Over the years as buying habits have changed, this has affected the way certain businesses are run. For example while it used to be a pretty popular thing, VHS rental stores are a pretty rare sight in this day of digital media. This is why it also doesn’t come as a surprise that dedicated mobile phone stores are starting to close.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal (paywall; via AppleInsider), it seems that Best Buy will be shuttering their satellite stores that are dedicated to mobile phone sales. This is because it seems that more customers are going to carrier stores and also stores like Apple to buy their phones directly.
Given that sometimes carrier stores have the same phones on display as mobile stores like Best Buy, there is no need to go to Best Buy if they can go to the carrier straight. It has also been suggested that perhaps sluggish smartphone sales could have contributed to Best Buy’s decision.
In an internal letter sent to employees, Best Buy chief executive Hubert Joly wrote, “We began to open them more than a decade ago, before the iPhone was even launched. Fast forward to 2018 and the mobile-phone business has matured, margins have compressed and the cost of operations in our Mobile stand-alone stores is higher than in our Big Box stores.” The closure of these stores are expected to close this coming May.
Filed in . Read more about Best Buy.