In recent years, Best Buy has taken to carving up some of its stores’ square footage and turning those areas into stores-within-a-store, including a slew of Samsung Experience Shops. Three years into the project, it seems the retailer is changing a few things up.
Best Buy will be closing about 160 of its Samsung mini-stores — which feature Samsung phones, tablets, and wearable tech — while at the same time expanding a further 250, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. When all is said and done, changes are coming to about a third of the company’s 1,400 or so mini-stores.
There will be staff cuts, but Best Buy hasn’t disclosed how many Samsung employees who worked in the mini-stores will lose their jobs. As part of these kinds of collaborations, vendors usually pay for the store fixtures and often pony up some of the cost of paying staffers who work in that area.
Best Buy would rather focus on the fact that its partnership with Samsung is growing, anyway.
“We’re always moving stuff around in our stores to make a better store experience, and this is part of that work,” a Best Buy spokeswoman told the Star-Tribune. “We have a great relationship with Samsung.”
There aren’t any other details about the mini-stores that will be expanding, but Samsung said its partnership with the big box retailer is “stronger than ever.”
“We are always evaluating the Samsung Experience Shop to optimize the experience and with Best Buy, we are simply reallocating some of our resources,” the company said in a statement.
Some of Best Buy’s Samsung mini-shops are closing, others expanding [The Minneapolis Star-Tribune]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist