It’s official – Best Buy as a brand is effectively retreating from Europe, closing all eleven of its UK stores.
Simultaneously, Best Buy is buying out Carphone Warehouse in its joint US mobile business for £838 million.
A statement today read: “A consultation on the closure of its Best Buy branded stores will start with all Best Buy team members. Best Buy Europe is confident it will be able to redeploy the large majority of those affected within other areas of its business. The intention is to complete the closure of these stores by the end of the calendar year.”
Best Buy Europe, the joint venture between Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy, was the launchpad for opening huge US style outlets in the UK and later Europe.
The business is now emphasising the Carphone Warehouse branded Wireless World stores, which are far smaller in scale.
Andrew Harrison, CEO of Best Buy Europe, said: “After conducting a thorough strategic review of our operations, we believe that our capital investment and ‘connectivity’ strategy should be prioritised within our Carphone Warehouse stores as they offer a higher and proven rate of return. The technology world has changed substantially since 2008 and we are confident we will best serve our customers by investing in a single brand and format rather than two.”
More background on the story can be found here.
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