Best Buy has announced it will be closing all 250 of its mobile stores, commonly found in shopping malls. According to Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly, and quoting Fortune Magazine...
"The mall-based mobile stores, at 1,400 square-feet only 3% the size of a regular Best Buy, were opened a decade ago well before the smartphone boom ushered in by Apple’s iPhone and when margins were higher. But no more."
“Fast forward to 2018 and the mobile phone business has matured, margins have compressed and the cost of operations in our mobile standalone stores is higher than in our big box stores,” Joly said in the letter.
Best buy should be doing very well considering the demise of HHGregg and Radioshack for electronics and appliance sales and decline at Sears for Whirepool and electronic sales. Although many mobile carriers sell all the latest phones and plans, Best Buy having another set of stores to focus solely on mobile devices and services, doesn't make sense considering the exact same products and services can be found at the conventional Best Buy location. Having small format stores in the mall was the thought of being convenient to shoppers, well now the only convenience in retail is to purchase what you want online, so to remain competitive in today's market, this decision is definitely the right move for Best Buy.
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