For Shoppers, Loss of Best Buy in Ellisville Still Sinking In

In a gesture that looked oddly elegiac, in Ellisville on Monday had a black cover atop the head of its road sign, along with black marks over its famous yellow tag, officially marking the end of the store, which closed this weekend.

Best Buy's , when company representatives said they planned 50 closures planned nationwide would save $300 million. Last month, the as among the store's slated to shut down. Company representatives said in an email that the Ellisville location would "be permanently closing the Ellisville Best Buy store on May 12, or when supplies run out, whichever is earlier."

Many casual consumers around Ellisville, however, did not learn about the closure until driving into the store's parking lot Monday, when they saw the oversized, yellow price tag sign covered up.

St. Louis University High School graduate Mike Phillips, 22, of Ellisville was visiting home from University of Pittsburg on Monday. Preparing for a summer road trip to San Francisco, Phillips said he and Nicola Segall, also 22, intended on purchasing a camera tripod and an electrical outlet converter for their car when they drove to the Ellisville store.

With the store closed, the two said they would most likely visit the location instead.

"We have to go to Barnes and Noble anyway," Phillips said. "There's down on Manchester, too. And it's really about the same distance at this point."