Buh bye, Best Buy cell phone stores, margins were good while they lasted

Best Buy is gearing up to shutter all of its dedicated cell phone stores that it has dispersed in malls around the country way before the first iPhone was even introduced. The reason? Well, they now cost more to operate than the big-box Best Buy store, and the profit margins on smartphones aren't that great anymore either. For the middle man, that is, not their manufacturers, which have been raising prices to offset a demand decline, which in turn offsets the demand even more, but we digress. 

The sales from the 250 or so dedicated phone shops that Best Buy has around the ...