Thursday, March 29, 2012

Layoffs 2012: Best Buy

Death Of Best Buy's Big Box Store? Company Will Shift To New Model, Close 50 Existing Stores

Forbes reports that Best Buy will shift toward mobile sales and smaller stores in an effort to boost sagging revenue and compete with rivals like Amazon and Wal-Mart. Best Buy’s signature big box stores will be dialed back, and 50 will close in 2012, the company said this morning.

The world’s largest consumer-electronics retailer will test the new store models in San Antonio, Texas and St. Paul, Minneapolis. The renovation would reduce store square footage by 20%, and should be finished by next Christmas. Those new so-called “Connected Stores” will focus on selling cell phones, tablet computers and e-readers, as well as service plans not offered by Amazon and Wal-Mart. Best Buy employees in these new stores are expected to show customers how to connect electronics in the home.

Meanwhile, Best Buy will open another 100 smaller mobile-only stores in fiscal 2013. By 2016, the retailer expects to operate some 600 to 800 mobile-only stores, up from 305 today…

More? Go to http://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2012/03/29/death-of-best-buys-big-box-store-company-will-shift-to-new-model-close-50-existing-stores/

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