by Matt Marquardt –
MASON CITY – As Best Buy Co., Inc. announced Thursday steep cuts in its stores and employees, the future of the Mason City store remains unclear.
The company has seen a major decline in sales at its U.S. stores. To cut costs, the company says it will close 50 big box stores and 400 positions at its corporate headquarters in Richfield, MN.
Best Buy did not name which 50 stores would be closed.
A call to the Mason City store manager Alex Crippin did not reveal much. “I can’t comment on any of that,” he said.
When asked how his store is performing, Crippin said “We’re here to serve the people of Mason City.”
The total layoffs due to the store closings were not announced, but it could be a high number. A typical store has about 100 employees.
A voice message left with the Best Buy media department was answered with the following email:
“We are taking the necessary steps this next year to evolve our total retail store strategy, and make it even easier for customers to shop with Best Buy and access our services. To achieve this, one of our first steps will be the closing of 50 U.S. Best Buy stores to fuel growth initiatives that will include Connected Stores that provide better service and product interactivity. We are deliberate and thoughtful when we make such decisions; we are working to ensure the impact of these 50 store closures on the affected employees will be as minimal as possible, while serving all of our customers in a convenient and satisfying way. On Thursday, March 29, we notified employees at five stores in the Twin Cities area, and one store in the San Antonio area, that their stores will close later this year as Connected Store remodels are completed in their markets. We recognize the impact this news has on the people who deserve respect for the contributions they have made to our business, and for customers who shop these stores today. We will be working to help the employees affected by these closings to find other positions inside Best Buy. If they don’t find new positions, or if they choose not to work at a different location, a transition including severance packages will be available once the stores close later this year. We will announce details about additional, specific store locations and timing for closings as they are finalized.”
16 thoughts on “Future of Mason City Best Buy store unclear”
Best Buy entered too many small rural markets like MC. Rural markets are the bullzeye for these closing. And, like I said back in 1999, this will be the first of many big box stores that will litter Indianhead. Too bad the esteem Globe-Gazette Editorial Board and Mayor Sch… Sch… Sch…ickel weren’t listening then! Oh yea, this is economic development? NOT!
good close it! it a worthless store anyway!
No actual news here. Please move along.
So that is why over 850 news outlets, some of the biggest organizations in the world reported it eh? Not news? Really?
850 real news outlets, of which this article completely plagiarizes content from. All it does is speculate on an unknowable thing. It’s the same kind of pandering and weaseling that this site is critical of.
Careful with your accusations. I purchase my content from McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT). It is very expensive. Nice try, though.
I personally took the time to read what others have published. Not everyone picked up the AP or Tribune versions. WSJ, Strib, Bloomberg, FT, DowJones, and quite a few others wrote their own articles. They were hardly based upon speculation, but interviews with those who made the decisions.
Guest is plain wrong. NIT is the best thing to happen to North Iowa in many years.
Guest obviously feels threatened by this news site and it’s policy of openness.
Get with it Guest, the future is bright. Obama will soon be GONE!!!!
HOOORAY.
Not a fan of Best Buy. I went in there after Christmas only to be waited on by a girl chomping on her gun and cracking it and twirling her hair. I asked to have someone else help me and reported her to the manager.
Oops, I mispelled they’re, sorry.
Geezo Peets, don’t you just hate it when people blog here and complain about the site. Really, if I didn’t like the site, I’d go somewhere else and complain. Oh, another thing, whats up with the people that have to comment on spelling and grammer, who really cares if you get the point of what ther’re trying to say. If thats all that bothered me, I’d be in trouble with life. There really must be a lot of top notch professional journalists that read this site.
I agree why would you go to a site and complain about its content unless you were worried about the truth getting out to the general public. If people like the “guest” dislike this site so much why do they keep coming back and commenting.
Matt–Alex is not the Store manager. He runs the computer department. You talked to the wrong individual.
I am not suprised that Best Buy is struggling. I have found the customer service in their Mason City store severely lacking. Several years ago I walked in with the cash to buy a new laptop. I couldn’t get anyone to advise me regarding my purchase. I ended up buying online. I went back 6 months later for a printer. I was assisted but when I had a question he couldn’t answer, the associate went to ask his boss and never came back. I purchased a printer online. I have gotten pretty good service in their cell phone department except one incident earlier this year. Service in other Best Buy stores has been much better and I’ve been in several in other areas of the country. I’ve heard from a lot of people that Best Buy is where they go to test technology but the almost always end up purchasing online. I think this is a business model that is going by the wayside. Too bad for Mason City.
FUD mongering. Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt. How about reporting facts? Oh yeah, I forgot what web site I’m reading. FUD rules the day.
So it’s ok for 850 news sites reporting this, but Matt at NIT cannot? Why the double standard?
I think he reported a bit more than a lot of other news outlets across the country has.
So really, where’s the beef?