Best Buy UK experiment comes to an end

Carphone Warehouse has announced that it is to close its 11 Best Buy electrical stores across the UK, just 19 months after the US retailer opened its first store here.

In a statement issued on November 7th, the company noted that it is now looking to focus its growth strategy around selling more electronics via its Carphone Warehouse stores. The move puts 1,100 jobs at risk, but the firm hopes to find the large majority alternative work in other areas of the organisation.

Best Buy’s UK stores – which were a joint venture between Best Buy Co Inc in the US and Carphone Warehouse in the UK – have not been profitable, and the move comes as no great surprise to those tracking its financial performance since it first opened its doors here in April 2010.