Best Buy Canada has announced that it will close 15 big-box stores and cut about 800 employees. The number is comprised of seven Best Buy and eight Future Shop stores. The electronics retailer is crying the Big Box Store Blues, saying consumers want smaller, more intimate retail experiences. And they might have added fuller and more immediate service. The firm operates under both the Best Buy and Future store brands. There is a Future Shop in the RioCan Leaside Centre at Eglinton Ave. E and Laird Drive and a Best Buy in the SmartCentre on Laird. A spokesperson said :“Right now, what were doing is re-sizing the retail footprint where it makes sense in certain markets and absolutely the plan is to grow a significant number of Future Shop small-store concept and the Best Buy mobile locations are going to continue growing as well.” The stores that are closing are B.C. Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta and Ontario. “It is fairly evenly spread out across Canada. In Ontario, three Future Shops will close. They are in Ancaster, Barrie South and Erin Mills.
