Future Shop Closing Canadian Stores, converting some to Best Buy locations

Future Shop stores across Canada are closing effective immediately, to the shock of customers and dismay of hundreds of employees losing full and part-time jobs.

Employees across the country got the news early Saturday morning as they showed up for their shifts. A former manager at a store in Calgary says they were completely blind sided.

We got here and it was business as usual,” David Guthoerl says. “There was no paper on the windows, there was no signage. Everyone got here and walked in and it was business as usual. We had a sales meeting at 7 o’clock this morning, and by about 7:10 we knew that Future Shop was pulling out of Canada and it was a complete shock.”

Sixty-six Future Shop stores will be closed for good, while 65 other locations will be re-opened as Best Buy stores. The conversion will take about a week.

Future Shop & Best Buy are consolidating as Best Buy. We look forward to serving you @ your nearest Best Buy & online http://t.co/86JgXfibOv

— Future Shop (@FutureShop) March 28, 2015

A message on the company’s app states to users that “Future Shop and Best Buy are consolidating under the Best Buy brand. That means, the products, services, and features you have come to expect from FutureShop.ca can be found at BestBuy.ca.”

According to a company spokesman, 500 full-time and 1,000 part-time jobs will be lost with the closures.

Future Shop was founded in 1982 and was purchased by Best Buy in 2001 for $580-million.

Agencies/Canadajournal