By Jorge Antonio Vázquez Buendía
Apr 30, 2024, 06:00 AM EDT
In a recent corporate earnings report, Best Buy announced that it will close a significant number of stores this year and next, with the intention of facing the continuing challenges of the retail industry.
According to information from the retailer, it will end activities in 24 stores in the current fiscal year and plans to close between 10 and 15 in 2025.
“As a continuing practice, we will continue to close existing brick-and-mortar stores during our rigorous review of stores as their leases come up for renewal,” noted the company’s chief financial officer, Matt Bilunas. “In FY24, we closed 24 stores. And in FY25, we expect to close 10 to 15 stores.”
The retailer will close larger stores and establish smaller stores with vibrant designs in markets where it does not have a physical presence.
“First, we will open small locations in a couple of out-of-state markets where we had no prior physical presence and our omnichannel sales penetration is low to measure our ability to capture untapped share,” the report details.
He adds, “Second, we will test our ability to close a large format store and open a small format store nearby, thereby maximizing physical store retention through convenience.”
These learnings, Best Buy says, together will continue to help us refine the forward-thinking store strategy: “In addition to a great brick-and-mortar experience, we want to ensure our customers receive the expert service interactions they want and why Best Buy is known when they visit stores.
Best Buy, which operates more than 1,000 stores in the United States, did not detail the locations of the affected stores, but says the closures will help improve the customer experience.
The retailer is not the only company resorting to these painful measures, Macy’s also recently announced that it plans to close 150 stores in three years, and hundreds of Family Dollar stores are expected to do the same this year, along with several Walmart.
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