Best Buy and Sears Layoffs

[RedMileDJ]

Just found out that my mother was one of the 700, at Sears, that lost her job.

She was with them for over 5 years at the warehouse on 52nd street.

Says she's not surprised. They gave her a package and all. Paid until the end of February, with all her benefits.

I won't be shopping at Sears anymore. Not like they had any customer service or selection anyways.

[jroc]

Originally Posted by 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

That one thing. The story I've been told (as a former employee) is that the average shopper will make 1.8 stops before making a purchase. With 2 places so close together, a lot of people don't know that it's the same company, then it doesn't matter whether they buy at FS or BB... the money all goes in the same pocket.

[Locke]

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.

WTF? Isnt that store less than a year old?

[RedMileDJ]

So besides Macleod Trail Future Shop, which other stores in Calgary got shut down?

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Locke

WTF? Isnt that store less than a year old?

Yeah, it's basically brand new. It just moved into that new strip mall from the old location.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

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

I'm the opposite because Best Buy wasn't on commission so the sales people were usually FAR easier to work with.

Originally Posted by JazzyFlame

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

Competition from all the other electronics big box stores in Canada?

Heh, re: Macleod FS:

1. Close store.
2. Tear down store.
2. Wait.
3. Rebuild store.
4. Close store.
5. ???
6. Profit!

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Yeah, it's basically brand new. It just moved into that new strip mall from the old location.

I wouldn't say that it "moved." The old location closed and then a couple of years later the new one opened.

Also- do you have a link to where you heard about it closing?

[KevanGuy]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I wouldn't say that it "moved." The old location closed and then a couple of years later the new one opened.

Also- do you have a link to where you heard about it closing?

http://www.1310news.com/2013/01/31/8...cross-country/

[Yellefan]

Originally Posted by Red-Mile-DJ

So besides Macleod Trail Future Shop, which other stores in Calgary got shut down?

That's the only one in Alberta that was closed.

List is here: http://business.financialpost.com/20...f-900-workers/

[getbak]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I wouldn't say that it "moved." The old location closed and then a couple of years later the new one opened.

Also- do you have a link to where you heard about it closing?

It moved. The old location was where the new Co-op gas station is. The new location is where Woodridge Ford used to be, 3 blocks south.

[TheGrimm]

I assume the next phase of the masterplan should include consolidating the branding... It's rediculous to have two nearly identical retail chains like this. Seems a good way to bleed money and I am surprised they didn't do it sooner.

[photon]

Originally Posted by getbak

It moved. The old location was where the new Co-op gas station is. The new location is where Woodridge Ford used to be, 3 blocks south.

There was a long (like years) gap between the old location being closed and torn down and the new one opening was the point he was making.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by photon

There was a long (like years) gap between the old location being closed and torn down and the new one opening was the point he was making.

Ah, yes, if that was the point. It is correct.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by 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.

Yes for some, no for others.

Grocery is here to stay as is some clothing retail - people still want to pick out which Veggies they buy / meat they select and they still want to try on clothes.

But yeah, Electronics / computers will eventually move to being almost exclusively online.

I laughed when "Sony Style" stores were opened. I hope the executive who made that decision is long fired. What a disaster those stores are. I would be shocked if they generated any meaningful sales.

[Table 5]

I'm more than happy to buy most of my stuff online......the only problem is that shipping in Canada is really expensive (and usually slow), especially since most of the great/cheap stuff is in the US.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by JazzyFlame

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

I hope the people that came out with that strategic approach are out of a job. Didn't seem to work to well if they are closing down 3 stores just in Victoria that opened probably less than 2 years.

[Canada 02]

15 stores, 900 jobs

http://business.financialpost.com/20...f-900-workers/

[Hack&Lube]

I don't agree with the notion that retail is dead.

After a decade of buying almost exclusively online for everything and hunting for the best prices for < $2500 items, I've recently started shopping at retail almost exclusively instead out of convenience, getting the item right away, price matching with online, and liberal return policies.

The biggest problem and missing factor with online shopping is the hassle of returns and exchanges.

Certainly, for a vast array of items (smaller electronics, entertainment media, disposable goods, etc.) you are almost always better off online, but other more expensive items, complicated items, big ticket items, there needs to be a retail space.

Also, as has already been mentioned, shipping and availability is atrocious in Canada. Many good deals are U.S. only. When Canada improves in that arena, retail would be in even more trouble.

[polak]

We don't have the population density for online shopping to work for regular purchases and because of this online shopping in Canada will need decades to fully replace Brick and Morter stores.

Sure online is great when you're buying something that is "one-off" and you think you're getting a deal, but when it comes to things you buy everyday, it will never happen.

It works else where though. For example, in the UK, Tesco ships custom groceries to your door. The thing is, there are double the people in a much smaller area there and this makes a delivery service like that feasable.

[Bertuzzied]

Time to bring back Krazy Krazy and their krazy calgary sun ads!