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Future Shop Canada stores now closed

Canadian Tire (Mark's Work Warehouse, SportChek), Rona, Dollarama and Loblaws (Shoppers Drug Mart) are all Canadian retailers doing very well.

And Costco is amazing for keeping prices in check,high quality, and good wages.

I eat much healthier foods thanks to Costco and their great prices and amazing selection. Plus discounted Xbox cards :)
 
RIP Future Shop. I worked there for 2 years from 07-09. It was a good place to work for the most part. I wish anyone who got layed off the best of luck.
 
RIP Futureshop...sucks for the Canadian workforce and less options for us even if it was the same as Best Buy. Hope there aren't issues with preorders that have no confirmed release date.
 
considering the last two times i went to futureshop were over the course of one year, and both times they didn't have what i wanted, and there was a total of ~4 other customers in the GIGANTIC F***ING store - this isn't surprising
 
considering the last two times i went to futureshop were over the course of one year, and both times they didn't have what i wanted, and there was a total of ~4 other customers in the GIGANTIC F***ING store - this isn't surprising

I expect the cineplex theaters to close down soon.

Last week I went to that Huge AVX theater and there was barely anyone there.

The hall itself was huge and really magnificent ,but without people this stuff is expensive to maintain and will probably close down sooner or later or downsize.
 
Crazy that the website is already gone, just like that.

I knew this was coming though, I thought it was going to happen a lot sooner, unfortunate since I almost always choose FS over BB unless the deals at BB are better, which they usually aren't since both stores pretty much shared sales.
 
Sorry for the people who will be negatively affected by this.

But I get it though. It was just second rate Best Buy in the end. I never went there for anything unless it was sold out everywhere else (thanks for still having that copy of Wii U Deus Ex).
 
Sorry for the people who will be negatively affected by this.

But I get it though. It was just second rate Best Buy in the end. I never went there for anything unless it was sold out everywhere else (thanks for still having that copy of Wii U Deus Ex).

Not in my city, the best buy here sucks.
 
This isn't surprising, they've been downsizing their staff and inventory for the past few years.

Good luck to the employees who were laid off and I hope they'll be able to find another job.
 
No, the recession ended years ago, since a "recession" is just GDP growth going negative.

We've been in an economic depression since then if that's what you mean.

We have not been in a depression, which is an economic recession that is sustained. Our economy has been sluggish, but that is due to the commodities collapse, highly levered consumers and a weak entrepreneurial economy. It will get worse in my opinion but that is an aside.

Futureshop closed because its business model was destroyed by the internet and the commoditization of the technology it sells. Best buy will continue to hurt as well.
 
At first I was upset because I like future shop better than best buy

and then I realised the last time I was in future shop was about 3 years ago. Online shopping makes these places completely irrelevant.

Good luck to everyone on the job hunt.
 
As far as I know there are no Best Buy stores here in Atlantic Canada so I have to imagine that the FutureShop stores will be converted to BB.

I did enjoy shopping at FS though, and have bought many things there. Cameras, TVs, appliances, consoles, games, computer gear, etc.
 
I'm honestly amazed it stuck around this long. Best buy bought futureshop out at a corporate level 14 years ago and afterwards slowly started opening best buy stores around the country. I was always thrown off that the 2 companies used different financial providers for their in store credit cards, didn't share a rewards program and even had different pricing.

But , perhaps best buy had this kill switch sitting at the ready the whole time ? like maybe they thought, hey as long as we're making money we can keep them open ? Obviously by buying futureshop and it's distribution centers out they could appropriate those same distro centers for best buys use (I wouldn't' be surprised at all if they just used a shared center except in super busy cities like toronto).

Now, in the last year , it's become clear that the stores are cannibalizing each other thanks to much larger competition. For the record , I never much cared for shopping at future shop. It always seemed like I was walking into a disorganized warehouse full of crap. I'd occasionally buy movies there if the sales were better than best buy (which always made me laugh). Best buy though, had a better in store credit card, better deals , reward zone card and didn't give me a headache to navigate their store. Everything had a place and the lay out was always easy to understand. The one and only downside to that is that they only ever had 1 or 2 demo stations set up for TVs compared to the giant living room sized demo areas at futureshop with fully featured speaker systems.

