The story
Best Buy Co., Inc. is a Fortune 100 company, and the largest speciality retailer of consumer electronics in the United States and Canada, accounting for 21% of the market. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, and Pacific Sales; in Canada the Best Buy Canada subsidiary also operated under the Future Shop label until 2015.
Together, these operate more than 1,150 stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, China, Mexico and Turkey. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Richfield, Minnesota, United States (near Minneapolis). On June 26, 2007, Best Buy announced a 40% increase in its operations, with plans to operate more than 1,800 stores worldwide, including 1,400 Best Buy stores in the United States.
The Carphone Warehouse was co founded in 1989, when most portable phones were too bulky to carry and called car phones, by then CEO Charles Dunstone (together with David Ross) from £6,000 savings. The two companies first began working together in 2006, creating Best Buy Mobile stores in the United States and introducing Geek Squad in the United Kingdom.
The first Best Buy store in the United Kingdom opened at Junction Retail Park, near Lakeside Shopping Centre in Thurrock, Essex, on April 30, 2010.
Twenty locations were originally planned for in the coming year, all to be in the big box format. The company was looking for a flagship store in Central London by July 2008, in a prominent area such as Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Street, or Regent Street.
For fiscal year 2011, Best Buy UK saw full year losses nearly triple to £62.2m, equivalent to just over £10m for each of its stores trading during the period. Growth had been slower than some expected. Best Buy blamed the grim results on "impressive" investments in its new stores but it is "evaluating" the next step in its strategy. Best Buy had been reported to be considering bidding for Comet.
Best Buy closed all of its stores in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2012, due to poor financial results. The Best Buy–Carphone Warehouse partnership ended in June 2013, with Carphone buying back their 50% share from the American retailer.
Locations
Lakeside Shopping Centre, Thurrock
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Southampton, Hedge End Retail Park
Dudley, Merry Hill Shopping Centre
Aintree, Racecourse Retail Park
Croydon, Trafalgar Way Retail Park
Derby, Kingsway Retail Park
Hayes, Lombardy Retail Park
Cribbs Causeway, Bristol
Rotherham, Retail World Shopping Park
Enfield, Enfield Retail Park
Nottingham, Castle Marina Retail Park
From Wikipedia’s article on Best Buy Europe, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4