Earlier today, Future Shop abruptly announced the closure of all Canadian stores, with employees being informed as they walked into work Saturday morning.
According to several sources, 65 out of the 131 Future Shop locations across Canada will “rapidly” be converted into Best Buy, while the remaining 66 will be vacated. For those who aren’t aware, Best Buy bought out the Future Shop chain in 2011 for $580 million.
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The individual fates of British Columbia’s 22 Future Shop stores have been confirmed. These 9 stores will permanently close down. In addition, the Best Buy CEO has revealed that 500 full-time and 1,000 part-time positions across Canada will be eliminated as a result of the consolidation. The affected employees will receive severance, employee assistance and outplacement support.
Currently, 80 per cent of our customers are within a 15 minute drive to a store and this won’t change,” said Ron Wilson, President and COO of Best Buy Canada. “We will continue to have a strong store presence in all major markets in Canada.”
The latest shutdown continues to expose the tough market retailers are facing which has also forced Target, Mexx, and many more into the same fate.
Best Buy will now have a total of 192 locations across Canada, including 136 large-format stores and 56 Best Buy Mobile stores.
Looking ahead, investments of up to $200 million dollars will be made in Best Buy stores and BestBuy.ca, to build a leading multi-channel customer experience. This multi-faceted strategy will include:
- launching major home appliances in all stores;
- working with our vendor partners to bring their products to life in a more compelling way
- increasing our staffing levels to better serve our customers
- investing in the online shopping experience, for example by expanding in-store pick-up areas for online customers and
- launching a ship-from-store program, making in-store inventory available to online customers across the country.
On behalf of Future Shop, Best Buy has confirmed they’ll continue to honour existing gift cards and warranties as well.
