BEST BUY has closed another location as customers scramble to get gifts for the holiday season.
The electronics retailer’s decision comes after several shutdowns over the past year.
Best Buy has closed a location this month ahead of holiday shopping[/caption]
The store had a 30-year history (stock image)[/caption]
Maryland residents near Gaithersburg, about 23 miles northwest of Washington DC, must get their favorite tech items elsewhere.
The Best Buy store at 15750 Shady Grove Road closed its doors for good on October 26, the MoCo Show reported.
It had been open for over 30 years.
A commercial real estate firm known as KNLB is now leasing the space.
It stands at 46,155 square feet and is listed by the firm on its website as a “rare box opportunity.”
Shoppers will instead have to travel to the remaining Best Buy stores open in nearby cities, including one in Rockville and another in Germantown.
The Germantown Best Buy should’ve just reopened after some remodeling efforts in September, per Patch.
Best Buy closed 24 stores in 2023, and things look similar for 2024 and even 2025.
CONTINUED TREND
This spring, Best Buy CEO Corie Barry confirmed 10 to 15 locations would shutter by December, per an earnings call.
Barry added that a similar amount was slated for 2025, making for a potential closure total of over 25 Best Buy stores by the end of next year.
That means around 50 Best Buy shutdowns nationwide within a three-year span.
The Maryland location has been added to a list of states with Best Buy shutdowns in 2024, per Fox affiliate WFXT.
That list includes California, Colorado, Ohio, Minnesota, Missouri, and Virginia.
The CEO said the closures were part of the tech retailer’s efforts to “strike a balance between its workforce and consumer interest.”
Reasons Behind Best Buy Closures
In a recent earnings call, Best Buy CEO & Director Corie Sue Barry noted various factors that contributed to the decision to close store doors:
- Change in consumer spending habits
- Lowering of product innovation during pandemic
- Inflation
- Supply chain-challenged years
- Stagnant housing market
- Macro pressures impacting overall retail
- Low level of product innovation
CONSUMER CHANGES
Several other contributing factors have been tied to the closures by Barry, including inflation rates, changes in consumer spending habits, and supply chain issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
Best Buy has about 1,053 remaining locations, according to its website.
In 2023, the retailer saw its sales revenue drop six percent, per Retail Dive.
Still, Best Buy continues to expand in Canada.
It confirmed the opening of 167 Express locations this summer in partnership with Bell Canada.
The smaller-format locations feature a “curated assortment of tech” and center around in-store pickup and online orders.