This is definitely another blow to the canadian economy and sucks for the 1500 people nationwide that will now be out of a job. It's what, the 4th big retailer to go under in just as many months now ? Sony store, Target, Futureshop.. and I seem to think there was a clothing store too.

For those that have money tied up in futureshop purchases , I would like to think as a show of good faith to future best buy customers that you will probably get a refund on your credit card for any pre-orders , possibly a small gift card for best buy with it and then you can go re-do those pre-orders on their website instead.

As for gift cards and returns ? well, that's trickier but could still be handled similarly. Maybe even just allow the use of futureshop gift cards online through best buy OR perhaps best buy stores for the next few months get the ability to redeem futureshop gift cards +5% or even just exchange them for a best buy card of equal value.

As for returns, well they could simply allow people for the next 14 days to return any futureshop purchased items with receipt to a best buy. If the item is unavailable at best buy an in store credit is issued instead.
 
At first I was upset because I like future shop better than best buy

and then I realised the last time I was in future shop was about 3 years ago. Online shopping makes these places completely irrelevant.

Good luck to everyone on the job hunt.

Did you not use any of their E3 deals in the past? I still have a lot on pre-order, through some mess I even ended up with Zelda U for $29.99.
On the flip side, at least Amazon and Best Buy introduced similar deals.

Based on the FAQ, our orders look like they should hopefully be okay:

I bought an item from futureshop.ca and I can no longer access the website, are you going to fulfill the order?

Yes, all outstanding orders placed on futureshop.ca will be fulfilled.
Customers can access their order details through futureshop.ca, or please contact our Customer Service Centre at: customerservice@bestbuycanada.ca or 1-866-BEST-BUY (1-866-237-8289).

I have placed a pre-order, but the store has closed. How do I get my item?

We will contact you directly by phone once the item is ready to make arrangements.
Or please contact our Customer Service Centre at: 1-866-BEST-BUY (1-866-237-8289)
 
You guys realize that BB owns futureshop, right? I am pretty confident there will be a grace period where they will accept FS preorders, gift cards, etc at BB
 
I expect the cineplex theaters to close down soon.

Last week I went to that Huge AVX theater and there was barely anyone there.

The hall itself was huge and really magnificent ,but without people this stuff is expensive to maintain and will probably close down sooner or later or downsize.

Where I work, our theater is the only one around for a good distance so I doubt we'd shut down. Downsizing I can definitely see though, we've been raising some of our prices on beverages and food iirc.
 
I'm honestly amazed it stuck around this long. Best buy bought futureshop out at a corporate level 14 years ago and afterwards slowly started opening best buy stores around the country. I was always thrown off that the 2 companies used different financial providers for their in store credit cards, didn't share a rewards program and even had different pricing.

I suppose there's something to be said about fabricating competition between stores, so that no matter what the customer's money goes to the same place.
 
As a former staff member who was employed when Best Buy purchased the company it does seem the end of a process that started 14 years ago. The across the street model of fake competition never sat right with me. Clearly not sustainable when the competition is across websites not box stores these days.
 
According to their webpage, pre-orders will be honoured. This sucks for those who lost their jobs. I knew the FS in Orleans wouldn't re-open, which sucks.
 
I never understood why Future Shop sold to Best Buy years ago, but even more baffling was why they put Best Buys up practically next door to FS locations. I was also surprised that a lot of people still don't know they're the same company. " Don't shop at Best Buy, get it from Future Shop."
 
Terrible for people who are being laid off (especially this suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere), but I don't think it really makes sense to talk about this as if a business is going bankrupt. Best Buy isn't going bankrupt, it's reducing it's expenses and consolidating it's brands.

Having one of each serving the same area was kinda of silly and a huge waste of money. Hopefully the people that are being laid off at permanently closing Future Shops get hired on at the nearby Best Buy.
 
According to their webpage, pre-orders will be honoured. This sucks for those who lost their jobs. I knew the FS in Orleans wouldn't re-open, which sucks.

I have a Kingdom Hearts III pre-order from them.


I'm expecting that package in 2017 and I'm expecting it to be from Future Shop, damn it.
 
Don't care as long as my E3 pre-orders are honored. I'd like to hear something official about transitioning FS pre-orders to BB, because the website probably won't stay around forever either.

Sucks for the people who're out of a job, but the writing was on the wall. Has been for a long time. It's not much of a prediction to say that Best Buy stores will be closing shop within the next 5 years.
 
