Best Buy Canada Closing 15 Stores, Cutting 800 Employees

Best Buy will close stores in the British Columbia, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta and Ontario markets, including eight Future Shop stores and seven Best Buy stores.

“The retail landscape continues to change and our success is dependent upon our ability to evolve along with it,” Mike Pratt, president of Best Buy Canada, said in a statement exclusively to the Financial Post, which has a complete list of the closings. “By taking a proactive approach in transforming our operations now, I have no doubt we will be in the best position to continue innovating our store experience for consumers and grow into the next decade.”

Best Buy spokesman Christopher Bennett says this is a result of consumers’ growing preference for smaller stores, such as the Future Shop, which The Globe and Mail says will be one-quarter the size of Best Buy’s big-box outlets.

“This is the first phase of a larger transformational strategy,” Mr. Bennett said. “There’s going to be much larger multichannel component” which includes online and mobile shopping.

“It’s really setting in motion proactively how we stay healthy and how we enable us to grow five years out,” Mr. Bennett said.

The closings are following a similar move by Best Buy stores in the U.S. In March 2012, the big-box retailer announced it was closing 50 stores and cutting $800 million in costs by fiscal 2015 after a $1.7 billion loss in its fiscal fourth quarter.

In the third quarter, Best Buy reported a 4 percent decline in comparable store sales in the U.S. and 5.2 percent internationally. Profits fell 68 percent to $160 million for the first three quarters.

Best Buy Canada Ltd. operates 139 Future Shop stores and 58 Best Buy Canada stores across the country.