Mat Povse, president of Best Buy Canada, bounds up multiple flights of stairs, leading a visitor to his office at his company’s headquarters, which still has that new-building feel.
Newly 50 years old, he is agile and does not want to waste time with the elevator.
Best Buy Canada moved into the site on West 6th Avenue near Cambie Street in 2022, after being based in Burnaby for decades.
It occupies the top five floors of the 10-storey building, or about 77,500 square feet, with Povse having an office on the top floor, far above reception.
Having an office that also includes a boardroom table that comfortably seats nine people also helps Povse reduce time spent moving around the structure.
Announced as Best Buy Canada’s new president in March, though he took over last year, he heads a company that employs about 10,000 people, although that number fluctuates with the season, he said.
About 30 per cent of those workers are in B.C., at distribution centres, the head office and at stores.
The Canada-wide staff count ranks the company as one of the largest Vancouver-based retail employers, behind estimated staff totals at companies such as Lululemon Athetica Inc. (39,000) and Save On Foods (22,000) but ahead of Aritzia (more than 8,300) and London Drugs (more than 9,000).
Unlike those other retailers, many consumers make what Povse called the “common mistake” of perceiving Best Buy Canada as merely a branch of an American company, given that it is a subsidiary of Minnesota-based Best Buy Co. Inc.
The reality is that because the company expanded to Canada in 2001 by spending $580 million in cash to buy Vancouver-based Hassan Khosrowshahi’s Future Shop, its Canadian operations have always functioned separately from those in the U.S.
“We don't share the same technology stack as the U.S. organization,” Povse said. “We're wholly run in Canada.”
Company presidents through the decades have had leeway to experiment with projects and put a distinctive Canadian stamp on operations.
“We have a tremendous amount of autonomy,” Povse said.
One example of Best Buy Canada using that autonomy is that it launched smaller-format stores long before the parent company decided to follow suit in the U.S.
Best Buy Canada also kept what it calls “mobile stores,” or ones that specialize in mobile technology and accessories despite those stores closing in the U.S.
“We kicked off a new shoes policy for our employees before they did,” Povse said. “‘You’re allowed to wear running shoes to work now.’ That sounds small, but it's profound,” he said.
Perhaps most significantly, Best Buy Canada launched what it calls Marketplace in 2014.
That initiative allows third-party sellers to market goods on Best Buy’s Canadian website. The company then executes sales transactions and ships the merchandise in exchange for a commission, which ranges in size. BIV asked Povse if it would be a single-digit percentage commission and he said, "you may be surprised."
The point of the program is to expand the product assortment on Best Buy Canada’s website without exacting the burden on the company to carry the products in its warehouses or stores. It also exposes its customers to brands that are not sold in its bricks-and-mortar stores.
Best Buy Canada’s website includes links that shoppers can follow to find products such as baby strollers, furniture and even hair dye – items that most consumers would not think to find at the electronics chain.
Vancouver’s Albert Tsui, who owns the electronics reseller Openbox, told BIV that he has been selling products on Best Buy Canada’s Marketplace since about 2016 and that he has found the sales channel to be a boon for sales.
Retailers sell him electronics merchandise that customers have returned, or store models of those products, such as televisions.
He then ensures the products are in working order and resells the products to the public at his own stores, online and on Best Buy Canada’s Marketplace.
“They have the reach,” he said of Best Buy Canada. “Their audience includes the potential customers we’re looking for.”
Success with the initiative prompted Best Buy Co. CEO Corie Barry to recently tell analysts that her company may launch Marketplace in the U.S. given that it “has some knowledge from Canada” about how to effectively operate the initiative.
Best Buy Canada returning to growth
After years of treading water, Best Buy Canada appears to be readying for a new phase of growth.
New stores are planned for what Povse said is a profitable company where the team is focused on innovation.
It is not impacted by Canadian retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. because most inventory comes from Asia or Mexico.
It has been a long path back from a serious business disruption that took place about a decade ago.
