As Sony struggles to reinvent itself, they made a rather surprising announcement – Sony is closing all fourteen of its Sony Stores in Canada over the next two months. Toronto had the heaviest concentration with five Sony Stores and one Sony Style Store. There are three Sony Stores in Vancouver, two in Calgary, and just one in Ottawa, Edmonton, Montreal and Quebec City. The employees were informed in an announcement today and then released a news statement to The Citizen. The statement read:
“Over the next 6 to 8 weeks we are closing our Sony Stores in Canada and will redirect all of this business through our national network of Sony retailers, our online store … as well as through our Sony-trained Telesales team. Our network of Sony authorized retailers offer a full range of Sony products and will be supported by our in-store Merchandisers and Product Trainers on an ongoing basis in order to ensure that our past customers have continued access to knowledgeable Sales consultants who can support their ongoing Sony electronics needs.”
This was not a good day when it comes to Canadian retailing – on this same day Target announced that it would closed all 133 of its just recently opened retail stores. Just a little over a year ago Tony Fisher, president, Target Canada sent out a press release that said:
“The final store openings for this year mark a major milestone in Target’s history. The goal for our Canadian expansion was to open 124 stores across all ten provinces in 2013, and we are proud to say that with the help of more than 20,000 Canadian team members nationwide, we have accomplished this unprecedented undertaking.”
It is not clearly apparent how many will lose their jobs because of the Sony closings, however, availability of their products should remain the same, because of their presence through big box retailers and via online. No direct reason was given, but it can be assumed it was a cost cutting measure as Sony is estimating a fiscal year (ends March 2015) loss of $1.9 billion (US). This past year alone Sony has sold off its Vaio PC business and debunked its TV manufacturing operations and is considering getting out of the TV business altogether – at a time when Smart TV sales are on the rise. They are also exploring options with its struggling mobile division.
What do you think is Sony’s main problem? They make a great product and at one-time were a leader in high-end stereo and TV products. How did it ever slip away…please hit us up on our Google+ Page and let us know what you think…as always, we would love to hear from you.