but can’t afford. Ok so that’s a bit cynical. I can actually afford a computer every couple of years or else I wouldn’t be typing this, but I digress.

Bottom line is that Best Buy in Tyler is a pretty good store if you like the retail giants. While I seldom go there just to hang out, I do enjoy browsing a little. Larger items are priced fairly low if you take into account the various rebates available, but when it comes to smaller items you’re probably better off trying a few other sources first. To view their website, go to www.bestbuy.com.

Holiday Reading

December 17th, 2009

Well, Christmas is upon us again and we’re all busy rushing around looking for those perfect gifts for the people in our lives. As someone who grew up in a family of teachers, books have always been a huge part of our holiday giving. For our family a welcome part of the holiday experience has always been taking the time to sit down crack open some new reading. I’ve written fairly extensively about Tyler’s area bookstores, but given the season I thought it might be advantageous to our readers to quickly revisit some of our better establishments for those looking for some seasonal literature.

Barnes and Noble

B & N in Tyler always has some great deals for Christmas. If you’re looking for the latest best sellers you can’t do much better the retail giant. They usually offer about a twenty or thirty percent discount on whatever happens to be hot at the time. They also have a huge selection of calendars, cards and other gifty items. Another advantage of shopping there is the café. The Starbucks franchise sells everything any coffee addict might want, from travel mugs to bags of coffee beans. The one disadvantage (if it bothers you), are the crowds. As with most retail stores; the Barnes and Noble does a large percentage of its business at this time of year. If you don’t mind the rush however, this is always a great place to check out.

Fireside Books

For those looking for literature on the more unique side I would suggest Checking out Fireside Books at 110 East Houston. This is a locally owned bookseller specializing in used and rare books. The store is not as trendy or seasonal as B & N, but for those on our Christmas lists who value those more obscure or hard to find titles this is good place to check out.

Pea Picker Books

I my opinion Pea Picker is not a store for those bigger gifts. The business carries largely paperback books of varying quality and is probably not the place for nicer purchases. If you’re looking for stocking stuffers or more last minute items you may have some success, but don’t expect to find too many gems.

Lifeway Christian Stores

Lifeway is another good seasonal store (not unlike B & N actually) with a Christian theme. The store carries the latest Christian literature, music and gifts. They also sell mugs and coffee. The new location is a beautiful store, and will undoubtedly be a busy place in Tyler this Christmas.

The Scroll

I must confess that the Scroll is one of my area Favs. It is a Christian bookstore with a wide variety of literature. They carry all kinds of music, gifts, mugs and other items with a religious theme. The staff is there to offer any assistance the customer may require. This area business has been a staple in Tyler for a lot of years so expect a busy store.

There are a few other Booksellers in town but these are probably the best ones to visit for the holiday shopping. For those who require a more detailed description of the stores listed above, visit the Tyler Blog section of this site and look for the following titles: A large bookseller with local appeal, Still think there are no are no old bookstores in Tyler, The Scroll Christian Bookstore in Tyler, Pea Picker Books in Tyler, and The New Lifeway in Tyler.