The closure of six Best Buy stores in B.C. came as no surprise to the commercial real estate community, which was given a heads up during a breakfast meeting last week in Vancouver
"Best Buy is Amazon's showroom," quipped Jarvis Rouillard, vice-president, investments with Triovest Realty Advisors inc., who was speaking on a NAIOP industrial panel. Rouillard and other panelists cautioned that the rise in e-commerce would threaten big-box, inventory-heavy consumer outlets. Rouillard envisioned a shopper trolling for a TV at Best Buy and then using his smart phone to order one, at less cost, online.
Best Buy has closed B.C. stores including in Surrey, New Westminster (Queensborough), Victoria, Nanaimo and Langford. The West Kelowna Future Shop store has also been closed. Two other locations were closed in the rest of Canada. The closures, which are permanent, are part of a move away from the big box store format to smaller retail operations and web sales portals. The closures will put 900 people out of work Canada-wide - about 5 per cent of the company's Canadian workforce.
The closures followed a poor 2012 performance by the company's American parent, Best Buy Co., Inc.
The company continues to operate more than 120 Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile locations and 140 Future Shop stores across the country.
Best Buy Canada is B.C. second largest private company. In 2011, Best Buy Canada employed 19,944 people, including 4,042 in B.C.
