A portion of Future Shop's Prince George employees may not be rehired when the store reopens as a Best Buy, a company spokesperson said Saturday.
"Some of them will be able to transition and others will not," said Jeff Shelman of Minnesota-based Best Buy Co. Inc. on Saturday.
Shelman said employees in Prince George "learned their status" Saturday and confirmed the store will be rebranded as Best Buy when it opens again on April 4. He added the company will not be providing details on how many full time and part time staff were or will be employed at the city home electronics retailer, located at Brookwood Plaza off Highway 16.
The firm said the closures will result in the loss of 500 full-time and 1,000 part-time jobs across Canada.
The windows of the now defunct Prince George Future Shop were papered over Saturday morning and signs on the door, which featured Future Shop and Best Buy logos, said the store was temporarily closed and pegged the reopening for next Saturday. The city was among the 131 locations closed across the country Saturday, according to the Canadian Press. Best Buy Canada, a subsidiary of U.S. firm Best Buy Co. that bought Future Shop in 2001, said of those locations, 65 will be converted into a Best Buy.
Best Buy said in a statement existing product orders, service appointments and warranties will continue to be honoured. Vista Radio reporter Ted Andrew posted a link to a Best Buy FAQ (pgc.cc/1HUKop0) detailing where customers stand regarding orders, deliveries, gift certificates and warranties.
Best Buy said it reviewed its "real estate footprint" and sought to address the "significant number of its Future Shop and Best Buy stores are located adjacent to each other, often in the same parking lot." The company also planned to invest up to $200 million in its Best Buy stores and BestBuy.ca; it said it will have up a total of 192 locations across Canada, including 136 large-format stores and 56 Best Buy Mobile stores.
According to its U.S. website, Best Buy has 1,400 stores across the United States and employs 125,000 people.
