Best Buy Future Shop: All Stores Closed Across Canada, Some Stores Re-Opening as Best Buys All Stores Closed, Some Re-Opening as Best Buys
get this dealThe Canadian retail landscape is changing once more, as Future Shop closes it’s doors effective immediately. It was announced on March 28 that all Future Shop locations across Canada will be closed permanently and are consolidating with Best Buy, it’s parent company under the Best Buy brand.
In order to strengthen its position in a competitive consumer electronics market, the company said 66 Future Shop stores will be closed for good. Meanwhile, 65 stores will be temporally closed for about a week while they are converted into Best Buy stores. All part of a plan to consolidate the stores and websites under one name. We suspect the Future Shop stores that will not be rebranded are the ones currently located adjacent to a Best Buy.
Best Buy president & CEO Ron Wilson was quoted in a press release that “80 per cent of our customers are within a 15 minute drive to a store and this won’t change.” In all, some 1500 jobs are now gone. This includes 500 full-time and 1000 part-time employees. The statement adds affected employees will receive severance, employee assistance and outplacement support.
This is brutal year and blow for Canadian retail. However in moving forward, Best Buy Canada says it will be investing up to $200 million into what it calls a multi-channel customer experience to boost it’s stores and online presence. An example of what we can expect is a new ship-from-store program, making in-store inventory available to online shoppers. This means customers can order items directly from their local retail store and have it delivered.
All Future Shop orders and warranties will be transferred over to Best Buy, who will also accept Future Shop returns and exchanges. If you have an open FutureShop.ca order, you can track your online order by following this link. For anyone with gift cards, they will be honoured online at BestBuy.ca and at all their retail store fronts. Click here for more details and FAQs.
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View allnow I know what I hated bb and always drove extra to go to a fs.
Working in Retail is not for everyone...and not everyone will enjoy this kind of environment. It's very stressful.
You have some commission based sales rep making 40k-50k per year (some more). That is not a huge amount but it is much more than working part-time making little over minimum wage. Even part-time sales reps were making much more than minimum wage with commission.
BB let everyone go and rehired new staff so they no longer had to maintain raises that had been earned. If former FS staff wanted a job they could apply and start fresh at a lower rate of pay.
I have to tell you, I saved hundreds...probably even thousands...in total from 10% differences and Price Matching between both these stores.
That's why I feel really sad about it.
What I said stands true and non hypocritical. You can work somewhere and love the money and hours, but hate what you do. The point of the post was geared towards the motivational aspect that if you are open to relocation, work hard at applying to various jobs every single day from morning to night, you will eventually land a good government job with a good salary and good hours - zero connections needed! The poster insinuated that you need connections and networking to get a good government job, so I countered his claim with a personal motivational story. Sometimes it takes that one story you read online or hear in person to push you into making better decisions for yourself, you know what I'm saying? A comfort zone is your worst enemy.
A good reply I took from the career thread you linked was to look at your job as a tool to finance your hobbies and interest. Do your 9-5, get out and then your day begins.
Absolutely, but on the other hand, when I worked in retail/call centers in the past, the majority of the people I worked with had:
- Worthless degrees (sociology, psychology, etc.) and blamed the world for not being hired in a desired field (send a resume out in-city one a month and then complain there's no work when no one calls you;
- Decent degrees refused to move outside of the city even though there was plenty of work in bigger cities (stuck in a comfort zone);
- Poor financial decisions: financed high-end vehicles, high-end clothing, restaurants multiple times per day - basically stuck in an endless cycle of debt which creates financial dependency in your current field (even though pay may be poor);
- "Next year I'll go to school", which they claimed every single year because they enjoyed the people they worked with and comfort with the job - flash forward to 5 or even 10 years and they're still saying "next year" with no savings or retirement;
These are the most popular issues - the majority of people in low level positions sabotage themselves and always blame everyone else but themselves for the problems surrounding them. I know because I used to be one of those guys.
You know what I did after the layoff? It woke me up. I packed up my bags with very little savings (only enough for first/last and 2 months of food), moved to the big city (Ottawa) and applied my butt off. Mind you, I didn't know a soul and had zero connections. Because of my dedicated applying skills on Indeed and other job websites, I was interviewed for work several times a week. I got up every morning at 7:30 AM and did not stop applying until 5:00 PM. There is a TON of work here in Ottawa by the way.
Anyways, I am now working for immigration and have excellent hours, good pay and commute is decent. I have a bachelor's of psychology, totally unrelated to what I currently do.
