Best Buy Mobile Closing All Stores

     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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The Land Of Nod Closing

     The children's mystical fixtures and furniture division of Crate & Barrel is closing up shop, but not so fast. Crate & Barrel have closed nearly all of The Land Of Nod locations last year, but will consolidate the remaining locations and incorporate the theme within current Crate & Barrel locations, according to the Chicago Tribune.  The new Crate & Kids department in Crate & Barrel will sell a lot of the same merchandise, but most it will be available online. Locations in Chicago, Oak Brook, and an outlet in Naperville have closed already.

The Land of Nod was formerly based in Morton Grove, IL and Crate & Barrel is currently based in Northbrook, IL.

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The Bon-Ton Closing 42 Locations.

     Another department store chain is on the brink of extinction, as The Bon-Ton announced this week the closure of 42 stores and talks of filing for bankruptcy. Milwaukee-based Bon-Ton has been fiscally spiraling downward over the years, stock prices plummeting leading the various location closures. This week was the hit analysis' were expecting as 42 locations were announced would close by the spring. Mostly Carson's, Bon-Ton, and Younkers locations, as select Herberger's, Bergner's, and Elder-Beermans locations around the Midwest are also on the chopping block. This is part of a plan to turn around the company, and cutting unnecessary locations primarily located in "dead malls". The liquidation sales have started February 1st and are expected to last 10-12 weeks, leading to the closures by late April, possibly early May 2018.

     Here is the list of the locations announced this week, as well as recently announced locations that are scheduled to close earlier that April. I know The Bon-Ton chain very well, highlighted location are one's I have shopped at and have also been featured on Trip to the Mall. The Carson's store around Chicago that are closing are just clearance centers, and two regular stores are Chicago and Schaumburg. The other Carson's listed are located far from Chicago itself, like Dekalb and Danville.

Herberger’s	Pine Ridge Mall	Chubbuck	Idaho
Carson’s Clearance Center	Aurora Shopping Center	Aurora	Illinois
Carson’s	Riverside Plaza	Chicago	Illinois
Carson’s	Village Mall	Danville	Illinois
Carson’s	Northland Plaza	DeKalb	Illinois
Carson’s Clearance Center	Village Plaza	Morton Grove	Illinois
Bergner’s	Sheridan Village	Peoria	Illinois
Carson’s	Streets of Woodfield	Schaumburg	Illinois
Carson’s	Mounds Mall	Anderson	Indiana
Carson’s	Fair Oaks Mall	Columbus	Indiana
Carson’s	Concord Mall	Elkhart	Indiana
Carson’s	Circle Centre Mall	Indianapolis	Indiana
Carson’s	Five Points Mall	Marion	Indiana
Younkers	College Square Mall	Cedar Falls	Iowa
Younkers	Westdale Mall	Cedar Rapids	Iowa
Elder-Beerman	Kentucky Oaks Mall	Paducah	Kentucky
Elder-Beerman	Adrian Mall	Adrian	Michigan
Carson’s	Orchards Mall	Benton Harbor	Michigan
Herberger’s Clearance Center	Birch Run Station	Maplewood	Minnesota
Bon-Ton	Steeplegate Mall	Concord	New Hampshire
Bon-Ton	Phillipsburg Mall	Phillipsburg	New Jersey
Bon-Ton	Aviation Mall	Queensbury	New York
Bon-Ton	Salmon Run Mall	Watertown	New York
Elder-Beerman	Northtowne Mall	Defiance	Ohio
Bon-Ton	The Point at Carlisle Plaza	Carlisle	Pennsylvania
Bon-Ton	The Commons	Dubois	Pennsylvania
Bon-Ton	Millcreek Mall	Erie	Pennsylvania
Bon-Ton	The Johnstown Galleria	Johnstown	Pennsylvania
Bon-Ton	Susquehanna Valley Mall	Selinsgrove	Pennsylvania
Bon-Ton	Nittany Mall	State College	Pennsylvania
Bon-Ton	Stroud Mall	Stroudsburg	Pennsylvania
Bon-Ton	Trexler Mall	Trexlertown	Pennsylvania
Herberger’s	Cache Valley Mall	Logan	Utah
Younkers	Fox River Mall	Appleton	Wisconsin
Boston Store	Heritage Village	Beaver Dam	Wisconsin
Elder-Beerman	Eclipse Center	Beloit	Wisconsin
Younkers	Forrest Mall	Fond Du Lac	Wisconsin
Younkers	Lakeshore Edgewater Plaza	Manitowoc	Wisconsin
Younkers	Pine Tree Mall	Marinette	Wisconsin
Boston Store Clearance Center	5659 S. 27th Street	Milwaukee	Wisconsin
Younkers	Mariner Mall	Superior	Wisconsin
Younkers	Wausau Center Mall	Wausau	Wisconsin
Previously Announced
NAMEPLATE	MALL	CITY	STATE
Bon-Ton	Valley Mall	Hagerstown	Maryland
Younkers	Westwood Mall	Marquette	Michigan
Bon-Ton	St. Lawrence Centre	Massena	New York
Bon-Ton	University Mall	South Burlington	Vermont
Elder-Beerman	Grand Central Mall	Vienna	West Virginia

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