Future Shop closure no surprise to analysts
Posted March 30, 2015 6:12 pm.
Last Updated March 31, 2015 4:36 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Customers may have been shocked to find the doors to Future Shops around the GTA closed on Saturday but retail analysts say it was just a matter of time.
“If you talk to most people in the industry, they wouldn’t be surprised,” analyst Bruce Winder said. “We’ve been waiting for this to happen.”
Winder said many people saw this eventual ending to the electronics store chain 14 years ago when it was bought out by Best Buy.
“Best Buy and Future Shop were really competing for business against each other,” he explained. “They had similar stores in the same market segment… they were really crowding the market.”
Winder said the shift to online shopping has forced many companies to take a hard look at their retail strategy and many of those who have been successful online have expanded globally.
“You’re seeing companies that have global sales, such as Walmart, Best Buy, excelling,” he said. “Really only the (Canadian stores) excelling are Loblaws, Canadian Tire.”
It also means the Canadian job market is taking a hit as many homegrown companies have been unable to compete.
“A lot of the folks who maybe weren’t the strongest players in retail who were Canadian have had to bow out or they were bought and consolidated,” said Winder.
The closure of Future Shop comes on the heels of retail giant Target closing all its stores across Canada, the closures of Zellers, as well as job cuts at Tim Horton’s and Sony.
Best Buy announced that 1,500 jobs would be cut with the closure of 66 Future Shop stores.
Sixty-five Future Shop stores across Canada will be closed for a week while they are converted to Best Buys.