Best Buy Europe

Best Buy Europe Distributions Ltd. was a retail joint venture owned by the United States based electronics retailer Best Buy Inc and United Kingdom based mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse. The company was formed by Best Buy's purchase of 50% of The Carphone Warehouse's retail division in May 2008.[1] Best Buy branded superstores opened in the United Kingdom beginning on April 30, 2010, with a store in Thurrock, Essex.[2]

For the defunct chain of catalog showrooms, see Best Products.
Best Buy Europe Distributions Ltd.
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryRetailing
Electronics
Founded2006 (2006)
DefunctJanuary 14, 2012 (2012-01-14)
HeadquartersLondon, England
Key people
Andrew Harrison (CEO)
Steve Jensen (Managing Director)
Jeff Severts (CMO)
Ian Kenyon (CFO)
Richard Clark (Head of Online)
WebsiteArchive of bestbuy.co.uk

Best Buy was due to open its first stores in the United Kingdom in 2009, but in March 2009, the firm postponed this until 2010, with plans for up to two hundred stores eventually.[3][4] Carphone originally intended to open up to two hundred Big Box stores in Europe by 2013, but this goal was reduced to one hundred.

On 6 November 2011, Carphone Warehouse announced its intention to close the eleven Best Buy "big box" format stores.[5] On 14 January 2012, the Best Buy Europe joint venture was discontinued, with all eleven stores and the transactional website (www.bestbuy.co.uk) closing on that day.

Best Buy is sometimes called the "big blue box" because of the prominent design on Best Buy stores. This store is located in Westfield Merry Hill, West Midlands, UK.

History

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.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8][9]

Stores

The first Best Buy store in the United Kingdom opened at Junction Retail Park, near Lakeside Shopping Centre in Thurrock, Essex on 30 April 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.[10][11][12]

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. The company blamed the grim results on "impressive" investments in its new stores but it is "evaluating" the next step in its strategy. The company had been reported to be considering bidding for Comet Group.

The company closed all of its stores in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2012, due to poor financial results.[13] The Best Buy/Carphone Warehouse partnership ended in June 2013, with Carphone buying back their 50% share from the American retailer.

Locations

References
  1. "Carphone in £1.1bn US partnership". BBC. 2008-05-08. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
  2. Paul Antoniadis (29 March 2010). "An update on our first stores plus a new store to open". Best Buy Europe. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  3. "Best Buy postpones UK launch". Retail Week. 2009-03-04. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
  4. "Best Buy bolsters UK team with ex-Kingfisher man Kevin Styles". Retail Week. 2009-08-07. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
  5. Potter, Mark (7 November 2011). "Best Buy bags U.S. mobile venture, axes UK chain". Reuters. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  6. Boyle, Matthew. "Best Buy's Giant Gamble." CNN. March 29, 2006. Retrieved on November 28, 2006.
  7. Chris Serres "Adaptation is key for Best Buy Archived February 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine" Star Tribune. February 08, 2007. Retrieved on February 16, 2007.
  8. "David Ross appointed to board of the National Portrait Gallery". 10 Downing Street. 17 February 2006. Archived from the original on 6 October 2007. Retrieved 2006-11-02.
  9. Best Buy - About Best Buy - International Growth Archived May 1, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Best Buy
  10. Amy-Mae Elliott (2008-07-21). "UK Best Buy store locations revealed". pocket-lint.co.uk.
  11. Ben Furfie (2008-07-21). "First Best Buy stores unveiled". PCRetail. Archived from the original on 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2019-11-03.
  12. Caroline W (2009-09-24). "Best Buy Store Opening Hedge End Spring 2010". Hedge End People. Archived from the original on 2012-09-11.
  13. "Carphone Warehouse to close all 11 Best Buy shops". bbc.co.uk/news/. 2011-11-07.
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