The point of my story is that YOU CAN get that government job or any job you want for that matter. You have to TRY and be DEDICATED every single day like I was. Again, I had ZERO connections.
I am infinitely happy that I was laid-off because I was living pay-cheque to pay-cheque and fit the description I listed above. Being laid-off is the best thing that happened to me. It made me wake up.
Most people want to work for the Goverment, the problem is finding a job and getting it....that is a very hard task to accomplish unless you have the right "connections", but you know that already and so does everyone else.
No job. No income. No more shopping at BB.
I think BB want to go bust.
Having a sales target is not an easy thing ...even if you get commission as an incentive...it puts a lot of pressure on the person and it doesn't mean that you will excel at it.
It makes no sense...I know that Futureshop CSRs worked on a sales commission basis but from all the ones I spoke to over the years, they would have preferred the non-commmisioned CSR roles from Best Buy stores.
So, that is not a reason to fire them...at least give them a choice to continue or not...but don't just let them go.
I hate corporate strategies like this....they don't think of the harm they could have done laying off someone who now has no job and no income.
When my company closed down years ago and relocated, they laid everyone off - even those that were willing to move or drive to the new location in order to maintain their job. Most of the team was making double the starting minimum wage, so this way, the employer saves at rehiring for $11/hr again. I took EI and praise to God, I now have a much better job. Things happen for a reason - when it may seem like you have lost something of great value, stay strong because a better road awaits you further in life (it's a positive way of thinking, anyways).
It's a disgusting situation to be in - betrayal at its finest. This is why the employees should reflect/learn from this situation and make every effort to go to college/university. Unfortunately situations like these happen far too often in the private sector (especially retail/call centers/fast food especially) - if you want something bullet-proof safe, then college/university followed by a government job is the best option. Even if it's an undesirable job, it doesn't matter - do your 20-25 years and you are set for life in terms of financial security.
Commission is the main reason they did this IMO, they're gambling at they can keep the same output with regular staff. Futureshop's numbers have always beaten Best Buy's in Canada. It'll be interesting to see how long they stay open, I'd be betting on 3 years.
I said that I was surprised that they let everyone go, and he said that they were all on commission.
I also wonder how many were laid off and then re-hired without commissions.
Did you ask them if they had just started or if they had been transferred from a nearby Best Buy? Often in circumstances such as these I would think they would transfer BB people over for the transition.
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I'm stunned that they were able to hire that many brand-new staff and have them start so quickly. I know that hiring takes time, and it's been only a week since FS was closed. They must have been hiring and interviewing for the last couple of months, at least.
RIP!
That said, I would probably have made a purchase at Amazon today, but they just raised the prices on the items in my cart. Oh well, money saved. It's not like we actually need to buy the items these stores sell. I think my old tech addiction is officially broken. Resistance IS possible.
Smooches. I'd have left this cesspool decades ago if a green card were available. Guess MBAs just can't get a break, eh chuckles?
Thanks for the tips everyone. Enjoy being taxed to death and supporting a non-competitive marketplace.
Like paying more....shop domestically.
'All right, please pull into the side there for secondary inspection. What's this? Products brand new? Tags still on this clothing? New TV and appliances? New laptop and tablet? OK, we are siezing your products and vehicle. Please pay the cashier 150% of their actual value if you want to get them back.'
'Oh and don't forget we will be doing secondary inspection on you every time you enter in the future, so don't even think about bringing back a half a pack of gum undeclared. Oh, and we have made notes of the seizure and shared them with US customs and border patrol, so expect the same treatment from them every time you try to enter the USA with a greatly increased roulette chance of being denied entry for any reason. And you can forget about timely border crossings in the future, allow 1-3 hours for us to nitpick you for your previous criminal activity. And forget about speedy customs when flying in the future, bank on getting to the airport 3-4 hours early from now on.'
Stupidity like that will catch up with you eventually, and it will cost you.
Plus you will have the chance of all of us laughing at your dumb ass on an episode of Border Patrol.
And nexus approval down the road, yeah good luck with that.
Yes, there would be a void but I have found that these voids get filled relatively quickly. Within a couple of years, someone would seize the market opportunity and structure themselves so that they can compete in today's environment. These days, particularly with the online options available to consumers, the disruption would not be as severe as it might have been 5 years ago.
It seems that Best Buy isn't doing very well overall but, at least, they are doing what they believe they need to do to put their house in order.
I would love to see them just more percentage points to income tax brackets and remove the sales taxes all together. That would go a long way to cut down incentive to shop abroad and also expenses for businesses.