| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retailing |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Key people | Andrew Harrison, CEO Steve Jensen, MD Best Buy UK Jeff Severts, CMO Ian Kenyon, CFO |
| Products | Retailing-Electronics |
| Revenue | $45 billion USD (FY2009) |
| Employees | ~ 10,000 |
| Website | Best Buy |
Best Buy Europe is a retail joint venture owned by the United States-based electronics retailer Best Buy Inc and UK-based mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse. The company was formed by Best Buy's purchase of 50% of The Carphone Warehouse's retail division.[1] Best Buy branded superstores opened in the UK beginning in April 30, 2010 with a store in Thurrock, Essex, .[2]
Best Buy was due to open its first UK stores in 2009,[3] but postponed this until 2010, with plans for up to 200 stores eventually.[4] Carphone originally intended to open up to 200 Big Box stores in Europe by 2013, but this goal was reduced to 100.
On the 6 November 2011, Carphone Warehouse announced its intention to close the 11 Best Buy "big box" format stores.[5] The Best Buy Europe joint venture will not continue, with all 11 stores expecting to close on Saturday 14th January.
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Best Buy Co., Inc. is a Fortune 100 company and the largest specialty 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, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada the Best Buy Canada subsidiary operates most stores under the Future Shop label. 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, USA (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 U.S.
The Carphone Warehouse was co-founded in 1989, when most portable phones were too bulky to carry and called car phones, by current CEO Charles Dunstone (together with David Ross[8]) 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.[9]
The first Best Buy store in the UK opened at Junction Retail Park near Lakeside Shopping Centre in Thurrock, Essex on 30 April 2010.[10]
20 locations were originally planned for in the coming year, all to be in the big box format. The company is looking for a flagship store in Central London in a prominent area such as Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Street, or Regent Street.[11][12][13][14]
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 has 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 has been reported to be considering bidding for Comet Group.
The company are due to close all UK stores by the end Q1 2012, due to poor financial results. [15]
The first Best Buy store in Turkey was opened in 2009 in Izmir. Although this store was geographically proximate to Europe, organisationally it was part of Best Buy Inc's International division, and not controlled by Best Buy Europe Distributions Ltd.
In early 2011, Best Buy announced the closure of its Turkish operations.