That's what they're saying in the news but in reality they're not turning lone Future Shops into Best Buys, only select ones. So this area for example loses it's Future Shop, doesn't have a Best Buy, and is left with Staples and Wal-Mart for computers.
To some degree it's good for the small business computer store, but truth be told, most of them buy from Future Shop because it's cheaper than wholesale. Just like small town Loblaws grocers buy their stuff from Wal-Mart and resell it.
The Best Buy/Future Shop thing took much longer than Target/Zellers but it's similar. The major difference between the two chains was that FS was commission sales (you could barter with them) and Best Buy wasn't. They had exactly the same suppliers and stock but the prices varied quite a bit. An equal laptop might be hundreds of dollars cheaper at one.
They would have been solid competitors, but when the buyout happened, their services became pretty horrible and worse over time.
They also just renovated the local FS. Closed it down for a long time, spent insane amounts of money redoing the whole building as a catalogue store. People around here hate catalogue stores. It was done in the past by others. It was so obviously a stupid idea and really a matter of time before it failed. One could only hope they'd turn it back into a real store.
P.S. We were also one of the Zeller's stores Target didn't want. There is no real competitor to Wal-Mart ATM except in Office supplies at Staples and groceries at Loblaws (who charges for bags).
To some degree it's good for the small business computer store, but truth be told, most of them buy from Future Shop because it's cheaper than wholesale. Just like small town Loblaws grocers buy their stuff from Wal-Mart and resell it.
The Best Buy/Future Shop thing took much longer than Target/Zellers but it's similar. The major difference between the two chains was that FS was commission sales (you could barter with them) and Best Buy wasn't. They had exactly the same suppliers and stock but the prices varied quite a bit. An equal laptop might be hundreds of dollars cheaper at one.
They would have been solid competitors, but when the buyout happened, their services became pretty horrible and worse over time.
They also just renovated the local FS. Closed it down for a long time, spent insane amounts of money redoing the whole building as a catalogue store. People around here hate catalogue stores. It was done in the past by others. It was so obviously a stupid idea and really a matter of time before it failed. One could only hope they'd turn it back into a real store.
P.S. We were also one of the Zeller's stores Target didn't want. There is no real competitor to Wal-Mart ATM except in Office supplies at Staples and groceries at Loblaws (who charges for bags).
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