I expect the cineplex theaters to close down soon.

Last week I went to that Huge AVX theater and there was barely anyone there.

The hall itself was huge and really magnificent ,but without people this stuff is expensive to maintain and will probably close down sooner or later or downsize.

Maybe downsize a bit, no way are they are closing down. They are the only chain in a lot of areas of Canada. I'd have to take a plane to find a theater that wasn't a ciniplex.
 
It's the end of a huge brand... I hope the local store here rebrands instead of closes though. Holy cow.

That said, it never made sense to operate the two stores at some locations. Like downtown Toronto...
 
Maybe downsize a bit, no way are they are closing down. They are the only chain in a lot of areas of Canada. I'd have to take a plane to find a theater that wasn't a ciniplex.

Business is also good for Cineplex and they have one of the best reward program in the country (scene). They aren't going anywhere, but could eventually downsize since attendance is down across north america.

It's not surprising to see Best Buy closing the more well known brand in Canada (and they will stop losing part of their profits to commission versed to vendors). I just hope that they improve the reward zone program since it's been sucking since the E3 of 2013 (when they noticed that people opted for FS for pre-orders to get an instant discount on games).
 
Yeah I'm not sure why Cineplex would ever close, theaters are packed for big releases and during the weekends (and cheap Tuesday).
 
I'm all for sympathizing with the loss of a Canadian name/business brand and for any folks who'll lose a job, but man, there's absolutely no way I'd ever go to a FS over BB.

Everyone I know would agree with me. FS was trash. Filled with terrible employees (based on my numerous experiences), lack of product knowledge, and I always seemed to have a great deal of administrative trouble with anything besides a straightforward purchase (I.e. Trade ins, returns, or preorders- fuck their garbage preorder system online and the inability to change any details after the order is placed. And forget about ever getting your shipment on time ...and I'm in Toronto no less!)

Best Buy was sadly, a revelation when it showed up (whenever that was...like 10 years ago?).

Sorry guys, can't relate to many of the sad posts in the thread. FS has just plain sucked for almost everyone I know and for me. Again, sympathizing with job losses, but otherwise, good riddance.

And yes, I'm well aware they were essentially the same company and all, but I suspect the policy and training rule books were much better at BB. I was always dealing with someone totally slimy, or apathetic, or completely clueless at almost any FS I went to.
 
I'm all for sympathizing with the loss of a Canadian name/business brand and for any folks who'll lose a job, but man, there's absolutely no way I'd ever go to a FS over BB.

Everyone I know would agree with me. FS was trash. Filled with terrible employees (based on my numerous experiences), lack of product knowledge, and I always seemed to have a great deal of administrative trouble with anything besides a straightforward purchase (I.e. Trade ins, returns, or preorders- fuck their garbage preorder system online and the inability to change any details after the order is placed. And forget about ever getting your shipment on time ...and I'm in Toronto no less!)

Best Buy was sadly, a revelation when it showed up (whenever that was...like 10 years ago?).

Sorry guys, can't relate to many of the sad posts in the thread. FS has just plain sucked for almost everyone I know and for me. Again, sympathizing with job losses, but otherwise, good riddance.

And yes, I'm well aware they were essentially the same company and all, but I suspect the policy and training rule books were much better at BB. I was always dealing with someone totally slimy, or apathetic, or completely clueless at almost any FS I went to.

Does not make E3 preorders confirmed. You probably just had a crappy store
 
^^
FS and BB are exactly the same thing though. You can't change your order information on BB orders either. Heck, the call centers/customer service people were exactly the same - except for the Best Buy Rewards program which was run by the US branch.

Anyway, I like that my town is small enough that I can find out that the store here is transforming to a BB next week without having to make the trip myself.

Now it's just a question of how they'll handle the order system... I assume they can't just merge FS accounts into BB accounts, so they're going to have to retire some preorders eventually.
 
Eh, meanwhile I've had managers process returns for me after the 30 day period, and FS was where I got a lot of my cheap games and my cheap 3ds XL. It's relative.

Well the cheap games are independent of employees. I can say that my experience with FS online is almost always amazing, even down to customer service.

But yeah, I mean they're people. I'm sure that within the vast expanse of the FS employee base, there are a bunch of incredible people.
 
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