The electronics retailer has decided to shut down all 250 of its American mobile shops.
Best Buy mobile stores will be shutting down as of May 31, said the electronics retail giant. The company plans to close down all the 250 locations in the United States.
This was not much of a shocking revelation to consumers who were used to seeing the tiny shops.
Many of the Best Buy mobile stores are located in shopping malls. For shoppers who saw them regularly, the news may sound as though it is somewhat overdue. Apparently, these shops comprise only about 1 percent of the company’s total revenue. Moreover, the stores also made up about 1 percent of the total square footage of its retail shops.
Thought he square footage and revenue did balance well with each other, the shops were extremely tiny. They were meant to provide an entirely different mobile commerce shopping experience from the more traditional stores.
Dozens of Best Buy mobile stores outside the United States will remain open for the moment.
For example, the retailer intends to keep 52 of its mobile commerce stores open in Canada. Furthermore, it will keep up the sales of mobile phones within its traditional retail store locations. Its website will also continue to sell mobile phones.
Reuters reported the receipt of an internal memo in which Best Buy stated its intentions to transition its mobile store employees to other positions within the company. It will be using its own internal job assistance to ensure each worker has been adequately placed.
For employees who would prefer to leave their positions ahead of the May 31 closing date for the mobile phone shops, a severance package will be issued and the company will offer external job searching support. At the time of the writing of this article, efforts to contact Best Buy for a statement regarding the closure and the number of people who will be affected by it have not received responses.
The Best Buy Mobile stores first launched more than ten years ago. These shops have survived longer than many people had expected.
