The retailer on Thursday reported a $1.7 billion loss for its fourth quarter, which ended March 3. Along with the store closures, Best Buy also plans to eliminate about 400 jobs in its corporate and support areas. The goal, the company said in a statement, is to achieve $800 million in cost reductions by its fiscal year 2015.
So far, the only specifics the company has offered has been in a canned e-mail: On Thursday, March 29, we notified employees at five stores in the Twin Cities area, and one store in the San Antonio area, that their stores will close later this year as Connected Store remodels are completed in their markets.
The company plans to cut costs by $250 million in FY 2013 and by $800 million by FY 2015. "We are quite deliberate and thoughtful when we make such decisions," Best Buy spokeswoman Susan Busch Nehring said over email. "We are working to ensure the impact to our employees will be as minimal as possible, while serving all customers in a convenient and satisfying way. We will announce details about specific store locations and timing for closings once they are finalized."
As part of the company’s new strategy, Best Buy will remodel some of its big box stores with what it calls a “Connected Store” format. These stores will “focus on connections, services and multi-channel experience through a total transformation of both the store and the operating environment.”
Stay tuned. Consumer spending may be up, but consumer spending patterns are changing faster than anyone can make heads or tails of.