Apparently the United Kingdom has no interest in buying incredibly cheap CDs, DVDs, video games, and other electronics, as Best Buy has announced (via a report on Billboard) that it will be closing all 11 of its UK stores by the end of the year, even though none of the stores had even been open for more than two years.
Best Buy began its European Expansion in 2008 when it partnered with Carphone Warehouse (a UK cellphone company) to form Best Buy Europe and opened its first British store in 2010 in Thurrock, Essex. Best Buy is projecting to lose as much as $144 - $160 million in store closure and operating losses and is anticipating nearly 1,000 layoffs.
“The eleven Best Buy U.K. ‘Big Box’ stores have performed exceptionally at the level of customer satisfaction, but they do not have the national reach to achieve scale and brand economies,” said Carphone Warehouse CEO Roger Taylor before returning to his giant carphone-filled warehouse-home.
However, Best Buy, who doesn’t like to lose money, has also announced that they will be buying full control of Best Buy Mobile (from Carphone Warehouse) for $1.3 billion so that they can “focus on emerging mobile phone markets” and continue to make plenty of money off UK citizens, even if they refuse to go into the physical stores.
• Best Buy: http://www.bestbuy.co.uk
