Best Buy (Richfield, Minn.) is closing all of its smaller-format mobile phone stores, which amount to almost 250 stores. These stores, which are each about 1400 square feet in size and mostly located within malls, will close by the end of May.
The company anticipates that shoppers will transition to another of its sales channels, particularly since about 85 percent of the mobile stores are located within three miles from a standalone Best Buy.
Chief executive officer Hubert Joly said that the decision to close these stores is due, in part, to a decrease in the profitability of running stores that solely sell mobile devices. For instance, Best Buy’s mobile stores only provide about 1 percent of its overall sales, according to CNBC.
"The decision to exit this part of our business was made in keeping with our principle of continuous optimization," Joly said.