Best Buy is pulling out of the UK

BIG BOX ELECTRONICS RETAILER Best Buy will close its stores in the UK.

The firm has only been in the UK for under two years, but that period has coincided with poor financial circumstances in the country. Its suburban locations also meant that it was rarely mentioned during the UK riots, unlike its more well known high street competitors.

The INQUIRER went to the opening of its flagship store in Essex in April 2010, and found it to be nice, but perhaps other punters did not think the same. According to a statement, the US parent company will buy out its local partner, Carphone Warehouse, and has cancelled plans to move into Europe.

So far the partnership has failed to return a profit, and although there were plans to open stores up and down the country these have been axed. It's likely that Best Buy's UK stores, which have out of town locations, also suffered from competition from online stores with lower prices and lower overheads.

"Due to the lack of visibility of an acceptable rate of return on historical and future potential investment we have decided against rolling out more 'Big Box' stores and we will be closing our existing stores, subject to consultation with our employees," said Roger Taylor, CEO of Carphone Warehouse. "Our immediate focus is our people and we are confident that the large majority will be offered alternative positions elsewhere in our UK business."

Best Buy opened 11 stores, and had plans for around 200. Around 1,100 people are expected to lose their jobs. µ