The company first opened Best Buy-branded stores across Canada in the early aught years while it kept Future Shop-branded locations.
That changed in 2015, when it set out to extinguish the Future Shop brand.
It suddenly closed 66 Future Shop stores and rebranded 66 others as Best Buy.
Revenue plunged thanks to the store closures and up to 1,000 layoffs.
Stores account for the largest slice of Best Buy Canada’s $4.6 billion in revenue, Povse said.
Outside of revenue from Marketplace commissions, stores account for about 68 per cent of revenue, with e-commerce accounting for the rest, he explained.
While revenue has been largely flat in each of the past few years, Povse said e-commerce sales have been increasing as a share of overall revenue by about half of one percentage point per year.
Best Buy Canada has 326 bricks-and-mortar stores including 51 in B.C. Of those, 122 are traditional big box locations. Other stores fall under different banners and have either smaller formats or specialize in selling mobile-related products.
Its number of stores jumped substantially last summer, when the company partnered with Bell Canada to take over what had been known as The Source chain of stores. It rebranded the chain as Best Buy Express, and the stores sell mobile services, cell phones and electronics.
Povse estimated that about 80 per cent of Canadians live within 20 kilometres of a Best Buy store.
“We're investing a lot of money – tens of millions of dollars – into our existing store structure,” Povse said. “We've got 30 renovations underway this year.”
He pointed to large retail chains such as Nordstrom and Target, which launched in Canada only to retreat, and the Hudson’s Bay Co., which is mired in creditor protection.
Canada can be a challenging place to be a successful retailer, and the message is clear: staying fresh and attractive is vital.
“In the next five years, we could open as many as 30 new stores, depending on the markets,” Povse said.
“We’re investing heavily in our infrastructure, from technology to supply chain, and have the most aggressive store upgrade plan in our history.”
Two new stores are set to open in the next year, he said.
While the company does not sponsor large-scale public events in Vancouver, it has a close relationship with BGC (Boys and Girls Clubs) South Coast BC as a preferred charity, Povse added.
Povse’s path to the top
Born in Vancouver, Povse has lived in B.C. most of his life.
His passion for retail started when he was 14 years old and working at Howard Wong Farms in Abbotsford, where he grew up.
“They were very particular,” he said. “The merchandising of apples had to be in pyramids, and you had to carry customers’ products out and show them good customer service. Operationally, they were very well run.”
His passion for technology came later.
He took a course at a community college to learn how to build computers and connect central processing units, video cards and other components with motherboards.
A teacher in the program hired him to help construct some computer stores, and then he worked in the stores helping customers customize their computer purchases, he said.
It was the 1990s, and interest in technology was high.
A job opened up at London Drugs and he worked up to be assistant manager of the computer department.
He joined Compaq to be a regional trainer, helping retail customers’ staff understand Compaq products.
He worked up to manage Compaq’s accounts for companies, such as London Drugs, before moving on to sales and account management jobs at Telus, XM Satellite Radio and LG.
Along the way he often worked with the Best Buy Canada account.
“His humility is what catches me,” said Ross Snow, LG’s former vice president of sales, who oversaw Povse during his time with that company.
“He's very humble. He's always looking for a win-win. He's a guy who listens. Even though he might be the boss he's still listening to learn and understand.
He's a very likable guy in that way.”
Snow told BIV that other Povse attributes include being loyal and taking pains to keep his word.
Povse briefly worked in Toronto for about nine months with LG, and his habit was to come home to B.C. on weekends to see his wife and children, who continued to live in Vancouver.
Snow said Povse once made it back to Toronto when he did not need to, during a bad snowstorm, to attend a Christmas party that he had promised to attend.
That crystallized how much he would go out of his way to keep promises.
His stint in Hogtown did not last long because Best Buy Canada offered Povse a job as vice president of merchandising, based in Vancouver.
He took the job in a heartbeat.
“It was a no-brainer for me,” he said. “Sure, it was convenient and was back in Vancouver, but making the move was also very much about my love for the company.”
