Future Shop shutters Canadian stores, will re-brand as Best Buy
MARINA STRAUSS - RETAILING REPORTER
The Globe and Mail
Published Saturday, Mar. 28 2015, 9:46 AM EDT
Last updated Saturday, Mar. 28 2015, 11:10 AM EDT
U.S.-based electronics retail giant Best Buy Co. is closing its 131 Future Shop stores Saturday and will re-open 65 of them in a week under the Best Buy banner in a bid to improve business.
Best Buy joins other retailers that are feeling the pinch of more shoppers making purchases online and giant e-commerce rivals such as Amazon Inc. stealing business. The shift to cyber buying is particularly acute in the electronics and computer field.
The Future Shop store closings comes as U.S. discounter Target Corp. shuts all its 133 stores in Canada, while other failing retailers also are closing outlets, leaving a lot of retail space to fill in the coming months.
Best Buy said “a significant number” of its Future Shop and Best Buy stores are located near each other, often in the same parking lot, which resulted in overlaps and too much retail space.
After the Future Shop closures, the company will have a total of 192 stores across the country under the Best Buy name, including 136 large ones and 56 smaller Best Buy Mobile stores.
Ron Wilson, president of Best Buy Canada, said 80 per cent of customers are within a 15 minute drive to a store and “this won’t change. We will continue to have a strong store presence in all major markets in Canada.”
As a result of the consolidation, about 500 full-time and 1,000 part-time jobs will be lost, the company said. The affected employees will receive severance and help with outplacement support, it said.
Best Buy expects to post restructuring charges and non-restructuring impairments of between $250-million and $350-million, or 41 cents a share (U.S.) to 58 cents a share, it said. This includes $175-million (Canadian) to $225-million of cash charges, mostly tied to future rent obligations and severance, that will be paid over the next five years.
The company said it expects diluted earnings per share to be negatively affected in fiscal 2016 in the range of 10 cents (U.S.) to 20 cents a share, primarily because of a temporary increase in operational expenses related to the consolidation and store disruptions. But it doesn’t expect the negative earnings impact to continue into future years, it said.
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