Don't Count the Mass Retailers out on IT Support Services

Wow - what an active week for support-related articles. Just when you count on Best Buy being able to fend off the Wal-Marts of the world by deploying a battalion of Geeks to customer homes, Wal-Mart is apparently not going to sit idle. TWICE Magazine reports that the retailer will open "Solution Stations" in 15 Dallas-area stores. The support services - which will be managed by Dell - will include HDTV and home theater installation, computer repair, wireless solutions and other support services to help customers “build out their digital lifestyle infrastructure at home.”

That sounds pretty compelling, but I hope that the Solution Station employees at Wal-Mart are easier to find than what yesterday's USA TODAY reported on a recent visit to a Virginia store:

"Three of the TVs are dark in Wal-Mart's electronics department, where the only two clerks in sight stock a shelf and disappear. "