Best Buy to close 6 Chicago-area stores
A Best Buy store this month in New York City. (Justin Sullivan, Getty Images)
April 15, 2012|Staff report
Best Buy announced today that six Chicago-area stores will be among the 50 nationwide that the retailer plans to close.
The locations for the six stores are: 1038, N. Rohlwing Rd. in Addison, 8900 S. Lafayette Ave. in Chicago, 200 S. Waukegan Rd. in Deerfield, 4707 Lincoln Mall Dr. in Matteson, 1100 N. Route 83 in Mundelein, and 979 W. Main St. in West Dundee. Only California had more closings than Illinois.
The Matteson, Mundelein and West Dundee stores will be closed today but will re-open Sunday for final sales before closing for good May 12, according to the release. The Addison and Deerfield stores will both be open today, with no specific date set for their final closing. The Chicago store's final day open was Saturday.
In the release, the company said, "This was not an easy decision to make. We chose these stores carefully, and are working to ensure the impact to our employees will be as minimal as possible, while serving all customers in a convenient and satisfying way. But we also recognize the impact this news has on the people who deserve respect for contributions they have made to our business."
In the release, the company said customers that are doing business with these stores are also being contacted today.
Best Buy spokeswoman Kelly Groehler said employees at the six stores were notified at store meetings early this morning and that the company then sent out an e-mail press release announcing the closings. She could not say how many employees were affected.
According to the release, the Minnesota-based company will help those employees find other positions within the company. But if they don't find one or do not want to transfer to another location, they will be able to take advantage of a severance package.
The release said that the company still has 53 locations in the Chicago region — 44 stores and 9 Best Buy Mobile stores.
The company had earlier announced that it planned to close 50 stores this year. Two, in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Kansas City, Mo. closed in February, and on March 29, the company said it would close 5 stores in the Twin Cities area in Minnesota and one in San Antonio.
Today's announcement of the other 42 stores included 7 in California, 6 in Illinois, 3 in Virginia, 2 in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, and Ohio, and 1 each in Colorado, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington. |
