Best Buy is putting its UK expansion plans on hold until next spring, the Financial Times is reporting.
The world largest’s consumer electronics retailer had planned to open its first UK store this summer as part of a joint venture with Carphone Warehouse.
Best Buy Europe CEO Roger Taylor tells the Financial Times that the delay will allow the company to find better store locations and not a sign of Best Buy’s struggles.
“If it makes more commercial sense to open three or four months later, that is what we will do,” Taylor said. “Because of the economic climate [it is] more sensible to wait for better sites … the quality of the sites is getting better, not just the locations, but also the economics. So, rather than rushing in just to pin a timetable, in the scheme of a five- to 10-year plan I would rather wait to have four to five stores in great locations in a cluster.”
The Financial Times reported last week that Best Buy Europe is eliminating 450 jobs.
