Best Buy will close 250 of its small store stores, which are mostly located in malls and focus on selling mobile devices.
“The mobile phone business has matured, margins have compressed and the cost of operations in our mobile standalone stores is higher than in our big box stores,” said Best Buy in a memo seen by Reuters.
The bulk of the stores will be closed by May 31. Best Buy noted that the stores, often just 1,400 square feet, contributed only 1% to its overall revenue. The typical Best Buy store is about 40,000 square feet. The move doesn’t impact Best Buy stores in Canada.
Best Buy said it will do what it can to help its mobile-focused employees migrate to other positions at its larger stores.
Best Buy’s 1,000 big box stores will continue to sell wireless goods and services.
