Best Buy and Sears Layoffs

[flamesfan6]

Suddenly this morning it appears that BestBuy and Sears are having some troubles.

On Vancouver Island here all 3 best buys just suddenly closed, and some in the east have as well. 900 people have been laid off.

Sears also seems to have laid off 700 people today.

http://www.timescolonist.com/busines...obless-1.61033

With best buy staff found out when they went into work.


Could be a sign that both places are going to close more than that/go out of business.

[flamesfan6]

Best thing i've heard in a while

‎#BestBuy #Canada says today's closures is the first phase of a long-term transformational strategy to optimize the company’s retail footprint across the country

https://www.facebook.com/CTVbarrie/p...16514741761711

Best way to say: We are switching to online so we don't have to pay staff

[HOOT]

I never understood why they put a Best Buy right beside Futureshop at the new Uptown mall here in Victoria. Then just before that put one out in Langford 5 minutes away from another Futureshop. Didn't really seem like a great idea from the start, guess they found out the hard way.

[Daradon]

Same with Deerfoot meadows here in Calgary.

[Bmuzyka]

Originally Posted by Daradon

Same with Deerfoot meadows here in Calgary.

And Northland Mall. Who would put it side by side in the same damn mall?

[iggy_oi]

They are owned by the same company which is the most confusing part

[Sylvanfan]

There were some articals out recently that both of these retailers were likely to start scaling back this year. Bestbuy, was going to move towards being more of an online retailer as it's online traffic was still quite good despite sagging sales in it's retail stores. Sears has already started to sell off a lot of it's better real estate holdings, eventually it may try to sell off the Craftsman and Kenmore brands too.

Sucks for those being laid off...they'll have to get jobs at warehouses loading up packages for online shipping.

[flamesfan6]

Originally Posted by HOOT

I never understood why they put a Best Buy right beside Futureshop at the new Uptown mall here in Victoria. Then just before that put one out in Langford 5 minutes away from another Futureshop. Didn't really seem like a great idea from the start, guess they found out the hard way.

they've been doing that all the time, pretty much all Calgary locations have both, I'm amazed it took them that long to do that here in Victoria.

Such a crappy way to let your (former) employees know they lost their job.. let them come into work for their shift and then just be like well... you see... you're laid off

I believe they have the theory that a person will be like: I hate futureshop, ooh best buy, I'll go there.. and vise versa, I don't think a lot of people realize they are owned by the same company.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

They are owned by the same company which is the most confusing part

Heh, I think that was implied in our posts. Or at least, I know I knew that.

[Reaper]

They should just operate under one banner in Canada. Call it "Best Future" and eliminate duplicate stores within 2 km of each other. I'll take my cheque now, please.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Bmuzyka

And Northland Mall. Who would put it side by side in the same damn mall?

Sunridge as well. Not in the same mall, but probably as close as the ones in Deerfoot Meadows.

[blankall]

Retail is dead.

I understand the appeal of buying something in store and getting an expert's opinion. The problem is very few retail locations contain experts of any kind. Even small mom and pop stores usually just hire kids who don't give a crap or immigrants. Noone wants to take the time to man their own stores, when they can hire someone making minimum wage to do it.

On top of that you always have to hurdle the trap of commission based sales people selling you the wrong thing. I'd rather take my chances with online purchases.

We need to move away from the model of:
Producer --> wholesaler --> retailer --> customer

Instead it should be:

Producer --> customer

Warehouses where people have the ability to actually put their hands on goods could supplement the pruducer to customer model.

[HOOT]

My dad just bought a TV there too. What do you think happens to his extended warranty?

nm I see it's not all stores, just all in Victoria.

[flamesfan6]

Originally Posted by HOOT

My dad just bought a TV there too. What do you think happens to his extended warranty?

if lucky futureshop will take over it, i read some stuff that returns and gift cards will be able to be used at futureshop.

If not that, maybe it'll work through online still, or maybe just *poof*

[Hack&Lube]

Interesting that the Futureshop locations are staying. I have an odd feeling that they were more profitable and had more traffic than Best Buy.

Maybe it's just me but I have always gone to Futureshop first rather than Best Buy, perhaps it's because of historic familiarity.

-edit-

Read online that MacLeod Futureshop is also closing. That sucks, that's my closest one and I just shopped there recently. Oh well Deerfoot Meadows is like 5 minutes further.

[bc-chris]

the future shop in west kelowna announced this morning that it is now closed

a friend of mine works at the kelowna future shop and i asked him why best buy would open a location in the mall across the street from future shop. his answer sorta made sense for a smaller market like kelowna - the plan is to drive down prices, forcing smaller local stores to close, leaving future shop/best buy with a monopoly in kelowna in a couple of years

[ken0042]

I think the reason to place a Best Buy close to a FutureShop was to make the average consumer think they were comparison shopping.

Most of us here on CP are geeky enough to know how the inner working are, but I think the average consumer doesn't.

[KevanGuy]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Read online that MacLeod Futureshop is also closing. That sucks, that's my closest one and I just shopped there recently. Oh well Deerfoot Meadows is like 5 minutes further.

Wow, the one in the new strip mall there? I was just a 5 Guys the other day and commented to my gf how empty that mall still is and now it is losing its biggest tenant? Someone must be losing a fortune on that property!

[cDnStealth]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Interesting that the Futureshop locations are staying. I have an odd feeling that they were more profitable and had more traffic than Best Buy.

Maybe it's just me but I have always gone to Futureshop first rather than Best Buy, perhaps it's because of historic familiarity.

-edit-

Read online that MacLeod Futureshop is also closing. That sucks, that's my closest one and I just shopped there recently. Oh well Deerfoot Meadows is like 5 minutes further.

Haha what? That location just opened a couple years ago.

[JazzyFlame]

The reason they put two stores close together is to block competition from coming close by saturating the area, its a strategic approach.