Future Shop Closing

[TOareaFan]

All Future Shops closed as of this morning.

Some to be converted to Best Buy but most just closed outright.

 

[prosperegal]

You beat me. But wow. Wonder what will happen to that huge space at Dundas Square.

 

[TOareaFan]

This is the interesting thing to me....if each day of the week represents 14% of a week....I bet they do about 50% of their sales on Saturdays and Sundays....why they would shut down on a Saturday morning instead of waiting until Monday .....I don't know.

 

[Jonny5]

This is the interesting thing to me....if each day of the week represents 14% of a week....I bet they do about 50% of their sales on Saturdays and Sundays....why they would shut down on a Saturday morning instead of waiting until Monday .....I don't know.

This is probably a very slow time of the year for electronics/computer sales. They may not be profitable any day so no reason to open at all.
It could also be a cash crunch or a creditor action, depending on how the corporation is setup.

 

[gabe]

I have seen big box strip-malls that had both Target and Future Shop as it's main anchors, now with both gone this could really hurt the smaller retail chains. It's been a really really bad year for Canadian retail.

 

[TOareaFan]

I have seen big box strip-malls that had both Target and Future Shop as it's main anchors, now with both gone this could really hurt the smaller retail chains. It's been a really really bad year for Canadian retail.

Not sure how losing two massive competitors is bad for the smaller retail chains? Less competition for, both, space and customers seems good news to me.

 

[Edward Skira]

Big stores are usually the ones that draw to people to malls. They then shop at the smaller stores. Bye big tenant bye small stores.

 

[whatever]

It doesn't hurt smaller retailers selling the same products, but it does hurt smaller retailers that are in malls that were anchored by those two chains. Now there's much less of a draw for people to visit the mall.

 

[Bruno Republic]

In a press release, the company said it had reviewed its real estate footprint “to address the fact that a significant number of its Future Shop and Best Buy stores are located adjacent to each other, often in the same parking lot.”

It took them how many years to realize that might not have been a strategy for long-term success?

Okay, now that I'm done with the snark... this is yet another indicator that the era of the big-box electronics store, which I think peaked in the late 90s, is over. With physical media disappearing, and "gadget consolidation" eliminating much of the need for dedicated music players/laptops/desktops/cameras/game consoles, there's hardly anything left for these stores to sell except TVs.

On a local level, 10 Dundas lEast just became even more of a white elephant, with no anchor to draw people there at all anymore. I remember when it first opened how the growing demand for technology meant that electronics stores -- once small, niche market stores -- were now anchors for malls. Ironically, the big box electronics shop has gone from being champion of technology to a victim of technology: it's obsolete.

 

[TOareaFan]

Big stores are usually the ones that draw to people to malls. They then shop at the smaller stores. Bye big tenant bye small stores.

To some extent yes...but there is a large body of new thought/research that the the traditional role/importance of anchor tenants is fading/changing.

That said, to be fair, I get a bit tired of small retailers complaining that big retailers have so much buying power that they put the small guys out of business...then when a big retailer closes they bemoan the fact that they lose the drawing power of the big retailer to whatever location they are in.

 

[gabe]

Not sure how losing two massive competitors is bad for the smaller retail chains? Less competition for, both, space and customers seems good news to me.

No it's not good at all, because anchor tenants drive business to the smaller retailers. Usually, without the anchor store, customers will lack reason to go to the mall. Smaller retailers pay sky high rents to be in a Smart Centre with a Walmart, because there is lots of foot traffic coming out of Walmart and spilling into the smaller stores in the plaza. That's just the way it works.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

On a local level, 10 Dundas East just became even more of a white elephant, with no anchor to draw people there at all anymore. I remember when it first opened how the growing demand for technology meant that electronics stores -- once small, niche market stores -- were now anchors for malls. Ironically, the big box electronics shop has gone from being champion of technology to a victim of technology: it's obsolete.

It was an elephant - never a white one, even after the recent spate of renovations. Frankly though, they should have closed some of the co-located stores ages ago, but I suppose the pool of customers really didn't start diminishing until the last few years.

AoD

 

[MetroMan]

In a press release, the company said it had reviewed its real estate footprint “to address the fact that a significant number of its Future Shop and Best Buy stores are located adjacent to each other, often in the same parking lot.”

(...)

On a local level, 10 Dundas East just became even more of a white elephant, with no anchor to draw people there at all anymore.

10 Dundas East has been really busy as of late. It was a complete zoo when I was there last Friday and FutureShop had nothing to do with it. That said, I recall that the latest owners were considering consolidating properties and doing a land swap with Ryerson to start over with a city block sized retail podium and condos above. The problem was that both FutureShop and AMC signed very long leases when Metropolis was first developed.

I wonder if Best Buy is going to let go of this location and keep the Best Buy at the Ryerson Business School. If so, that would leave only Cineplex with a long lease. It's easier to negotiate when there's just one party. This could get interesting.

 

[narduch]

My guess is there was a good 10-year run where Best Buy/Future Shop were actually successful even when the stores were close together. But as its been mentioned above, other than TVs, there wasn't much left for these stores to sell.

It really is a bad time for retail in Canada. Part of that is the economy and part of that is the shift to online.

I don't think this ends here. Eventually Best Buy will probably be gone too. Or at the very least the stores will become smaller and they will push for online sales. Maybe the stores will be pick up depots.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Canada Computers & Electronics for me... until someone buys them out and closes their stores as well.

As for the number of stores to be closed, almost half of the Future Shops will be converted into Best Buy stores. See link.

Approximately 500 full-time and 1,000 part-time positions as 66 stores close and 65 are converted to Best Buys.