[BRIEF NOTE] On the demise of Future Shop
Mar. 28th, 2015 04:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldI was going to go to the Future Shop location at Yonge and Dundas today to pick up my newly-repaired laptop. After I woke up this morning, I checked Facebook to discover that the entire chain had closed down. The Toronto Star's Francine Kopun has a nice article outlining the case for the chain's closing-down.
In the particular case of the Future Shop at Yonge and Dundas, there is a Best Buy location a couple hundred metres away in the Eaton Centre. I wasn't very surprised, then, to see as I approached the Future Shop's doors earlier this afternoon a sign noting that this particular location was going to be closed down permanently.
In the case of me and my laptop, I was assured in person by the manager who came out after I knocked on the door, and again on Twitter after I posted my account, that I should be able to pick up my laptop in a week's time, once everything gets shifted over. I'll hold them to that.
Why, I wonder, was it impossible for Best Buy to give advance warning that this might happen?
The Future Shop banner in Canada was shut down for good this morning as U.S. based owner Best Buy Co. consolidates the stores under the Best Buy banner, eliminating 500 full-time and 1,000 part-time positions.
In all 131 Future Shop stores were closed Saturday — 66 of them permanently. Another 65 will be closed for a week, reopening under the Best Buy banner.
“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.”
Best Buy spokesman Elliott Chun said Best Buy will invest upwards of $200 million over the next two years, “to provide an improved single-brand customer experience, both in-store and online.”
Chun pointed out that many Future Shop and Best Buy stores are located next to each other — sometimes across the same parking lot.
“Best Buy stores have larger formats, which allows us to invest in appliances and in-store experiences,” Chun added.
In the particular case of the Future Shop at Yonge and Dundas, there is a Best Buy location a couple hundred metres away in the Eaton Centre. I wasn't very surprised, then, to see as I approached the Future Shop's doors earlier this afternoon a sign noting that this particular location was going to be closed down permanently.
In the case of me and my laptop, I was assured in person by the manager who came out after I knocked on the door, and again on Twitter after I posted my account, that I should be able to pick up my laptop in a week's time, once everything gets shifted over. I'll hold them to that.
Why, I wonder, was it impossible for Best Buy to give advance warning that this might happen?
