Best Buy to Close Down All 250 of Its U.S. Mobile Phone Stores

By Edward Leano, Christian Post Contributor Friday, March 02, 2018

Best Buy is shutting down all of its small stores dedicated to selling mobile phones across the U.S., as the retail chain announced in a memo on Thursday, March 1. These 250 outlets, which measure a fraction of the usual Best Buy store, are almost always found in malls and solely cater to phone buyers.

They also reportedly add just a little over one percent to Best Buy's total revenue, according to Reuters, which perhaps make them an easy choice to do away with for the retail chain which is looking to cut costs to remain competitive in a market being taken over by online sellers.

The small-format stores, which typically measure a relatively tiny 1,400 square feet in floor space compared to the typical Best Buy branch measuring 40,000, are commonly located in malls with a handful found in some open-air store strips across the country, as CNBC notes.

All 250 of them will be closed down effective May 31, as Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly explained to employees in an internal letter.

The retail chain, commonly considered as the top consumer electronics seller in the U.S., will still be selling mobile phones and associated products and services in their bigger stores. Best Buy Canada and the 52 mobile stores in the country will not be affected by the decision, either.

"Fast forward to 2018 and the mobile phone business has matured, margins have compressed and the cost of operations in our mobile standalone stores is higher than in our big box stores," Joly noted in the letter.

The internal message also said that Best Buy will be relocating affected employees to other jobs within the company over the next three months if possible before the closure takes effect. For those who do leave Best Buy after the May 31 deadline, the retailer will be offering them severance and job search assistance as well.