Best Buy has postponed the launch of its UK division until the first quarter of 2010.
The joint venture with Carphone Warehouse was due to open its first store in the south east of England this summer, but speaking to the FT, Best Buy UK’s chief executive Rodger Taylor revealed the launch has been put back till next year.
Stressing that the move was ‘unrelated’ to the financial difficulties of its US operations, Taylor said: "If it makes more commercial sense to open three or four months later, that is what we will do.
"Because of the economic climate [it is] more sensible to wait for better sites; the quality of the sites is getting better, but also the economics," added Taylor. "So, rather than rushing in just to pin a timetable, in the scheme of a five-to-ten-year plan, I would rather wait to have four to five stores in great locations in a cluster."