Best Buy Closing 50 Stores

[Family Ties Forever!]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/best-b...120457157.html

Best Buy Implodes: Misses Revenue, Firing 400, Closing 50 Stores

By Eric Platt | Business Insider – 8 hours ago

Electronics retailer Best Buy announced it would close 50 big box locations in the U.S. as it refocuses its operations around mobile. The company said it will launch 100 new mobile locations as it retools its domestic store format. The announcement was timed with the company's fourth quarter report, where it sharply beat analyst expectations on the bottom line. Over the final quarter of 2011, revenue grew three percent to $16.6 billion while earnings per share hit $2.47.

However, analysts polled by Bloomberg had forecast top line results of $17.15 billion, some $500 million more than the company reported. The quarter also benefitted from an extra week in the company's fiscal calendar — excluding the week would mean revenue actually fell 1.1 percent. Shares were down 6 percent in the first minutes of trading.

The company saw same-store sales decline 2.3 percent during the period, highlighting its difficulties as the U.S. economy gained steam during the first few months of 2012. Best Buy saw weakness across the board, with sales suffering in gaming, notebooks, digital imaging and televisions. Best Buy has rapidly been trying to turn its operations around as it has seen peers CompUSA and Circuit City fail. Consumers have been using its locations as a testing ground for products before making final purchases at competitors like Amazon and Walmart.

Acknowledging the change, Best Buy Chief Executive Brian Dunn said the company would vastly alter its strategy from its long time big box format to boost returns. "These changes will also help lower our overall cost structure," Dunn said. "We intend to invest some of these cost savings into offering new and improved customer experiences and competitive prices — which will help drive revenue. And, over time, we expect some of the savings will fall to the bottom line."

Best Buy is targeting more than $800 million in cost savings by 2015, largely expected through layoffs and the aforementioned store closings. The targets are roughly split between corporate, retail and declines in costs of goods sold. The company will layoff 400 employees within its management and support channels. The company is betting its future largely on mobile and the commission it is paid by wireless carriers to activate services . By 2016 it hopes to have as many as 800 mobile-only locations, up from 305 today.

In November, the Richfield, Minnesota, based company bought out Carphone Warehouse's stake in it's U.S. cellular operations for $1.3 billion and said it would close its U.K. big-box locations to focus on smaller mobile outlets. Early results from the unit have been promising. Comparable store sales improved 20 percent within Best Buy's mobile division during the fourth quarter while connections revenue increased 13 percent.

[duckie]

I hope they dont close the Best Buy down from me, thats where I get alot of my sitcoms on dvd at cheap prices.

[Zoneboy]

Best Buy

[MrCleveland]

The Steelyard Best Buy is Closing?!

Guess I'll have to go to The Brooklyn Store for their business....

[Family Ties Forever!]

Are Best Buy and Circuit City very similiar stores?

[PZelda]

Oh wow - the BB in Lakeville, MN is closing? Bummer.

No ND closings on that list - phew.

[MickeyMac]

I feel sorry for those who will be now out of work, but frankly Best Buy hasnt impressed me much in the last several years for me to shop there. Also when they opened they put a lot of local stores and shopes out of business.

[yankeesrj12]

I used to love Best Buy, but I cant stand the store anymore! The prices are through the roof and the employees are way too overbearing. When I walk into a store, I don't need to you to hunt me down every ten seconds.

[robyrob]

our local Best Buy is closing - its the one right across the street from the still-empty Circuit City that closed a few years ago.

oh, and their "Geek Squad" is no longer employing "geeks" - they are basically salesmen that run an antivirus scan and then a software analysis program that recommends what to upgrade you to and how to bill you as much as possible.

[IllinoisTVFan]

They are closing a BB about 10 miles or less north of me and that particular store has been a cesspool for years. The staff are rude (got into a screaming match with the idiot manager there when they refused to give me a rebate for a product supposed to have one), and don't know very much about the products. I also got ripped off when I took my computer to the Geek Squad and they charged me for services I never wanted nor asked for. I also once applied for a job at the Geek Squad as well as the electronics department and they called me for a part time cashier job but called a male friend for the Geek Squad (I declined). I used to stop in there on the way to a former job I had and it was so slow too. They built a new one about 10 miles south and I prefer that one so I go there.

I just used a gift certificate I got for Christmas to buy two CDs I wanted and also to use it up.

[Tubehead]

i hatebest buy i only buy if they put cd dvdor blu ray on sale every time i went loook for a cd they had it listed on their website then when igo in and get it they don't got it ijust gave up on them. pluse their dvds arr way to high. i don't likethem any more some cdsaer almost 20 bucks their . i wound't care if ours closed i brealy go igo to macakys used book store the best place in town

[KurtfromPitts]

Hope they don't close any of the stores in my area.