Best Buy Co. will stop using the Future Shop brand in its Canadian operation, closing 66 stores and renaming 65 others, the company said Saturday.
The step is the first in a makeover that involves about $200 million in spending to integrate its brick-and-mortar operation with its online and mobile offerings in Canada.
The immediate result is the elimination of about 500 full-time and 1,000 part-time jobs and the end of the Future Shop brand Best Buy bought when it entered Canada in 2001. The Richfield-based company acquired 88 Future Shop stores at that time and gradually built its presence to about 250 locations, with a mix of the Future Shop and Best Buy names.
As it expanded, some overlap started to occur. In a recent review, executives found 80 percent of Best Buy and Future Shop stores in Canada are within a 15-minute drive of another location owned by the company. Some share a parking lot in the same retail center.
Best Buy spokesman Jeff Shelman said that in today's multiplatform market, the company needs "a single brand we can invest in."
The company doesn't have a similar brand conflict in the United States, he said.
When complete, Best Buy will have 192 stores in Canada, compared to more than 1,400 in the U.S.
Evan Ramstad • 612-673-4241
